Yesterday we drove 4+ hours each way to Cincinnati to their beautiful museum to see the Tara Donovan show on its last day. And it was worth it.
The piece above was in the lobby, the only place we could take pictures. The exhibit was breathtaking, in a nearly literal sense. One piece, made from millions of clear white drinking straws undulating along a wall, created such strong sound-proofing that the guard told me to put my ear next to the piece. When I did, the sound was so deadened that it seemed to suck all the sounds out of my head, and made me completely deaf in that ear. It was amazing. Also, looking at the hole-end of millions of straws confuses your eyes; they cannot tell where to focus. So a most mundane material becomes something that silently, and colorlessly, affects (very strongly) two of your senses.
It was unbelievable.
Love,
Ruth
3 comments:
Dear Ruth,
I went to her images at the Ace Gallery, and she really is unbelievable. I seem to remember Ron telling me about the ripped tarpaper work. Tara has taken the concept of multiples to a higher level--- and for some reason I do not think of " waste " when looking at her work. I think because they become such strong and magical statements in their own right that they have completely become something else.
I can understand how you could be blown away seeing them in person. How on earth does she get the styrofoam cups to suspend from the ceiling like that?? And one image was just of scotch tape--- how on earth could she do that, getting the tape to stand up on its edge without sticking to its neighbor? And who knew toothpicks could form a cube and be held together with nothing but friction and gravity?
When the sound went away, I hope the tooth pain did too.
Love, mom
Dear Mom,
The museum had the scotch tape piece (amazingly, on loan from a collector--the logistics of pricing and buying and keeping a piece like that is mind-blowing) and the toothpick cube. There was also a cube made of silver straight sewing pins, and it was so beautiful, and had a magnetic pull to me that I found very hard to resist. Touch me...Touch me...
I didn't touch it, but I wanted to.
I think, especially when seeing the work in person, that one won't read the work as being wasteful. I think it does raise awareness and thoughts of the vast quantities of materials, but the transformation of them is so awe-inspiring that it elevates the whole process. To view art that not only creates an aesthetic experience, but a visceral one as well is pretty rare.
Love,
Ruth
Dear Ruth,
That is the key to multiples, I think. To be successful they have to elevate you to a place far from the single original. The old saying of " greater than the sum of its parts ", could become " the sum is greater than the part".
The totality of Tara's visual takes over in a magical way, like listening to a new song that is fresh and different--- just notes, after all, but what a way to put them together!
Visceral reactions are very rare indeed. Such a good feeling to get turned on to something!
I saw the "pins" cube too, on the website. How did she come up with the idea of the friction holding things?--- like the stacked broken safety glass cube. I can't imagine how long it would take to set up her entire show!
Love, mom
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