Space is the breath of art.
– Frank Lloyd Wright
For someone who can’t handle crowds or congested urban settings, and questions the context of art, you (like me) might wonder why I choose to visit MOCA Grand in downtown LA on one of the hottest days this summer to see a painting exhibition – on the closing day. Do I feel an obligation as an artist to visit a space dedicated to art – to witness Kerry James Marshall’s 25-year retrospective that ran at MOCA in Chicago and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to stellar reviews? Or does my curiosity to witness the work of an artist with a mission to bring portraits of “black life into very white museums” tame my angst of dealing with cement that sizzles in July? Will my innate sense of social justice override my crowd claustrophobia?
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
– William Shakespeare
As I scurry to the ticket line, a mural streaked with sunlight beckons. I stop to immerse myself in the abstract shapes and vibrant swirls of reds and blues. When I glance across the street the glint of Frank Gehry’s stainless steel curves billow in the imaginary wind. The spaces transform the cityscape. I peek at my iPhone – 60 minutes to closing time. I hustle past the museum courtyard only to halt at the end of a long line of visitors backed up the stairs – Free Admission for the final hours! Frisked, searched, bewildered – I’m in. Along with hoards of other viewers clustered in the doorways, in the spaces, hovering around the work. They chat, they sketch, they space. I wonder. 80 paintings in less than 50 minutes? I maneuver my way through the foyer buzzing with movement. I spy the Exit. I click a pix (of the Exit). Breathe. Focus – 45 minutes. I wedge my way through the gallery spaces as one after another of Marshall’s luscious paintings confront and dazzle. The work indeed “bestows beauty and dignity where it has long been denied.” (Helen Molesworth) I linger – and time’s up.
I think you always have to find where the boundary is in relation to the context in order to be able to kind of articulate how you want the space to interact with the viewer.
– Richard Serra
Enriched but relieved to return to street level and open space, I survey Gehry’s Concert Hall masterpiece in the changing light. That gets me thinking about space – and art – and art in public spaces – indoor space, outdoor space – outdoor space that expands indoor space, indoor space that encroaches on outdoor space, gallery space, museum space, the space between the lines. Personal space, intimate space, sacred space. But I contemplate the urban landscape too long. The chain link gate on my parking lot closes in 5 minutes. Seconds before they lock the lot, I slide into the heat of my black car. I head down the jammed 10 freeway to my creative writing gig. I envision pages with ample white space. That night at the workshop, I edit student work without mercy – excise words, phrases and exquisite rambling until the breath of space emerges to reveal a work of art.
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
– Stephen Hawking
On the late trek home, I gaze at the vastness of the night sky. With space at last, I rewind to the inconveniences of the afternoon, grateful for the urge that propelled me to experience the expected – and the unexpected art. The stars in the infinite space above fascinate me. But as I exit to the canyon I begin to dwell on an inconvenient truth. I know I will click on the news as soon as I get home.
In a recent speech in Norway, Stephen Hawking warned that “we must start leaving Earth within 30 years to avoid being wiped out by over population and climate change,” if not hit by an asteroid strike first. We must establish colonies on Mars and the Moon and “take a Noah’s Ark of plants, animals, fungi and insects, to start creating a new world.” A few nights ago I revisited Al Gore’s 2006 prophetic documentary on global warning. So here’s an incomprehensible truth. We may indeed be hurtling toward diminishing life and space thanks to an uninformed/immoral decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Yet another old school backroom game of Russian Roulette. No, we cannot prevent an asteroid strike but such a reckless disregard for the future of humanity may ensure an equivalent. Still we can resist. We can (along with the rest of the world) continue to uphold the evidence and heed the scientists. We can arrest global warming. At worst we pack light for outer space. But first let’s check out Al Gore’s new film An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power to be released July 28. Because we can preserve our earth.
In the moonlight, I wend my way through the open spaces of the canyon. If space is the breath of art – I breathe. And you?
Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.
– Joseph Campbell
Loved this post, Martha. I enjoyed the sense of wonder and breath. My immediate thought when you were discussing space was in my work with visual art. I always emphasize how important the negative space is to my students when rendering an image. Most are fixed on just the content that makes up the positive space, but that unused space around the image is equally as significant and can completely change the game. A tweak here or there can give a piece a whole new meaning. It's great to see someone else out there who can also find the beauty in things that the majority pays no attention to and/or does not recognize. Always a pleasure reading your blog. 🙂
Thanks for reminding me that museums should at least be more accessible if not free to the public. It would take some of the elitist atmosphere out of the visit. Fine art all across the cities of northern Italy is generally free, probably because much is still held in churches, themselves works of art. A lot to be said for living surrounded by the ageless heroic sculpture of the city squares and hidden plazas. Which of our administrations cut back funding for the NEA?
The threat to humanity in general continues. I recently learned that the Swiss glaciers had lost 30% of their volume in the past three decades. California had record snowfall, replenishing the snow pack, but the long drought ended and the undergrowth in the forests grew to unmanageable levels. When record hot weather returned to the western US uncontainable wild fires broke out. It won't be confined to the West this year either, no more than last summer. Climate change a hoax?
We are represented by 450 of the worst cultural and intellectual terrorists in our history as our elected Congress and Senate. They who are outshamed by an ignorant, spoiled little rich boy with so much inherited wealth he has been able to buy success in business. This is no statesman. The concept of too big to fail is coming back to bite us.
Really enjoyed this piece, Martha!