Sunday, November 9, 2008

Life on Mars

Sunday morning- having coffee and thinking that I should really go to the gym. I'm feeling a little lazy at the moment. Maybe I'll just do the eliptical later.

So I was thinking about the Carnegie International "Life on Mars". That was my second visit through the exhibit and I have to say, this is the best International in over a decade. I was disappointed with the last few Internationals and started to question whether the Carnegie had forgotten the mission statement of the Internationals, which were designed to inspire a dialogue about social and aesthetic concerns. This one is a homerun. If you haven't been there-go. I won't promise that you'll love every single artist in the show, I certainly didn't. There will always be a few works in any exhibit that you will not connect to or appreciate. Overall, I thought this was a fantastic representation of what is new and exciting across the globe in regards to contemporary art. I love the theme, not a literal search for life on another planet, but an exploration of what it means to be human today, a self portrait of humanity. Brilliant.

Highlights:
I Wish Your Wish- very clever. An intimite way of connecting people and their hopes, wishes, dreams. Stop and read before you begin to view the exhibit, it's a nice way to open your heart to the work you are about to see.
Cavemanman- interesting, it is literally a cave with several rooms. A message about consumerism and greed- I don't think the artist is a very optimistic guy! A must see.
A Thousand Daddies- I love the texture and presentation of theseworks .

Also, the video installations are very nice, possess an interesting energy.

Go see it before it ends in January.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The "I Wish Your Wish" was by far my favorite. I took ones that were in different languages. I love typography that just looks beautiful rather than having to necessarily be legible, or readable in this sense.