Apparently, Caro is known for making sculptures that are self-supporting and therefore don’t need a base, leaving the art open to the viewers, so they’re free to interact with the sculpture from all angles. I think this feeling was accurately captured at the roof exhibit at the Met.

Although I was not at the Friday night exhibit, where people \ were able to leave their cocktails on the sculptures, I still felt the approachability of the pieces. The open space called for walking around the art, really getting a 360 view of it, and even peeking through the spaces to the other side. I felt I got the chance to interact with the pieces more so than the paintings that are the norm in the Met.

Of course the setting strongly affected my view of the art. Rather than the rest of the museum, which was clean and crisp in an almost sterile way, the roof had so much going on. I suppose on a regular basis, the clean white rooms that store the art are just that, rooms that store the art. They are kept minimalistic in order to focus your attention on the work. But the roof provides a whole new dimension.

In fact, for me, the view really carried the exhibit. Yes, the art was nice, and had the exhibit been inside, I might have stopped to look, but I probably would have looked rather quickly and been satisfied. But because the pieces were on the roof, I found myself looking at, in, around and through them finding the different angles of the view. Inadvertently, I was inspecting the art from all angles, and found myself enjoying the intricacies.

So honestly, the setting caused me to actually take notice of art that I otherwise would have probably ignored.

The Exhibit was a great experience because I was exposed to art in a setting that I am not familiar with. Usually, people gather around an art piece, discuss it, and criticize it. There was not one person that I saw actually pay attention to the sculptures. Also, it’s a night to remember because I do not find myself in the company of pretentious and rich people. It was the first time and hopefully the last.

The exhibit took place on the roof of the museum, which I didn’t understand because people were more interested in the scene than the exhibit. When I first got out of the elevators and entered the exhibit, I was confused because I did not see any sculptures and thought we were in the wrong place. Rather, I was more drawn to the numerous people with drinks in their hand, socializing and having a good time. While walking around a sculpture to get an idea of what it was, Aisha and I saw a cup stain. People were using the sculpture to rest their drinks; that really goes to show how rude some of the people at the exhibit were.  As pretentious as the people were, I expected them to be a little more mindful of the sculptures, but I guess not.

I did not see any one person appreciate Caro’s artwork, including myself. I took notes and pictures because I thought they might help for the assignment. The only people paying attention to the sculptures were those in our class. A lady working at the exhibit saw Aisha and I taking notes and she told us there are plaques with more information about each sculpture situated around the roof. The more information I have about a sculpture, the better I understand it. So, Aisha and I decided to walk around and take pictures of the plaques. We had to kneel down and look for the plaques because people were standing in front of them; we had to excuse ourselves every time.  Even though I saw and read all the plaques, I was still unable to understand the sculptures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t intrigued at all by them.

I absolutely love sunrises and sunsets. I was naturally drawn to the beautiful skyline. I took a few pictures before I had to rush home. When I got home, I remembered the scenery, and not the sculptures.  

I think the reason I’m so unsure about how to start this blog, is because I am [still] confused about the exhibit.  Before I give my opinion, I’d like to explain where my confusion of it is coming from.

My father is an art dealer, so I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by art.  Paintings, sculptures, I’ve had them all around me my entire life, and I’ve taken them for much of that time.  I’ve recently gained a greater appreciation for artwork, but I’m still not…well, “sophisticated”.  I’m still finding it difficult to enjoy a painting for its meaning, rather than just stare at a painting on a wall.  For this reason, I had difficulty seeing and interpreting the sculptures as art with meaning.  While they were interesting to the eye, I’m not sure I enjoyed them for anything more than painted, shaped metal.  Looking back on it now, I still don’t understand what Anthony Caro “had to say”.  As we discussed earlier today in class, can it be considered good artwork if I have to have his meaning explained to me?  I want to be amazed and inspired by such a successful, credited sculptor, but I have trouble seeing his work as anything more than “pieces of metal”.

Perhaps my opinion of the exhibit was colored by what I heard about it before I actually went.  I spoke to someone who previously saw it and his response was “they were just pieces of metal”.  Perhaps my opinion of the exhibit would have been different if I spoke to someone who was excited about it, drew meaning and inspiration from it, and told me all about it.  But then again, wouldn’t that be very similar to having the artwork explained to me? Who says I would have understood it otherwise?

