I stumbled onto this exhibit by Ă“lafur ElĂasson at SFMOMA last month, while in San Francisco. A whole top floor is dedicated to showcasing his work to date, while on the first floor there’s a frozen BMW in an icebox (picture here, though if you are planning to be at SFMOMA, you should wait to step into the freezer and see it for yourself).
ElĂasson’s work is simple and accessible. He combines common materials such as mirrors, colored plexiglass, water, soil and lights, with simple shapes — rectangles, circles and polygons — in a nuanced, measured composition, to create an experience that makes seeing visible. For example, there’s a little window as you come up to the floor, looking out. Something you might ignore. However, if you pop your head in the recess of the window, you see that he had attached a mirror-lined box around the window, so if you look up, side or down, you see the reflection of yourself, the landscape outside, and the little yellow disk suspended in the box, in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope. You wonder what it’s about, and then realize, he just made your act of looking at a window interesting.
I loved the show. For a while after I got back to Seattle, I couldn’t shut up about it wherever I went. It didn’t matter who I was talking to, or what they were interested in. Clients, friends, shop clerks (well, not quite), they all had to listen to me rant about this guy, whose work is in display in San Francisco, not in Seattle (although, I hear that the show is touring, and am rooting for SAM to bring it over. Are you listening, SAM? I know I haven’t visited you since the remodel, but this would really make me get off my butt and come on down!).
As you can see from the one example I gave above, though, it’s pretty darn hard to talk about. Besides not being able to see the work, it’s just so much more fun to experience the artwork, than have someone talk about it. Or even look at the pictures in this fat catalog from the show that I lugged back to share with anyone who cares to let me annotate them.
And that brings me back to my point, and I think, the point ElĂasson makes with his show, entitled “Take Your Time.”
People have been telling me that galleries are increasingly relying on the internet for their sales, and that no one goes to art galleries to buy art. An artist friend mentioned today that there are artists making their living off on Ebay. I asked him whether he considered doing it himself, and he said, “nah, I like seeing people.”
Art should be about experience. And connecting with people. A good art asks questions, makes you feel like something. Makes you respond to it. Now that religions and politics are frequently the source of malcontents than inspiration, art is the last common place for the people (Sports too, yeah, sure, but I am no jock). A place to meet, greet and feel like you belong to the bigger group. Community. ElĂasson is aware of this urgency, and his work reflects his understanding of this. I think that’s why his Tate Modern show drew 2 million people.
So, if you are anywhere near San Francisco before the end of February next year, go. And if you aren’t, let’s support local art anywhere you are. I am going to an artwalk tomorrow.
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