Best friend Katie and I headed out to Dia in Beacon, NY on Saturday. The trip south went well, and Katie was blown away by the awesome art on display there. Seeing it for the second time reaffirms what I felt the first time. Who can not be affected by this work? The most surprising part of the visit was the Bruce Nauman installations and wall pieces in the basement. It was much better than first time...awesome, in fact. The museum finished installing the rest of his pieces...and made a more permanent home for the "Mapping the Studio" installation. When I was last there, it was partitioned off by draperies. The fabric has been replaced by nice white walls. Same goes for his corridor/hallway pieces. The addition of the neon light pieces were the icing on the cake. I don't always understand Bruce Nauman's work, but I really enjoy experiencing them. With Nauman, you can feel very much a part of his installations, which is a huge bonus in my book. Katie was creeped out by it all, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. (I enjoy anything evenly remotely strange or creepy, trust me.)
Katie became much more alive when we hit the Richard Serra wing. I think she is probably his biggest fan. We both love the challenge of standing nose to nose with those steel walls...
Honestly, when we go see anything by Richard Serra, we behave most strangely. As a matter of fact, we have learned that the best way to experience these large steel works, is by standing nose to nose with one, while simultaneously raising our arms in the direction of the curvature of the steel. We may look silly, but this action gives us more of that physical pull that you experience when standing close to his pieces. Similiar, I imagine, to standing on a ledge of a 20
story building and feeling the need to leap off the edge.
The only disappointment for me was the not-so-accessable Michael Heizer exhibit. This permanent installation entitled "North, East, South, West" was not open for the up close and personal inspection. It could only be viewed from the edges of the room, as it was closed off by a glass fence. The last time I visited we called in advance to make sure someone would allow us to get past the glass baracade. It was awesome. The feeling you get while gazing down into the deep chasms of the floor is similiar to that of the Richard Serra steel pieces. I remember being afraid to get too close to the edge, so I lay down on the floor and peered over. It was wonderful! I had everyone around me doing this as well. I imagine that because it was a Saturday and busy, with small children flittering about, that the museum deemed it too dangerous to open up.
Anyway, back to reality (and work) now, but we are in the stages of planning our next NY Art Stop;
Storm King, which houses more Richard Serra to experience up close and personal.
