Modern Art or Mere Imagination?

 

Modern Art or Mere Imagination?

We all understand art differently, but the commonest factor generally is that we enjoy only what we like and can appreciate or decipher the meaning or message of.

Art is a diverse range or product of human activity that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas, so say Merriam Webster and Oxford dictionaries.

Coming to the point, I appreciate everything beautiful, right from scenes of nature, animals and birds, humans or man-made architecture or artistic things and craft, if it captures my attention and pleases my eye and my mind. It is with nothing less than wonder that I look at  creations considered  artistic and try to think what was going on in the creator’s mind. However, much as I would like to own or possess some of these beauties I do not bring them home (the living ones might not even agree to come with me).

There is, however, one category- modern art, which has always flummoxed me. Someone had, whether in jest or truthfully, told me that whatever you do not understand among art is classified as modern art. That would mean modern art should certainly be a no-no for me. Should I get into things which are beyond my limits of comprehension? 

But the year-end saw me becoming adventurous in this respect and on my recent visit to New York, I took up the challenge of going to the Mecca of modern art, the Museum of Modern Art or MOMA, as it is commonly known. I had promised myself that I would go with an open mind. Please take note, these are my, a casual observer’s observations, questions, guesses. I am neither trained in appreciating art nor have any claim to understanding it, let alone reviewing it.

I went up and down the five floors looking/nodding/smiling/frowning at or even talking to the exhibits. For me it was merely two categories - the ones which I understood and the others, which caught my attention otherwise.

There were hundreds of exhibits on display including photographs and videos, but your time and patience could be in short supply, so I am sharing only about a dozen to make my point. 

Some of the art set my imagination aflame, e.g Salvadoran American artist Guadalupe Maravilla's Disease Thrower # 16, 2021(photo below). The note with it said that it was 'made of gong, steel, wood, cotton, maguey leaves, metal, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, paint, straw, glass and objects collected from a ritual retracing the  artist's original migration route'. 

Two other similar-looking works of the artist were also perhaps depictions of his migratory route. They gave me the brilliant idea that the designs with some additions and changes in how to use the various materials employed, can keep the SUPW (Socially Useful Productive Work) or craft or ‘best from waste’ classes in our schools easily going for two academic sessions.

Yet as a mere viewer what I enjoyed more was looking at the huge snake made up of similar materials and taking up most of a wall (photo on top). 

Then there was this Empty Chair or The Last Colonial by Antonio Ossario.

For my own education I am writing down how an artist who works at MOMA sees this as a 'repository of energy'.

candy coloured plastics and glass lure us to discover shells, nails, bones and even,weapons embedded in this complex assemblage. Prosthetic eyes stare back at us and two small wooden figurines flank a central "empty chair"... a naturalised American citizen, the artist confronted the violent history of Catholicism and colonialism. Empty Chair or The Last Colonial brings together found objects of indeterminate origin and a surreal mix of natural and artificial materials- evoking an unsettling array of relics, icons, curios and totems as if vestiges of collision of cultures.  

I wish there was a synopsis of what was going in the mind of Eva Hesse (1936-1970) when she conceptualized or designed the following 19-unit  fibreglass and resin exhibit.

Trying to find the meaning and message behind most of the installations clearly exposed not only my ignorance of art and understanding of how an artist's mind works, but also the minds of the reviewer and the appreciator which can find meaning and depth in the abstract. Perhaps you can help me understand what the following says to you. 

Should I be embarrassed as I admit that I did not understand one bit this original design of Terry Adkins (1953-2014) made of 'wood, steel, rope and tape'?

Going past beige, brown and grey, my Indian eyes enjoyed the splash of colours in the ones below.

The wire horse and similar creations reminded me of the men who craft bicycles, motorcycles and rickshaws of metal wires on roadsides in india and which most of us liked to buy during our trips to the market.

Coming out on the road into the cold wind under the darkening skies in my heart I thanked all those sculptors from Chennai whose working style I had the good fortune of observing closely. I even had the opportunity of asking questions and explanations from Thejomayee Menon, Asma Menon, Sailesh BO,  Jacob Jebraj, who had crafted sculptures from scrap given by the Integral Coach Factory during art shows in 2017 and 2018. These sculptures are installed at the Chennai Rail Museum, along the Avadi Road and Konnur High Road, giving Chennai residents’ eyes a free feast to enjoy on the roads.

                                                                                                  -Anupama S Mani