contemporary monkey

Zaha Hadid: one of the few soul-full

In the never-ending comparison between men and women, to me the variations are never as stark as they are dramatically overblown.  That philosophy proved to be true at the Pompidou Centre’s “Elle’s@centrepompidou” exhibition this past week.  Unfortunately, that’s a bad thing for women.  The works displayed were all 20th and 21st century pieces by women from The Centre’s collection.  I wonder if they’re all in a women’s locker room somewhere, separated from the male pieces?

When it comes to art after the 1950’s, women are equal to men in visual representing an idea. Never underestimate the power of disappointment to cross all boundaries.  Anything hanging on a wall at the Pompidou Centre seemed to fall into the Tracy Emin trap of making “objet weird”, made for shock purposes only.  From the vantage point of the 21st century, it all seems so quaint.  Women have successfully advanced since the 1960s, maybe not where they need to be, but certainly a giant leap for (wo)man-kind.  The social contract with men on display here is so outdated as to cause more confusion than create meaning.  One exception was Guerrilla Girls, who have rightly recognized women in the role of equal citizen, but convince us in their own humorous way.  Taking your audience forward is always more successful than reliving the past.

Typical of the installations was a Marina Abramovic video.  Whatever fascination Abramovic has with the concept of time, it’s not very interesting to the rest of us.  In a video that repeats itself, dulling its viewers with the phrase, “Art must be beautiful.  Artist must be beautiful.”  Abramovic brushes her hair in front of a camera.  For about 30 minutes.  The rumour is that the video continues with the same action, until she’s destroyed her hair and face.  I forced myself to watch 10 minutes of it, and it looked more like self-love than self-flagellation.  The point was made after 30 seconds, and it appeared that most people around me agreed by being swifter out of the room.

Louise Nevelson

A few areas of the exhibition that I thought succeeded though, were in the category of 3D.  Zaha Hadid is one of the most inventive designers of space, and the exhibition created a small place for photos and drawings of her buildings.  Louise Nevelson was also present through a monumental wooden piece called, “Reflexions of a Waterfall I”.  The form and space created transcended the smallness of the show’s purpose of female/male differences.  Along with Hadid, Nevelson made me think of the female sense of physical placement in space as something special and possibly unique.  I think.  I’m not sure why men couldn’t have that same sense, but maybe we don’t.  We’re better at parking cars, aren’t we guys?

In Art and Auction, June 2009 issue, Jack Kilgore gives good advice for appreciating art.  He says, “Art is a form of communication, and the pictures must have a soul.  They have to have something special.  You know it when you see it.”  I saw very little soul at the Pompidou, but I did witness confirmation of what I knew before going in.  While men and women might approach life from different perspectives, as contemporary artists they are alike: most of the time, self-indulgent with occasional traces of hope.