Well color me impressed. I was able to visit the old patent office this weekend and was delighted at the transformation of the museums. If I may talk about what the building used to be in the recent past. The building was a dark, cramped, literally chopped into two parts. The open square building always had 2 walls that separated each museum from the other, pair this with cramped and dark hallways – this was not the place you thought of when you went to visit art. (probably ever)
The new building is a delight – bright, great lighting and spacious. The separation between the two museums has gone away as well – this is a brilliant idea. with the revitalization of the 7th street corridor, the building is in a newly active part of town and the gleam of this building should last a long time.
I know there is a school of thought as to why this museum exists as we have the National Gallery – which should be the defacto musseum (it is), however the national psyche just does not work this way. Really the Smithsonian has very little problem with this as well – how else can you understand the Hirshhorns’ place in the Smithsonian as well as the many specialist museums that are all over the country.
Lets get to the art.
I entered on the Portrait side – I’m not a portrait fan so I went to the left to get to the other side and immediately was in front a pretty good Mark Tansey painting (above). I think Tansey is often overlooked, so it was great to see one right off the bat. A few steps later I find myself in the folk art area and I see the newly cleaned The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly by James Hampton (below) made of tin foil and bottle caps – it gleams and sparkles like I have never seen it before. Also I came across a strong Rev. Howard Finster.
Moving forward, I came across the William Christenberry show. I didn’t even know this was on display. I’m a big WC fan so I spent about 30 minutes in there. The great thing about this presentation is the scope – it covers all of his work – photos, sculptures, paintings and lightly touches on his artwork about the klu klux Klan. It was great being able to see a wide range of Christenberry’s work – for me, this was a real treat. Had a star moment there as well – WC was giving a small group of folks a tour of his work and was really accessible to everyone going through the galleries answering questions if they had any. Pretty cool to see on a Saturday afternoon.
The third floor has the lincoln room – this is a great space and will be the premier space in the gallery – filled with natural light and comfortable sofa’s the room is big enough for large scale exhibitions to sit comfortably – the James Lee Byars show in New York last month would have been great in this space.
I also attended the William Wegman show I had been very curious to seehow that would be presented – it would be so easy to see a show of Man Ray and Fay Ray – and to forget about his earlier work in video and conceptual art, it would be equally easy to miss his newer work incorporating travel post cards in his paintings. I found a great balance between each part of his work. I’ve always enjoyed the Polaroids of the dogs however I was surprised by how many multiple images he made (images that are like a diptych or triptych) that expanded and contracted space in such a sophisticated way. Of course a large scale postcard work was there as well and although I prefer the one I saw at Art Basel Miami this winter it’s equally strong.
The museum as well as the Christenberry and Wegman show are highly recommended.
Please drop by tomorrow for my notes on Anslem Kiefer: Heaven and Earth at the Hirshhorn as well as a bunch of other stuff this week
Mark Tansey
Howard Finster
William Christenberry
William Eggleston
James Lee Byars
William Wegman