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<\/a><\/p>\nLets get to the art.<\/b>
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<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The museum as well as the Christenberry and Wegman show are highly recommended.<\/p>\n Please drop by tomorrow for my notes on Anslem Kiefer: Heaven and Earth<\/i> at the Hirshhorn as well as a bunch of other stuff this week <\/p>\n Mark Tansey<\/a> 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…<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
Howard Finster<\/a>
William Christenberry<\/a>
William Eggleston<\/a>
James Lee Byars<\/a>
William Wegman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"