Sunday certainly was a day spent sampling the arts as I traveled from the Snapshot Day exhibit to the de Kooning exhibition 14 blocks down. While the tiny, personal photographs at the Macaulay Building held little resemblance to the massive canvases at the MOMA, I found both exhibits enjoyable for various reasons.
The assignment we were given at Snapshot Day was to edit our own movies using clips shot as we walked through the various displays of the photographs we had taken. To be an active audience in the arts was a remarkable and absorbing experience. The challenge in the final assignment was its vagueness- our directions were to simply find a theme and go with it. However, I believe there is an important underlying message in this task. Often, when we view art we try to dissect it and pin the artwork’s purpose down. If we fail to find a logical explanation to it, we believe we have failed as an audience. But art is a unique medium in its ability to posses several meanings and themes simultaneously. We all found a different message running throughout the photos on display, which resulted in our distinctive reactions and original movies.
Abstract art can be experienced the same way. Looking through the previous blog posts it is clear that each of us faced de Kooning’s canvases and took away our various personal favorites. You cannot point to de Kooning’s work and say, “This one is his best,” only, “This one is my best.” Willem de Kooning says it best himself- “I never was interested in how to make a good painting… But to see how far one can go.” The beauty in abstract art is just that- its abstractness. Its ambiguity allows for individual interpretation and a multitude of responses.
While de Kooning and Snapshot Day bear a myriad of implications, a singular theme is evident throughout both. We were all told to take pictures of New York on October 11, 2011. New York was obviously the concurrent theme at the Snapshot Day exhibit; it was easily distinguishable and apparent. De Kooning’s canvases are connected in their movement. From his biomorphic abstractions to black-and-whites to figures, each painting is alive with a sense of swiftness; de Kooning’s works are anything but still. But the beauty in Snapshot Day and de Kooning at the MOMA is that while both hold an obvious thread, beyond that thread they are open to interpretation. Snapshot Day was transformed into an individualized experience because it left room for personalized reactions. De Kooning’s art yields a captivated and responsive audience in its allowance for freethinking. It certainly was a day well spent!
