I visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) many weekends.
Museums, galleries, performance venues, art in general are major benefits of living in New York City. There are other benefits, of course; but my favorite benefit is seeing the world’s most famous art, artists, and performers either randomly or in specific, planned situations. Encountering Brad Pitt at the corner of 26th and Fifth, alone, just the two of us nodding a hello to each other and being on our ways, watching David Bowie do a full show at Jimmy’s Bronx Cafe, standing in line for an exhibit with Laurie Anderson, bumping (literally and accidentally) into Patti Smith on Prince Street. It’s just the way the city works: Regular people doing regular things.
But … MoMA is a real gift. Some of the most famous works hang there (Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Leger, and so on), and if you’re a member, sometimes (though rarely) you get access to their works before the unwashed masses arrive for the day.
Today I enjoyed spending time, relatively alone, with both Ana Mendieta, the late Cuban-American artist whose work embraces the human body and the natural earth; and Yoko Ono, whose work as a member of Fluxus predates any association with rock and roll. Most still don’t know that she was a significant and important artist before she met a Beatle.
Yes, I also saw work by Pollock, Krasner, Motherwell, Rothko, Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol, Serra, and many others; but today it was the three short films by Mendieta along with one of her sculptures, and a fun piece by Ono that made my morning complete.
In 1961, Ono placed a piece of canvas on the floor of a gallery and invited people to walk on it. Eventually, it was cut and three framed works of art were created. The work has been done again, a number of times since 1998; including last year at the Tate Modern’s Yoko Ono retrospective, in London.
One of the original three installed at MoMA, originally hung on a wall; but eventually (and brilliantly) rested on a short pedestal so it can be viewed from above.
I spent a little extra time with it today, and made the short video above.
If you haven’t seen it, go to MoMA and see it
