Even MORE modern art discarded as trash!
- Thread starter Mephisto
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thinkingaboutit
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i love Bacon's stuff. they had quite a bit of it at the Tate Gallery in London when I was there in 1991.
Mephisto
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Me too. In particular I liked his 1946 painting (one of his better known works) because of the "flesh" element, his depiction of Pope Innocent the Xth and his self portrait in 1973.
I wonder why Bacon himself wanted to "trash" the painting that were retrieved, perhaps he didn't think them worthy of showing, or maybe they were somehow too personal or too painful for him.
thinkingaboutit
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The depiction of the Pope was my favorite along with the crazily intense triptych of his that they had there.
I also particularly liked the Abstract Expressionist stuff. There was a great de Kooning sculpture there and some fantastic work by Rothko and Newman. I was also deeply struck by Rodin's The Kiss and the statues of his across the street from the gallery.
Mephisto
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I would love to see some of Bacon's stuff in a gallery near me. Paintings are always more impressive in person - I remember the first time I stared at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - I could have sworn it was bas-relief it looked so three dimensional.
Rothko's work I have trouble with - I'm sure it's more impressive when you're standing in front of it (I imagine the colors must "vibrate" more when actually viewing it).
Bikewer
Penultimate Amazing
A couple of art-related stories from personal experience:
When I started to work with the university police here, we shared a Quonset hut (no kidding!) with the sculpture department. Constant rain of plaster dust and welding fumes...
One lad called in to report that his sculpture had been vandalized. I met him at the junk pile (ah, "materials storage area" ) behind the building. He described to me that his welded-metal sculpture had been damaged, pointing out a pile of welded rods that looked rather like a 3-year-old's effort with tinkertoys.
"Uh, where is it damaged?"
"There, there!" he said, pointing. The sculpture looked pretty much the same to me in all dimensions.
"Someone broke off a piece!"
At this point, I could not refrain from pointing out that since his sculpture was indistinguishable from the large quantities of similar junk in the area, it was likely that a fellow artist had simply removed an appropriate bit for his own work.
He was not happy, but was forced to agree....
Another tale involves an art critic. At graduation, the art students place a number of works around the art school so that their parents can examine these and wonder just how long they'll be supporting junior...
One of these was a small group of welded-steel hemispheres about 2' in diameter. These were simply placed on the lawn, and allowed to rust in a natural manner. (shades of Serra!)
According to a witness, an individual got off the bus at the nearby bus stop, and appeared to be rather intoxicated. He started to walk along the parking lot adjacent to these sculptures, then stopped dead, staring at one.
Without hesitation, he jumped on top of it, breaking the few spot-welds and squashing it flat. Apparently satisfied, he staggered on to his destination....
When I started to work with the university police here, we shared a Quonset hut (no kidding!) with the sculpture department. Constant rain of plaster dust and welding fumes...
One lad called in to report that his sculpture had been vandalized. I met him at the junk pile (ah, "materials storage area" ) behind the building. He described to me that his welded-metal sculpture had been damaged, pointing out a pile of welded rods that looked rather like a 3-year-old's effort with tinkertoys.
"Uh, where is it damaged?"
"There, there!" he said, pointing. The sculpture looked pretty much the same to me in all dimensions.
"Someone broke off a piece!"
At this point, I could not refrain from pointing out that since his sculpture was indistinguishable from the large quantities of similar junk in the area, it was likely that a fellow artist had simply removed an appropriate bit for his own work.
He was not happy, but was forced to agree....
Another tale involves an art critic. At graduation, the art students place a number of works around the art school so that their parents can examine these and wonder just how long they'll be supporting junior...
One of these was a small group of welded-steel hemispheres about 2' in diameter. These were simply placed on the lawn, and allowed to rust in a natural manner. (shades of Serra!)
According to a witness, an individual got off the bus at the nearby bus stop, and appeared to be rather intoxicated. He started to walk along the parking lot adjacent to these sculptures, then stopped dead, staring at one.
Without hesitation, he jumped on top of it, breaking the few spot-welds and squashing it flat. Apparently satisfied, he staggered on to his destination....
Mephisto
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Those were great stories, Bikewer. I especially liked the first one and would point out that you're in trouble if another artist can't see your sculpture as artwork and uses it for scrap. I sometimes feel for artists who put their sculptures in public places and have them vandalized. For the most part, many of these sculptures deserve the vandalism, however, the anti-vandal sensibilities of many cities (and universities in particular) often ruin a lot of art. I once thought of doing a lifesize sculpture of someone pertinent to our local university and deliberately incorporating skate-stoppers to a ridiculous degree. I think the meaning would be clear. I've also thought of doing aa abstract sculpture that would appeal to skaters and BMXers and NOT allow skate-stoppers to be put on it. Art should be enjoyed - whether you're sittting there staring at it, or doing a manual or a fakie off it.
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