04/08/03 — Meditations on modernity
Wow. Guggenheim Bilbao: from Jasper Johns to Jeff
Koons and a sidetrip to Calder. Four decades of art
from the Broad Collection and a whole floor of the
beautiful mobiles of Alexander Calder.
And after years and years as a Situationist aficianado, I finally got to see a real live Asger Jorn. I'm not even going to go into the questions that raises for me thinking about Benjaminian notions of aura. I'm not trying to say that the fact it's the 'original' means anything to me in particular, just that three dimensional presentation makes a difference to texture and size etc than two-dimensional reproduction. I also enjoyed seeing the works of Basquiat and Schnabel, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Twombly, and discovered a few new artists too (Eric Fischl, for one). I was surprised that I really liked Koons' Balloon Dog, because Koons has never really done much for me before.
What is raised for me though, especially by
one work that appealed to me using scrolling red LED
words repeated on narrow vertical poles, that first
hint at one thing and then with a tiny elaboration
hint at another, slowly revealing what might be a confession
or an accusation (you are the one/you are the one who
did it/there is blood/nobody told me/i smell you/i
smell you on my skin/i cry/i cry out to you/i pray/i
pray aloud/i sleep next to you/i smell your clothes/i
keep your clothes) (and to my shame, I did not look
at the artist's name), is that ongoing contradiction
in me concerning aesthetics. I have no objections to
high tech as a tool; on the contrary, I make a living
analysing the impacts and I am personally fascinated
by science and devour science fiction. However, my
approach is frequently a critical one and I loathe
modernism, at least in architecture (although, Gaudi
is modernist, I think, so maybe I just loathe most
modernism).
( Thoughts about cities and history )
Regardless, Calder's meditations on movement served
to unite and synthesise many of my thoughts. Built
from metals, sanded and rasped and cut and bent, these
delicate works then resonate with the subtle 
shimmerings
of leaves in light, the tremulous insight of feathers
on the wind, the arcs of planets. Titled "Calder:
Gravity and Grace", the works have inspired me
and I want to get home to start making mobiles of my
own. Expect them as Summer Solstice presents.
I also have some ideas for ways of exhibiting poetic works, possibly as part of the fringe festival or something.