Just Another Day In The Guggenheim

On June 27^th 2008, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened their Louise Bourgeois Exhibition. The exhibit is set up around the whole rotunda, which is the spiral walkway from the 6^th “floor” to the ground floor. With the type of posters that are advertised in the subways and on the streets, you can’t tell exactly what type of artwork is going to be shown. With no expectations, I went to go see Louise Bourgeois.

Before taking a look at her artwork, I took a look behind the story of Louise Bourgeois. Bourgeois grew up in France and studied to be an artist in Paris. In 1938, with her husband, she immigrated to New York. She started with paintings, drawings and prints but later turned away from painting and towards sculptures. Bourgeois is known as one of the greatest visual artist. Her style is not a style that can be confused with someone else’s works. It is unique and personal.

To start my journey in the Guggenheim, I worked my way up the spiral and saw drawings of boxed people, with no head, bare bodies or plants coming out of their buttocks. They were strange drawings, more like doodles if I had seen them in a notebook. From those drawings I knew this wasn’t one of those rich, palette, oil painting exhibits. This show was going to be one of those brain twisting ones, where thought is required and observation was mandatory.

Each sculpture, every instillation, known as “Cells”, and every drawing had an eerie, twisted feeling to it. At first the pieces made me feel uncomfortable, such as the “Red Room (Child)”. The room was made up of about 5 to 7 doors linked together with windows here and there. The room is mostly red. There are red hands folded on top of each other or holding another hand on top of the tables. There are strings and around the room. It reminded me of a child sweatshop. Not only are her works uncomfortable, but also they are awkward, provocative and sexual.

Many of her abstract sculptures resembled the private parts of the female and male body. They were awkward yet interesting. One cannot help but to obverse each one and try to understand the pieces. The exhibit was not all sculptures. Like I had previously mentioned, there were these small “rooms” called “Cells”. The “Cells” were made by old chipped wooden doors linking together to create a room. Some of the “Cells” contained a bed, folded hands, small perfume bottles, and such. Some of the doors had the word “Privacy” on it. Even though the doors signify a barrier, people are always trying to take a peek inside through broken windows or gaps between doors.

A dash of awkward, a cup of eerie, and a pound of provocative, The Louise Bourgeois Exhibition was one worth seeing. It’s different and very interesting. There’s something beautiful about her work. Not visually but mentally. There’s a deep thought in each piece. Take a long time, take a deep breath and soak in the artwork.