Go, Great Guggenheim

Solomon and Wright

               
               Frank Lloyd Wright, architect of the Solomon Guggenheim museum, once stated that the Metropolitan Museum of Art looked like “a protestant barn” compared to the Solomon Guggenheim museum. In fact, the Solomon Guggenheim museum (also known as the Guggenheim), is in itself a work of art. When I visited New York on the 16^th of January, the Guggenheim museum’s ribbon-like structures stood out amid boxy skyscrapers and flats. The interior was no less amazing: along an upward spiral path was a brilliantly designed ceiling that matched the organic design of the exterior walls.

                
               I was also drawn by its famous collection of impressionist, early modern and contemporary art. Like its design, the Guggenheim seemed to specialize in abstract art like those of Seurat and Kandinsky. I decided to go into detail of works that were popular with visitors, as well as works that the visitors found interesting.

The Founding Fine Arts

           What attracted the most attention was the Solomon Guggenheim Founding Collection, the first collections of Solomon Guggenheim. I found Kandinsky’s work to be the most flamboyant in terms of colors and shapes, as his vivid use of prime colors and basic geometric shapes truly caught attention. For many of the visitors, it was the usage of color and lines that truly hit home. “I don’t understand some of the things the man is trying to explain,” said a visitor, “but I love how he expresses himself.” “I’m just in it for the shapes,” explained another visitor.

          Naturally, the work of Picasso also garnered enormous attention. Unlike Picasso’s other works or that of Kandinsky’s, Picasso’s works at the Guggenheim used copious amounts of grey and brown. Picasso’s distinct usages of cubes were also eminent in his artworks, combined with the dull colors, and reminded many visitors of the streets New York. “The paintings like a city within a city,” said an onlooker. Other people, however, had different opinions about Picasso’s works. “The sharp angles, along with the unclear but distinct shapes, gives the subject ‘volume’”, remarked a visitor.

          Seurat’s work, unlike Picasso’s or Kandinsky’s, was less about the representation of the idea and more about the usage of techniques. His famous paintings composed of tiny dots gave visitors an impression of painstaking work put into his paintings. The colors of the paintings, softened by the usage of dots, blend with each other and gave the visitors an impression of serenity as well as nostalgia. “Everything matches with each other, and the paint flows with the painting rather than to contrast with it.”


Photographs of Persona

           
         At the exhibition halls of the Bohen Foundation and the Deutsche Guggenheim Commissions, there is a stark contrast with the paintings of the other exhibits. The grayscale photographs (with a small number of them in color) present the ideas of the artist without any divergent interpretations that come from vague paintings. I’ve decided to look into the works of Sally Mann, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Sam Taylor-Wood. Many of the photographic artworks was taken by Hiroshi Sugimoto, and from his photos, it is clear that he was a minimalist. His photos contain a single subject, with no additional objects, backgrounds or persons. Many visitors felt solitude when the viewed his photographs. “The images leave a strong impression, because there are no other objects in the photos to dilute the main image,” commented a tourist.

         
         The photographs of Sally Mann and Sam Taylor-Wood, unlike Sugimoto’s, do contain a background. The background, say the visitors, is able to give the viewer more detail into their subject matter. The background also seems to emulate a storyline alongside the subject, giving the viewers an opportunity to interpret the photo uniquely. “It is about a man living in a dreary city, and continuing a monotonous existence within this world,” explained a visitor after observing Soliloquy IV by Sam Taylor-Wood. “It’s about a man who lives a secretive existence amid the vast city,” explained another observer of the same artwork.


Wacky Works

              
              A question that has posed me when I went to report on MoMA could also be found in the Guggenheim. For the visitors, some of the works that were in display did not qualify as art at all. When the visitors saw the Surface Veil III by Robert Ryman, many ridiculed it for containing virtually no brush or pen stroke. “No depth and just a scam – that is the Surface Veil,” scoffed a visitor who went to look the artwork. “He’s making modern art a travesty by assuming the notion notion of ‘if a person calls it art, its art’ far and wide,” remarked a tourist from England.

            
               However, some visitors gave the artists credit. “I like the sculpting of the various pieces and how they are laid out by the artist,” complimented a visitor from China. “I think it’s unique to step away from painting skills to the thought processes of the mind,” said another. The number of people who liked the so-called art numbered only four people out of 30 people interviewed. 10 of the 30 people did not like the art at all, and 16 of the other visitors said that they hated it.

              Whether an artist uses paint, a camera, a chisel, or nothing at all, art is constantly evolving. Guggenheim is an excellent timeline of various artistic styles and techniques, but it is something more. It is a sanctuary for artists to express their ideas, visitors to learn more about themselves, and progressive artists to propel the artistic world into new levels.