ART: FIBER, BRONZE, PAINT
On our recent trip to New York, we spent some time at the Met Breuer. As it happened, two featured exhibits were by female artists, one a retrospective of a living artist’s career and the other a focus on the fiber art and sculpture of an Indian artist.
I was captivated by Phenomenal Nature by Mrinalini Mukerjee. The larger than lifesize intricately woven flax, hemp and cotton pieces range from gods of the forest to nymphs to a flower. They are usually one muted or dark color, but a few incorporate other color strands. Later in her life (she died in 2015), Mukerjee did a series of bronze sculptures that are rounded or based on a dome shape.
To Fix the Image in Memory is a review of Viji Celmins’ more than 50 year career and encompasses the top two floors of the museum. Her early works are a mix of paintings of common appliances like a space heater, a hot plate, or a lamp, as well as sculptures of familiar objects such as a pink eraser. These are very accessible to the viewer.
I found the later works, endless studies of the ocean’s surface, starry skies, and webs, which are shades of gray and black, much more challenging and less visually appealing. They are stripped down and there are only subtle differences between some of the works in a series. But this exhibit has garnered a lot of publicity and praise including the lead article in a recent New York Times’ Art section.
Note: Header photo is one of several horse sculptures in Freedman Plaza at the entrance to Central Park. Text and photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