I did not go with the class to see the exhibit on Friday night, with the Upper East Siders, a bar, and night setting .  It’s safe to say that the exhibit has a whole different feel to it during the day.  Either way, I love the city, night or day, so the view itself was beautiful to me.  It reminds me of one day I was on a city rooftop last year, overlooking Manhattan, at twilight;  the setting was beautiful, inspiring, and romantic.  And with that in mind, I’d love to go back to the exhibit during this hour.  Maybe I’ll understand the artwork a bit better then?  And even if I don’t, I’m sure I’d feel that same awe-inspiring feeling on a city rooftop just as the sun is setting.  While the sculptures would be something I’d have already seen, the mood of the scene never gets old.

I must admit, I was quite excited when I heard we would be attending a rooftop exhibit in the city. In fact, I recall enthusiastically telling a former classmate about it when he asked about my current course load. However, after arriving at the exhibit, I found myself more captivated with the view than the exhibit itself. Perhaps I would have been able to appreciate the art a bit more if there were explanations for each piece on display.  I was interested, however, to learn that Anthony Caro was knighted by the Queen and that his pieces need to be lifted to the roof via crane. This seemed to be a fact that one would want to include in the exhibit, yet I stumbled upon it while conversing with a security guard who wished to remain nameless.

Many of the people who were at the exhibit seemed to be there primarily for the view. Even in this photo I managed to snap, those surrounding the sculpture seemed disinterested in the art. One man stands with a cocktail in hand looking clear past the piece, while a couple on the other side of the sculpture enjoyed their version of a picnic.

While many individuals at the exhibit seemed to be there simply for the experience and the view, it would be unfair for me to generalize all the participants as impartial. I can remember one woman in particular who seemed fascinated with a certain red sculpture. The woman seemed to be taking notes intently as she studied the piece. After seeing this woman, I not only wished that I knew what was going through her mind, but that I could have similar thoughts while viewing Caro’s art. Conversely, I found myself underwhelmed and confused at the function of each piece. Perhaps the pieces didn’t need a purpose. Perhaps that was the art of it. But for me, the true beauty of that night was the view of the Manhattan skyline from a rooftop on Fifth Ave.

To be honest, when I first entered the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, I truly felt that there was a cocktail party taking place rather than an exhibit. Indeed, the scenery on the roof was very pleasant. People can see every building on Fifth Avenue clearly when standing on the roof. With the comfortable weather and beautiful sunset, the roof was really a great place for a cocktail party. For this reason, very few people seemed to pay attention to the sculptures that were being displayed. I, too, was a little distracted by the people and scenery, and therefore, didn’t concentrate on appreciating the exhibit.

However, there was another reason that I didn’t feel I was truly appreciating the artworks that were being displayed. Before I commented on any of Anthony Caro’s works that I saw on the roof, I have to confess that I have almost no knowledge about how to appreciate modern arts. Every time I walked into the modern arts section of a museum, I often felt the arts are overly abstract, which led me to be in a state of confusion. By saying this, I do not mean modern arts are not as good as the classic arts. It was just that I couldn’t always follow modern artists’ logic very well. Therefore, when I asked myself what I thought about the exhibit, I got a very simple answer. When I stood in front of a piece of artwork and took a look at it, I simply wanted to move to the next piece of artwork. When I saw every piece of artwork, I would ask to myself: what did I really see? Again, I do not mean that Caro’s works are not worth appreciating; it was just that I couldn’t follow what the artist’s was trying to convey through these sculptures.

Of course, Anthony Caro’s artworks have enlightened my mind in some very special aspects (otherwise I wouldn’t consider them as arts). First, Anthony Caro is an engineering artist. This was a relatively novel noun to me since I could hardly make any connection between engineering and arts. Yet, his artworks have perfectly combined the strength of steel and the softness of arts. Even though the strength and softness combination was not new in any forms of arts, his artworks can actually bring parts of dull machines into pieces of artworks that people can truly appreciate. Second, the way that Anthony Caro has constructed his works must involve some physics principles. If people can understand the principles behind these sculptures, maybe they can better appreciate the beauty his works.

Overall, the Anthony Caro exhibit was interesting in different ways. First, the location of the exhibit gives the visitors a feeling totally different from the feeling inside the museum. Visitors can enjoy the beauty of New York City while they are trying to interpret the artworks. Second, unlike the other artworks display in the museum, the artworks in this exhibit do not have any descriptions or explanations next to them. This leaves people with unlimited imagination. Visitors can interpret the meaning of the artworks themselves, which, in my opinion, is a significant characteristic of modern arts. Last, although Caro’s works did not teach me how to appreciate modern art, they illuminated the idea of what modern arts can leave people with.