A
typical museum or art gallery’s function is to promote art and culture, and
make them accessible to the general public in a comprehensive manner. Alongside
the permanent collections, travelling exhibitions such as the Abstract Expressionist New York, gives
the public an opportunity to witness an even wider range of art work. Rather
than presenting Abstract Expressionism as a unified movement, the exhibition
presents the American art movement by dissecting it and presenting it in a chronological,
as well as thematic organization of works. It shows a gradual process by which
this movement, with its diverse styles, developed New York into the centre of
the International art world.
It
is quite common for exhibitions to have a linear chronological sequence format,
starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent work. While chronology
is used as a principle tool in organizing art work, the unidirectional
visitor’s route at the Art Gallery of Ontario also allows an easy transition
from one concept to another, without any distractions. The visitors enter the
exhibition through room 1. This room holds 7 paintings that show the roots of
Abstract Expressionism in the form of Surrealism. Most of the paintings date
back to the 1940s and happen to be some of the oldest work in the exhibition.
The room also includes Wall writings and information panels. These panels
explained how New York became the home to many renowned European artists from
the Avant Garde and surreal baranches, who had to flee from Europe during the
second World War.
Although
the themes and dates of the paintings changed from room to room, some of the
things that stayed uniform include wall colour, painting information panels and
theme panels on the wall. Each room contained one to three wall panels. The
designer of these panels divided up them up into four parts in order to have an
aesthetic balance. Each panel contained the title of the theme, a quotation
from an artist and the artist’s photograph. The painting information panels
where plain and white. They were placed on the floor, in front of the paintings
with one edge slightly elevated for a better view by the audience. Although the
colour of the walls remained white throughout the exhibition, their hue looked
different at different locations due to the variations in the intensity of the
overhead lighting.
The
lighting varied according to the mood associated with the theme of the rooms.
Room 1, which marked the beginning of Abstract Expressionism, was brightly lit
and had a welcoming atmosphere since it was the first setting that the visitors
got to experience. On the other hand, Room 7 was dimly lit, and corresponded
with the mood of the paintings in the room by Mark Rothko, who wanted to convey
emotions such as tragedy, ecstasy and doom through his work. The darkest area
in the exhibition was the corridor-like space between Room 7 and Room 8. This
tiny space had a movie theatre like atmosphere since it contained many video
recordings which the visitors could watch. The subject matter of these videos
included information about the artists’ lives, explanations about the painting
techniques used by artists and statements about the Abstract Expressionism
movement as a whole. Some of the other rooms also had books and audio
recordings, which served the same purpose.
While
going through the exhibition, viewers not only noticed the significant changes
in the dates, but also the evolution of the media used by the artists. The
audience started with flat paintings in Room 1, and came across photographs and
gelatine silver prints in room 3. While Room 4 contained drawings and
sculptures, the common media changed again in Room 5, where the viewers got to
see textured drip paintings by Jackson Pollock.
The
grand ending of the exhibition came with Philip Guston’s work from the 1960s.
While the first few paintings were from the same time as the end of World War
II, the last paintings of the exhibition marked the beginning of the cold war.
Both the themes and the structure of the floor plan followed a circular
pattern. Room 10 was designated as the
gift shop that sold merchandises that replicated famous Abstract Expressionism
concepts.
No comments:
Post a Comment