Barbara Kruger A Way With Words

 

Barbara Kruger’s A Way with Words provides the audience a striking and immersive world through the lens of Graphic Design, unapologetically viewable from every upper story of the Museum of Modern Art. The combination of the crisp sans-serif type, black-and-white design, and the sheer size of this installation is hard to miss in contrast to the rest of the gallery exhibitions. Kruger plays with the eye through the variations in direction and type treatment, wrapping all sides of the room to mesmerize the user that is directly within the artwork. She also makes use of horizontal and vertical space, adding dimensionality to the walls through the use of circles and pillars, and adding a hint of color through the green “x” icons that mark specific words. The assertive nature causes the user to look everywhere where there are always words to read, even at their footsteps. Contrastingly, when the audience explores other sections of the museum, there are long, narrow windows that allow individuals to peek into the space. The parallels between what we can see within and out of the exhibition, including some of the language of “you”, “unseen”, and “invisible” that lie on the walls, engulf the user before, during, and even after the experience. Never cautious about pushing the boundaries, Kruger’s blunt text treatment invites conversations about feminism, individualism, and consumerism within her work. Interestingly, the audience within this space look extremely small when viewed from the top floor, erasing any trace of individualism as they become a part of the work itself. Time seems to stop in this static space, and the play in dimensionality within the work is certainly memorable, regardless of age or gender.

-Yujin Kwak

Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear

    One of the strangest experiences in museums is witnessing fine art become the backdrop of someone's Instagram post. Wolfgang Tillmans' retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art tends to attract an audience that utilizes his imagery in a similar way, specifically a large photograph of Frank Ocean that has reached Mona-Lisa-level shares on social media. The casual, quick pictures taken in front of this image are reminiscent of the way the artist himself photographs. This method, sometimes referred to as "democratic photography" has been used by many of the greats, such as William Eggleston or Stephen Shore. These three artists all follow a similar philosophy that“no particular subject is more or less important than another”(Eggleston). But in a world where most people have access to cameras and almost everything has been photographed, it is difficult to find something remarkable in the democratic images of Tillmans.
    The show is a massive expanse of work, including portraits, politics, celebrities, astronomy, and more. The artist curates his retrospective like all of his shows, going against the typical gallery frames and instead opting for tape and clips to hang the images. Along with the unique hang, the images range from 4x6 mini prints to mural sized. Because the show is so different, a lot of the conversation seems to fall on the orientation of the prints more than the content of the images. Many seem to rely on the relationships between others on the wall, rather than being good enough to stand on their own. The democratic treatment of both the images and the hang in such an iconic space feels more self-righteous than unpretentious.

-katherine

Any and Jennifer Khoshbins' Sun Seekers at LMCC

     When we enter sisters Amy and Jennifer Khoshbins’ exhibition space, or the “sunport”, we are asked to relinquish our phones and shoes, allowing our once shielded senses to experience the full breadth of their lively sculptures, installations, and performances in their show “Sun Seekers”. The gallery space was cultivated with light and airiness, the work itself divided into four sections, or “portals”, representing different aspects of childhood play, building a church for sun worshipers. 

    This space is a response to the world’s concerning influx of inert spirits, a result of the quarantine period during covid, persisted by codependent relationships with our “wreck-tangles”, our phones. The sisters seek to promote what is now critical soul-reconciliation through mindfulness of the senses, inviting participants to feel, sit in, lay on, sway in, and even wear their work. We can experience unbridled joy in the visuals alone: velvet, felt, sequins, all found in fully saturated warm hues, joined by more naturally found shades of leaf-green and teal. A plushy vulva-inspired daybed clad in vibrant pinks, reds, and deep purple emanates the sweet smell of flowers, tempting participants into a nap. In the far corner, weighted cloaks suspend from the ceiling, with room for up to three participants to pop their head out from under at a time. Over in the fourth portal, a large rug shows imagery of flowers, leaves, and snakes. This scene immediately connects us back to “playtime”, opposing the loneliness of our computer-based lifestyles and reintroducing our bodies to our younger minds. Recalling a time of isolation, where we were reluctant to interact with others in the revealingly conflict-riddled world around us, we find solace in the Khoshbin sisters’ playroom.

-Maggie