Blame Yoko
As a younger man I really didn't have much of an appreciation for modern or contemporary art. It didn't really click - I didn't understand it - It didn't make sense. Hence, I didn't really like it. Then one Saturday my girlfriend convinced me to go the SF Moma to check out the Yoko Ono exhibit. "The bitch that broke up the Beatles?" I asked. "Yes" she replied.
To be quite honest I probably wouldn't have gone if it had been some artist whose name I didn't recognize somehow. I figured why not, let's see why kind of voodoo magic this woman had in order to cast her spell on the iconic John Lennon. There were 3 distinct things I remember:
1) A random pile of small bricks encompassed by a circle in one room then a larger pile of random bricks encompassed by a circle in another room. People walking the exhibit would randomly pick up bricks and move them from one pile to another. Oddly enough I felt compelled to do the same thing. So I did.
2) A film loop of a fly landing on someone's skin then of a fly landing on someone's nipple. It just looped over and over again. Yet I sat there for at least 10 minutes watching the loop because I kept waiting or expecting or anticipating for something to happen. Nothing ever did.
3) A film of Yoko putting strips of paper with Japanese writing on them into glass bottles and then throwing the bottles off the top of a building. The strips of paper and shards of glass were now on display on the wall next to the video monitor. I examined each piece of Japanese writing even though I couldn't make heads or tails of any them. (I did study Japanese every day for 3 months one summer in High School)
The exhibit left me shaking my head and thinking WTF? I didn't have an appreciation for modern art but I always had/have an appreciation for WTF? If something during the course of the day leaves you shaking your head saying WTF, you are probably having a pretty interesting day. It was at that point I realized that this exhibit wasn't about understanding anything. It was about experiencing something - having an emotional expression or reaction to something. I got it! Fucking Yoko!
So now I try to check out as much modern art as possible.
Since I live in Zurich and most people don't really know many Swiss artists, I want to spread the word on two reknowned Swiss (Zurich) artists Peter Fischli & David Weiss. They work in various mediums: multi-media, film & photography, and sculptures made out of interesing materials such as sausage (Swiss people love sausage), charcuterie, and clay. Their collection of small clay sculptures made me laugh hysterically. "Pythagoras discovering his own theorem" made me cry because of the look on his face - hilarious! The inner engineer in me also appreciates some of the Rube Goldbergesque installations because they blow things up. That's always fun.
They have some work at the Tate Modern and the Guggenheim; however, they are represented by the Matthew Marks Gallery in NYC. I don't know how big of a collection they have but if you get a chance to see their small collection of work, you should do it.
Clay Sculptures