Flying Wolves as Art

So this weekend I was a good girl and actually paid FULL price to go to a museum. I usually HATE doing that, and it takes a big and amazing show to make me want to go to it. The show that drew me in was a Chinese artist named Cai Guo-Qiang. He's primarily a sculptor. So of course that peeks my interest even more. The image that drew me to the show was of these wolves flying through the air and hitting a plexi wall. I found it humorous and smart. So we went up to the famous Guggenheim yesterday to go see the show. The first thing you come across, falling down the center shaft of the building are cars with these lights coming out of them. The lights are colorful and flicker at intervals like fireworks. I like to go from top to bottom at the Guggenheim, better flow and not as exhausting walking up (especially after how sore my muscles were from my test on Saturday). The top started with his drawings he does with gunpowder. They are beautiful. These are made with him brushing on actual gunpowder onto paper mounted on boards. He places natural objects and paper cut outs to create different shapes. He'll even place larger shot pieces to make a bigger explosion mark on the paper. Once he has the gunpowder laid out the way he wants, he then lights the powder so it explodes and creates burn marks on the paper. This is made as a physical response to his firework pieces he does. It's like his sketches for the firework display. They are beautiful.



The sculpture pieces gave me different feelings. Some worked and some didn't. I loved the large old ship that is shipwrecked on a beach of broken porcelain plates and figurines. I loved the boat that is skewered with arrows. I love the way that they displayed these pieces in the museum. Where you are able to go around the pieces and go under them and view them up close. There isn't anyone stopping you from getting close. You actually have to stop yourself almost from hitting some of them, such as the wolves. The pieces that disappointed me were actually the wolves, the tigers and this one where you stand in a long line to ride a boat in a "river" in the museum. That one was really weak. I wanted to love these so badly, but unfortunately, as a sculptor i was disappointed in the workmanship of the animals. I couldn't get past it. I was praying that i could be ignorant and not look at it, but nope, it was there yelling at me. Saying- we are poorly made! And don't get me wrong, they weren't that poorly made either and it's not like i am able to really make this or come up with the idea. I think the IDEAS for both of these were great, but I wanted so badly for these animals to be real. I wanted them to be stuffed real animals that were positioned. These were recreated and the joints didn't even bend where they should. Hell, even had their paws flat as though it was standing on the ground when it was in the air. It's the little things like that that bother me. It's like spell checking.... have someone go through your shit and fix it, you know? And these horrible plastic tongues sticking out. The tigers weren't as bad, since they had arrows piercing them and that was what drew your attention.

The last sculpture that didn't move me fully, but could be interesting to others is a piece is "Rent Collection" These are a series of figurative sculptures in varying stages of the sculpting process. There are a lot of armatures, partially set up armatures and some stared with clay, some finished and then some falling apart because the clay has dried. It is almost as though you have come across Pompeii. All the work is there, clay balled up below the sculptures as though the artists have disappeared quickly. The figures are rather striking and the expressions and positions they are in are very nice. I think people would find this interesting in how sculpture is made, but it just reminded me of my past jobs where i had to clean up after messy artist....

Despite paying full price, and my disappointment in the wolves, I did overall enjoy the show. I had some nice surprises. I do recommend going to see the exhibit. Don't be an art snob like me and look past the flaws i pointed out.