This artist-curated show was the first of its kind and was mounted at the Museum of
Guggenheim. The exhibition involved six contemporary curators where through their pivotal
solo shows in the past, they were able to prove their skills and prowess in the presentation of
various themes of art. The artists included Cai Guo-Qiang, , Holzer, Julie Mehretu, Paul Chan
Richard Prince, and Weems. From the exhibition, there was featuring more than three hundred
paintings, sculptures, paper works, and installations, which have never been showcased in the
museum. 1 From the show, cultural discourses of the artists time and one which have utopian
aspirations of early modernism. The display is in place to honor the museum's methods, and also
express the various perspectives of artists.
From the exhibition, Cai Guo-Qiang enhances showcasing works that highlight
Guggenheim's big names before them becoming cultural commodities. Paul Chan, on the other
hand, showcases an enticing essay,m which expounds on the significant roles of pleaser and
water as forms of renewal. Richard Prince and Julie Mehretu have focused on postwar
abstraction, to very diverse ends. 2 Carrie Mae Weems and Jenny Holzer, who are both women
and people of color, tell the story of a lack of diversity, which is significant challenges in modern
society.
.My most favorite art piece is Paul Jenkins's "The Prophecy" (1956), which is displayed
in a section curated by Richard Prince. This abstract piece is well expressed and dramatically
reflects the Richard Prince articulation of what abstractionism entails. The use of elements of art
on the composition and who it balances with the trend of artworks makes it one of the most
1 Giannachi, Gabriella. "Theatre, Exhibition, and Curation: Displayed and Performed by Georgina Guy
(New York: Routledge, 2016)." Performance Paradigm 14 (2018): 154-156.
2 Ibid
3
favorable pieces for looking out for in the exhibition. There are various motivations behind the
works of the artist-curators which are computably, thematically and formally selected . There
are separate sections and new readings of the collection, making the setting remarkable and very
different for a viewer visiting the museum. The six curators ensure to fully utilize the spaces in
place, to provide that there is an excellent arrangement of the art pieces through the application
of different themes and messages. The curating enables the artists to showcase their creativity
and innovation, where all the six artists portray color combination, placement of objects, and
creativity.
The six artist curators all worked towards creating a social and timely dialogue with the
history of Guggenheim. Each have a very different perspective for their collection and hence the
differing presentation. 3 Working with the other museum's curators and conservators, they have
probed the Guggenheim collection in storage, where they came across prominent artworks while
also brought to light outstanding contributions by lesser-known artists. Different creativity
levels, differing arrangements and six different artists all come together to make the museum
exhibition one of the best in the world. Their skills and prowess are unimaginable, whereby
from the differences and their various abilities they area bel to develop a state of the art
exhibition in Guggenheim Museum
II. Vija Celmins exhibit at the Met Breuer
This is a modern latest exhibition which is running from late this year (2019) to early
2020, where it has been made possible by the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation,
among other foundations. It is also co-organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It is a showcase of works of Vija Celmins. In the exhibition,
3 Giannachi, Gabriella, and Jonah Westerman, eds. Histories of Performance Documentation: Museum,
Artistic, and Scholarly Practices. Routledge, 2017.
4
contemporary art pieces are showcased, where "Vija Celmins pieces get to be exhibited to the
public. 4 She is one of the most significant artists in the last sixty years, where her work appears
to be timeless.
By looking at her compositions, one can stop, look, concentrate, and rediscover the world
through her prowess in developing creative art pieces. Her style of making artworks can be
showcased in the exhibition, where her method of articulating art piece, where the pieces show
the relationship between the art and our world. A majority of the pieces make one be able to
resonate and understand through art the nature of the environment and the changing relationship
to it. From the exhibition. It is apparent that the artists’ works from 1969 to middle 1970s are
also in the exhibition. They range from the photography of the desert floor, Apollo Lunar and
Imagery of galaxies.
In addition to the drawings and paintings, there are also sculpture pieces developed. A
personal favorite from the exhibition is Vija Celmins work, which is known as ‘To Fix the Image
in Memory I–XI (1977–83)’, where the artist used 11 found stones from her trip to the Arizona
desert and New Mexico. She then cast them into bronze, painted the bronze stones, hence
creating "redescriptions." From these pieces, it is therefore tough to tell the difference between
the real rocks, from the unreal ones. She refers to this process as "a work of meditation." The art
piece was finished in the early 80s, where it was representation of Vija Celmins coming back to
the painting world after she had not made any piece for ten years.
The night sky is another Vija Celmin’ s art work in the piece , she used both paint and
charcoal concurrently. After integration of charcoals, she is keen on erasing some of the parts of
the painting as way of erasing map skeins of stars , by the use of black and grey fields. This was
her first primary image. There are more contemporary paintings that are showcased in this
4 Wilson, Michael. "Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory." Art Monthly 432 (2019): 27-27.
5
exhibition. Some of them include —the surface of a shell (Shell, 2009–10) or exterior of a book
(Darwin, 2008–10). These two pieces represent a direct observation of the art and are also some
of the mot significant pieces by Vija Celmins.
On top of making exceptional paintings, she is also outstanding in making sculptures
using the concept of verisimilitude, where she had explored this concept in the later 1970s. As
much as the artist is not aligned with one particular medium or style, the exhibition is a
demonstration of her multiple works ranging from her time in California and New York. The
show represents her continued interest in serving the world through the use of art. 5 Her practice is
based on close looking and sustained belief in making art. On top of the art pieces, there is a
scholarly catalogue that illustrates her works, where there are contributions by scholars and
experts. The exhibition is not just physical but is also showcased in the Met Website, as well as
on various platforms of social media, e.g. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, via the hashtag of
#MetVijaCelmins.
5 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Calif.)., Gary Garrels, Russell Ferguson, Suzanne Perling
Hudson, Ian Alteveer, Briony Fer, Meredith A.. Brown, and Nancy Lim. Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in
Memory. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2018.
6
References
Giannachi, Gabriella, and Jonah Westerman, eds. Histories of Performance Documentation:
Museum, Artistic, and Scholarly Practices. Routledge, 2017.
Giannachi, Gabriella. "Theatre, Exhibition, and Curation: Displayed and Performed by Georgina
Guy (New York: Routledge, 2016)." Performance Paradigm 14 (2018): 154-156.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Calif.)., Gary Garrels, Russell Ferguson, Suzanne
Perling Hudson, Ian Alteveer, Briony Fer, Meredith A.. Brown, and Nancy Lim. Vija
Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2018.
Wilson, Michael. "Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory." Art Monthly 432 (2019): 27-27.