Monday, October 5, 2015

Thoughts While Viewing Art at The Hammer Museum

I oftentimes write myself notes when I visit a museum or gallery.  These are some of the thoughts I jotted down while touring the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles this summer.


Mark Bradford

Mark Bradford - from Scorch Earth



  • The idea of "modern art" for work made in 2016 seems silly.
  • I need some sense of order or formality.
  • Some junk art is junk.
  • People love a story.
  • Noah Purifoy is new to me.
  • The work I see in the big museums is often no better and sometimes less resolved than what I see in regional museums.  Not a new thought but good to be reminded.
  • I enjoy objects embedded into or onto other objects.
  • Humor or irony is +++
  • Noah Purifroy - African American. He is a problem solver.
  • Build things outdoors so weather impacts much of his (Purifroy) work.
  • Wonder full assemblages - Now Dig this Art and Black Los Angeles - 1960-1980
  • Kiki Smith - dead birds - this is imagery she uses lots - google it
  • Well placed shapes in big space
  • Art can be made from anything and the "finish" can be whatever is appropriate for the piece.
  • One man forging through the galleries....must be on a schedule.
  • Truth or Dare
  • I was prepared to hate the new work of artist Mark Bradford based on the images I had seen but love them in person.  They are huge, rough, black white, gray.  Lots of texture.  Complex surfaces.  ( Mark Bradford - Scorched Earth )
  • This work is elegant, frenetic, clumpy,dirty, orderly, organized, random.  
  • Very personal process.
  • Work is huge.

To read more about The Hammer Museum click HERE.
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