2008 Woodie Awards
"Out of Words" sparks talk on exhibit's message
David King '08
Issue date: 2/28/07 Section: Entertainment
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Steve Martin once said, "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."
Talking about contemporary art may get you just as far, and leave you feeling even more ridiculous.
On display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the second in the Notations exhibits, "Out of Words". This collection of contemporary art pieces uses words as not just a form of communication, but also as works of art.
The pieces range from poignant, to humorous, to puzzling - sometimes, all in the same work.
Contemporary art is one of the most polarizing forms, with experimental and just plain confusing pieces and obscure meanings, if there is meaning at all. Some people claim to get it, others don't get it, and still others claim that they get it because there is nothing there to get in the first place, and that those who get it and don't get it don't actually get it. Still with me?
Many visitors breezed through, scrunching their faces as if smelling something foul. Others stifled giggles at the absurdity of the art.
Compared to other modern and contemporary pieces at the museum, this exhibit is quite unique. As you walk into the gallery, you are greeted with a sound familiar to anyone who has spent time in a cheap motel or dive bar, the hum of neon lights.
"Three adjectives (red, yellow, blue)" by Joseph Kosuth is a neon light fixture that features the word "adjective" lit in those colors, respectively. According to its description, Kosuth "makes the words in which art is spoken about, defined, and interpreted the very materials of his art." It is amusing and subtle.
Well, as subtle as neon signs can be.
Also working with neon lights is Bruce Nauman, whose "The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths" features those words spelled out in hot pink and baby blue lights set in a tight coil. This work toys with the idea of artistic truth by arranging it in a medium usually reserved for messages such as "No Vacancy" or "Topless Dancers Nightly".
Talking about contemporary art may get you just as far, and leave you feeling even more ridiculous.
On display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the second in the Notations exhibits, "Out of Words". This collection of contemporary art pieces uses words as not just a form of communication, but also as works of art.
The pieces range from poignant, to humorous, to puzzling - sometimes, all in the same work.
Contemporary art is one of the most polarizing forms, with experimental and just plain confusing pieces and obscure meanings, if there is meaning at all. Some people claim to get it, others don't get it, and still others claim that they get it because there is nothing there to get in the first place, and that those who get it and don't get it don't actually get it. Still with me?
Many visitors breezed through, scrunching their faces as if smelling something foul. Others stifled giggles at the absurdity of the art.
Compared to other modern and contemporary pieces at the museum, this exhibit is quite unique. As you walk into the gallery, you are greeted with a sound familiar to anyone who has spent time in a cheap motel or dive bar, the hum of neon lights.
"Three adjectives (red, yellow, blue)" by Joseph Kosuth is a neon light fixture that features the word "adjective" lit in those colors, respectively. According to its description, Kosuth "makes the words in which art is spoken about, defined, and interpreted the very materials of his art." It is amusing and subtle.
Well, as subtle as neon signs can be.
Also working with neon lights is Bruce Nauman, whose "The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths" features those words spelled out in hot pink and baby blue lights set in a tight coil. This work toys with the idea of artistic truth by arranging it in a medium usually reserved for messages such as "No Vacancy" or "Topless Dancers Nightly".
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