While exploring the Helio Oticica exhibit, I started from the far right and moved on from there. The first exhibit I visited was the most popular; Tropicalia. The most memorable part was the little hut that was shaped in like a small maze. In order to walk in, you had to walk through a bunch of hanging strings into a pitch black interior. As you enter yo could hear noise and it felt like at any moment someone was going to jump out at you. It was a very eery experience and it didn’t get better when I reached the end of the tiny maze. A static TV screen surprised me as I turned the final corner, and I honestly jump. I’m not a fan of dark and tight places and this little hut definitely freaked me out. I really enjoyed seeing the live parrots but I kinda wished that they spoke or made more movement than they did.
As I exited that piece I was met by a pool table and people playing it. I never learned how to play pool but the couple that was taking advantage of that piece were having a really good time. They were ready to spend the whole day at that exhibit just playing against each other. I didn’t realize the impact of the piece until I read articles about the exhibit and began writing this blog post. I think that excitement and participation is what Oiticica wanted to see.
The next part of the exhibit that I experienced was the colorful geometric paintings and sculptures. Some of the hanging sculptures had mirrors below them and it was cool to see the pieces from all different angles that you wouldn’t be able to experience otherwise. Looking at the paintings, I wasn’t very impressed but I did understand his experimentation and use of colors after reading his biography. I think everything from his sexual orientation to his drug use and life in Brazil contributes to his use of bright colors.
Personally, my favorite part of the exhibit was seeing his writing and scribbles on the paper that was displayed in the glass cases. I really like seeing original writings and scribbles made by artists because it gives you an insight to the moment they created those writings. What I like about notes is that they are personal and lack the intimidation of pleasing an audience. While taking notes, artists don’t attempt to convey a message or please anyone else. The writings really give you a deep look into what art can’t show. Unfortunately I couldn’t really read a lot of his writing, I found it interesting how his handwriting went from very organize and neat, to messy and scribbled.
Overall, I have very mixed feelings about the exhibition and I left unsatisfied. After reading his bio, I realized that I wanted more hectic and raw art, rather than the composed pieces that I saw. He seems to be a very weird character and I don’t think the art was weird enough. I’m guessing that it might be because a lot of his art was lost in a fire, but I’m not certain.
Disclaimer: I couldn’t take any photographs because my phone died as soon as I got to the museum but I wanted to include a visual aspect to the post so I included pictures from the Whitney Website.
I completely agree that Helio Oticica’s art exhibit left you a little bit unsatisfied because I felt the same way. The exhibit was inspiring, realistic and unique, however, i still feel we did not get a full picture of the strange art Helio Oticica was so involved it. Additionally, I also found it fascinating and contradicting that Helio Oticica’s handwriting was so messy and he excelled in creating his beautiful masterpieces.
Great work Anastasiya,
Andrew Langer
I completely agree with your view on the personality of this exhibit. Being able to interact with the art and read his actual writing make the exhibit feel very personal and connected the visitors to it even more. We are so used to not being able to touch the art that we see so your view on it being so much more personal is one that I really agree with.
I totally agree with you that seeing his own writing was very intriguing. I felt that his hand writing brought the viewer to a more personal connection to the artist. Like the entire exhibit, the hand writing was another way to enhance our senses and bring a greater connection to the work.
I think reading the reviews would have helped me be less clueless during my trip to the exhibit. Walking around and seeing all the art I felt confused and somewhat unimpressed at some moments. After reading his biography and the reviews I understood more of how the art played into each other and his life. At the same time the reviews didn’t help me connect with the art anymore than I already did. I was still able to appreciate the fact that a lot of the art had more than visuals and appealed to several senses, but I didn’t get anything more out of the geometric paintings. Maybe if I knew that he lived in NY for several years, I would have walked into the museum with a different mindset and made more of an effort to connect some of the pieces but other than that I don’t think the reviews affected me too much.