Marilyns Hand.

Grüezi Readers,

I have to confess, I was prejudiced. I went to the Centre Pompidou again, with visitors, and I dont know if I had a bad day or something, but I didn‘t really enjoy it. I know, I shouldn‘t or people in general shouldn‘t be snobby about art, but on this particular day I walked through the rooms and thought „this is art?“ „I could do that“ „why is this in here“ „this is a waste of space“.... You get the point.

And when I walked to this piece I thought it was a joke. Just random lines and squiggle-squaggles - and that was supposed to be art? I went to the description to find out who‘s responsible for this nonsense. 

And I was amazed!

It wasn‘t just random squigglings but someone, well not someone but Pierre Bismuth, actually had a pretty amazing idea! The artist and cameraman was born in France in 1963 and is also an awardwining screenwriter. This would explain the collaboration of painting and movies in his art.

The work is called „En suivant la main droite - de marilyn monroe dans 'some like it hot‘. And I guess you can imagine now what it is. Bismuth put a tracing paper on his tv-screen and followed for the length of the movie „some like it hot“ the right hand of the actress and icon Marilyn Monroe. What a funny idea.

So instead of calling out and idiot-wannabe-artist I got called out for being ignorant and snobby. Served me well, lesson learned.

Olympia.

Hello Friends,

I must tell you, it is very fun to (sometimes) actually understand art. And to understand what a piece of art you've never seen before is referring to, critizing, meaning, saying etc.

So when I saw this piece at Pompidou I very much enjoyed it, because I knew something about it (which is sometimes hard with the things at Centre Pompidou - sorry)

Maybe you know the original masterpiece on which this quite funny artist is basing his wood and plastic sculpture on? Larry Rivers, an US-artist, created this piece in 1970 under the name of "I like Olympia in black". 

It's funny, because most artworks that quote another piece do not make it that obvious. Ok, I'll solve the mystery for you if you still don't know which piece was the inspiration for this. It was the very famous Edouard Manet, who painted the famous "Olympia" from 1863-65 (which currently hangs at Musée d'Orsay here in Paris).

As you can see now, Rivers clearly took Manets painting as basis for his own work. The woman, olympia has the same posture, the bed is the same, and also the servant. The great thing is, that he duplicated the entire thing he built in wood and turned the colors around - hence the title of Rivers' piece. Olympia isn't white anymore, shes's black and is now being served by a white maid. Even the cat in the right bottom corner had to switch colors. It is obviously a statement against the skincolor-bias between servants and employers, or the skincolor-bias in general.

A really witty example of turning something old in something contemporary in a new way! 

Centre Pompidou, don't mind if I do

Bonsoir mes amis de l'art,

So, another big one is coming up. One of the most important collections of contemporary art in the world: The Centre Pompidou. Of course I visited it before, but now I'm actually gonna tell you, what pieces I love slash like.

So there is one quite eyestopping work by Piotr Kowalski. The piece is called "Identité No. 2" and was created in 1973. And as you can tell by the trend of light and neon right now, it is a true inovative piece. I mean, it was created 40 years ago - crazy, right?!

It's basically just three different sized cubes made out of lighting tubes infront of mirrors. Maybe the name comes from there. Their second identity is in the mirror or comes through the mirror. But one thing you can't tell by looking at the pictures is the sound it makes. Yes, you would have never guessed, right? There is a really strong buzzing and humming noise. It almost sounds like a really busy meadow in summer creawling with different insects. 

Another piece I think is brilliant is an installation by Jean Dubuffet and is called "Le jardin d'hiver". The first thing that came to mind is the saying that art can be a refuge. This piece is an actual refuge:

It's an interactive walk-in work! I felt like I was walking inside a comic because of the strong black lines and the black and white color. It felt totally safe and wonderful and it also brings out the childish side in you. Because who didn't build caves out of their blankets and chairs. At the same time it felt a little lonely and dark, because there is no source of light, exept the entrance which can be closed and because of the material which makes every step you take sound hollow and echo. 

There's always new stuff to discover at Pompidou, I think I'll be telling you about more of my favorites some other time though.

Marc Fornes times three

Heya fans of culture,

I‘ve come across this one artist several times now! 

Marc Fornes is actually an architect which you can almost guess by his insane pieces.

He does installations, mostly in metal or aluminium, that look like crazy computerized actual real shapes or very modern corrals. Well, at least that is my opinion. He is a genius in engineering as you can clearly tell by the way his pieces are constructed. 

I saw the first piece by him as I was walking through the streets of Paris through the window of Inception Gallery.

Then again, I came across a wonderful black and white piece by him at Art Paris 2012 and  I even got photographed infront of it, because my outfit matched. And then, finally I found an installation by him at Centre Pompidou which finally gave me the push I needed to do some research. Because every time I was very intrigued and amazed by the engenius construction!

Fornes himself describes his works and process in these specific terms:

”Explicit and Encoded”, “Precise Indetermination”, “Progressive Geometry” all seeking “Unconventional Futures”.

It seems like his constructions are huge 3D optical illusions, since they are mostly just in two or three colors and very fluent and organic in shape. Which is of course in contrast with the very sturdy and strong materials and the studded construction. 

You can't really tell with these pictures, but the pieces are huge!!