“Big Mind Sky” Exhibition
As a native Albanian, I have slowly begun to learn that New York City is like an iceberg: At first you simply see its tip, but once you look closely you realize there is much, much more than meets the eye. Every corner and empty doorway often leads to a new place, a new vision. My visit to Chelsea only increased my desire to explore every nook and cranny in the city.
I may have heard of Chelsea offhandedly back home, but when I first learned we were going to visit there during one of the Arts in NYC classes, my first response was dread. I instantly recalled the MOMA, a brilliant museum, but definitely not my cup of tea, and only assumed that this would be another expedition into the confusing and, often to me, meaningless world of modern art. However, I found out very quickly that Chelsea would prove to be home to some of the most inspirational and moving pieces of artwork I have seen.
One of my favorite movies that has stayed with me since childhood is “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” I was particularly fond of the effects of the movie: the dark lighting and use of claymation. I was instantly reminded of this film as I entered the exhibit, “Big Mind Sky,” made by Ugo Rondinone. As I walked into the room, I was instantly moved by the immensity of the sculptures. The sculptures were basically enormous heads made from some sort of clay, and when I looked closely I could see the artist’s fingerprints imprinted in the clay, which was very cool. The heads were set in a large room, illuminated by lights in the ceiling and the sun through skylights, and everything from the floor to the ceiling was completely white. The brightness of the white walls and ceiling really emphasized the light brown color of the clay, and really made these oddly distorted heads jump out at you (not that they could have been missed otherwise, they must have been eight to nine feet tall). Now, in “The Nightmare Before Christmas” the main character is a tuxedo-wearing skeleton with a large, head. Interestingly enough, when I first saw the sculptures, the skeleton man’s head instantly entered my mind. Like Jack, the skeleton, these clay sculptures had wide, gaping mouths seeking to swallow me whole. The mouths were often grinning frighteningly, as if knowing a secret that gave them power. They had small, beady eyes and large protrusions, which either turned out to be their nose or ears.
I could have stared at those strange, yet almost cocky, faces all day, but on a whim I took a glance at the walls. On the walls were small pencil drawings of houses or small towns. I later found out that they were in fact paintings of windows looking upon towns that the artist had seen during his travels, as well as random objects he found around his studio. The simplicity of the drawings almost drew me to them more than a large extravagant Picasso painting would have. As I wandered along the walls taking a glance at each painting, I also found quotes printed on the walls, squished between these small paintings at random intervals around the room. One of these quotes went something like, “I am tired of having hands, I want wings.”
The gallery was very much like New York City in that it was full of surprises. Like the small paintings, I just happened upon another of the artist’s pieces: A large keyhole from which warm air was blowing. Now, not only was the keyhole very soothing after prancing around the cold, air-conditioned gallery, it also played a large role in adding to the surrealism and fantastical nature of the entire gallery. Now, not only was I reminded of Jack the skeleton in the gawky faces of the large head sculptures, I also felt like Alice in Wonderland looking through the oversized keyhole into the Queen’s garden.
This gallery was one of the first exhibits I saw while wandering through Chelsea, and it was really great in showing me the diversity of art. Art does not have to be the Mona Lisa or The Thinker, it can be a large clay head or brass keyhole placed randomly in a blank white wall. This exhibition was a great way to begin my journey through Chelsea and to reignite my passion for all kinds of art and expression.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I also loved that exhibit, but chose not to write about it b/c i had no clue what it meant. The press release mentioned that each sculpture was named after a month of the year, so i think i speant the whole time trying to tie the sculptures, drawings and keyhole to diffirent seasons of the year. Sometimes I think that reading someone else’s opinion before throughly viewing the exhibit for oneself is a bad combination. It puts ideas in your head robs you of the effect that the artist intended.
I liked how you pointed out that the heads seemed to be hiding something, that was the only whim of feeling that i recieved from the art. I fealt lost inside it, like i was left outside the door of this idea that the artist had, while my only way to look reach it was through a keyhole.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Wow, those sculptures sound really cool and kind of creepy. What exactly did you mean when you said that the faces looked cocky? Oh, and about the quote, I totally get it, wings are awesome.