We also visited the Nicholas Robinson Gallery to see Michael Zansky's exhibition, The Western Lands. According to its website, the gallery "is founded upon a need to address the many angles of the swiftly-evolving contemporary art industry and a commitment to exhibiting exciting and radical contemporary art from around the world." While Zansky's types of installations are not what I would typically go see in an exhibit, they certainly fit into this category and were extremely interesting, using atypical juxtaposition as well as optical illusion and motion to play with viewers. My favorite piece was reminiscent of a ballerina twirling as if her life depended on it. The installation was primarily a combination of styrofoam, pink tulle (resembling a ballerina tutu), a fairy wand, prisms, a metal structure,
and grip stands. The ballerinaesque figure moves, quickly spinning round and round. With three prisms providing circular windows, we are looking at the figure through these prisms, each angle creating a different effect for the viewer's eye. I liked the way that the moving object and light changed through the prisms. At certain angles the moving figure was upside down, spinning just as fast as ever, and sometimes you could see reflected views through multiple mirrors at once. It is safe to say that art has come a long way from Impressionism (actually probably my favorite movement), and Edgar Degas' tiny dancers. It is truly amazing how such a different media can evoke a similar feeling, even just within me. The movement of Zansky's sculpture, playing with light, reflection, and refraction has a comparable feel to the movement of Degas' seemingly frenetic brush strokes. I'm glad I got to experience and taste Zansky's moving sculptures, which I may not have been driven to check out on my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment