Anyway, modern art is always provocative. Some people like modern art because of the bright colors or the wild designs. There are those who like modernism because it makes the viewer think. Some like the "issues" portrayed by different artists. Many art lovers like the modern idiom because of multi-media projects and installations (not to mention performance art!). Others just like art that doesn't really look like anything.
I don't want to pass judgment or indicate any "favorites." These are just some of the works that caught my eye yesterday.
Modern art is no longer just the Cubists or the Abstract Expressionists, though Expressionism is certainly well-represented at the museum. While they have quite a number of these, here are two of the painting they have by mid-20th century painters Jackson Pollack and Willem de Koonig, who are considered prime exemplars of the style.
Today, though, many Expressionist painters are more interested in realism and a rather industrial approach to art, as you can see from this acryllic tryptich of sorts.
Modern artists are no longer limited to just paint. Here is a wall-sized art work that qualifies as a "multi-media" installation. I've photographed it for you both from the front and from the side so you can see the three-dimensionality of the piece.
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Sometimes the three-dimensionality of modern art is much more pronounced. We saw several instances of large, hollow heads which had been cast and painted to look like real heads, then suspended from the ceiling so that they floated in the air.
The new collection is also surprisingly current, with art from the 21st century, including this large portrait of actor Christopher Reeve done shortly before his death in 2004 (incidentally, his wheelchair and Superman costume are both in the Smithsonian's collection at another museum).
Of course, what would a modern art museum be without something shocking? They have a whole room devoted to the photographic portraiture of controversial artist Andres Serrano, who famously received the ire of Senator Jesse Helms back in 1989 because of his photograph entitled Piss Christ, which depicted a crucifix submerged in a jar of the artist's urine. I was disapointed, though, that neither Piss Christ nor Madonna and Child II, his other highly controversial work, appeared in his room.
Throughout the centuries, art has depicted the female nude form, whether classical statuary or Botticellian nudes or Rubenesque beauties, and modernists are no different. Here is a modern museum painting entitled Saluting the Female Nude. They're a little too small to see, but in the painting's foreground are some military men saluting the central picture.
There were also the token contemporary nude art works. On the left is a painting of twin nude males in bed. On the right is a glowing wall artwork called "Mom and Dad" made up of little miniature lightbulbs in a combination honoring of both husband and wife and of the pointillism pioneered in the late 19th century by French artist Georges Seurat.
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We also saw several examples of how modern art and architecture merge in modern room design.
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Some of the modern art can be fun, too. Here's a work saluting the American information superhighway.
 | Here's a closeup of that big neon map. You'll notice that behind each state are a series of small video monitors. Each monitor shows films loops from movies or newscasts which are appropriate to that particular state. See The Wizard of Oz playing in Kansas and Oklahoma! playing in Oklahoma? |
And, finally, here's another crowd pleaser: this wall hanging is a car license plate from every state in the country that has the words that spell out the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States.
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