Painting by Andy Warhol
The Berliner Hbf was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t really know what to expect but as I saw the Beuys stuff, and then the rest of the post 60s gang I was overjoyed because this was the art I knew least about and totally coincidentally had the least respect for. Finally here was my chance to look at Warhol in the face and spit on him. It didn’t really work out that way.
- Fluxus. “Art is life. Life is art.” This whole concept and the potential of conceptual, action art done in real life situation has become very interesting to me. The structure of reality is so set, that to break it in it’s reality is a powerful artistic action or event. The other day a guy dropped a chip on the Berlin subway. A chip from McDonalds. They were tourists. Cool, hipster tourists. I was sitting at the back with my bike. I stood up, walked over, and whilst checking my iPhone picked up the chip from the floor and started eating it. I wanted to see the reaction of people. Most turned away. Some laughed. There was a lot of fear around. Something unexpected happened. If this could happen, what else could happen. What else that is more dangerous. This stuff reminds me of the Improvisational theatre guys.
- Joseph Beuys has an entire wing here and it is amazing seeing how innovative he was and the boundaries that he pushed. He was constantly productive, in many medium throughout his time. Constantly thinking new things.
- He actually used video in a way which can compete with the film directors, by breaking the rules. He has one video of him looking scared and hurt and just looking at you with his eyes. It was effective. By learning the rules of a genre an artist has a base to break them and confound expectation in the most effective way. 10 points for obviousness.
- Read a great quote from Nietzche here. I need to read Nietzche again now that I have been thinking and acting in this new way to see if I can see deeper and longer into him.
- Idea: put a clock next to art works counting out the seconds in some gallery.
- I’d never tried to smell an artwork in a museum but I started to here. One of Beuys’ works didn’t smell so good. I didn’t like it.
- I still have so much left to learn. So much left to do. What do I do with all these conceptual ideas? The answer: do them. Work.
- The idea of impermanent art. Art that has to break into action is an excellent one.
- Beuys could draw too. Who’d have thunk it?
- Him putting his pantsuit on a canvas is awesome self explanation. He was so persistently creative.
- Had good, if grotesque, sculptural skill. He makes you wonder how he did such varied work with such apparent ease. A sign of the very best artists.
- His disrespect of everything, including the logistics of transportation was admirable. There were some cheese like granite pieces that must have taken a huge truck each to move. Spectacular. They were pretty shit though. My aesthetics don’t really gel with his at all.
- My urge to act up in a museum is so high. It should be the least quiet place on earth. It’s full of these amazing ideas which makes you want to make your own. A museum should be boisterous.
- The move to acting instead of reacting, or producing instead of consuming is one of the most difficult for people.
- Was there effort involved must be a key question of art.
- It is really difficult to shock an artist. There are beyond most barriers. Are torturers artists?
- Doing art to yourself because that is where it begins and where it ends. See Gunter Brus.
- Volleys are too loud for museums. Good!
- Keller’s dedication is impressive.
- Saw some busts which were intensely observed. Very close attention to detail. I wish I could have touched them. It’s not very hard to imagine that sculpture is the thing whose process would make you the most observant of what the human body actually looks like. Relevant for my photography.
- Kruger is a bit fucking obvious. Ripped tiny kids dresses stuck to distressed, bent metal? Give me a break. But A+ for effort and size.
- Warhol. Conflicted, conflicted, conflicted. The rather banal recontexualisation of our image soaked times is nice sometimes, but not that deep. Yes he is saying that our times are not that deep that culture has become a mainstream thing as opposed to previous ages where it belonged to the learned and cultured but surely he could have done it with more effort? I can’t quite like him, but want to know more. Want to see more of his work.The size of Mao was really impressive and it is pretty. I see after all these pieces why Gursky and other photographers went big. It’s hard to compete otherwise. What process did Warhol use to make his paintings? Did he use helpers? Does it matter? Doesn’t Helmut Newtown use assistants? I liked Newton’s portrait of Warhol. Feels right.
- Franz Gertsch had an amazingly modern subject of two girls getting ready for a night out in a large painting that was painted so photographically that it actually shocked you. Sheer skill, powers of observation, and patience. I wonder if skill and patience can sometimes be an impediment to good thinking in a work. You need to think too.
- What happens to a face when it is so seen. It says more than it says. I’m thinking of Warhol’s Elvis.
- It’s an ugly thing when the imagination has lost touch with a valid, intellectual (even if that is Dionysian) purpose.
- Rauchenberg. Dark and degrading. Don’t like his sense of proportions.
- Thomas Struth is funny. Technically very good.
- The woman urge must be hinted at. What are the details that make you feel like you do? Hair? Face? Movement? Is it all very boring? Is it pornography? Soft core? Gah!
- Baselitz sculpture of woman very good. Chips and red paint. Great size. Great restraint! Ha.
- Why would you make art for a music cover? So millions could see it you dumb ass.
Posted 2 years ago
