This great big cube was sitting out in the middle of the room at MoMA, part of “Vital Signs: Artists and the Body.” Before I knew it I was running my fingers along the boards , concrete and wire mesh. I was completely lost in the object, something that clearly had a history, when I heard the guard yelling, “No touching. No touching.” On the wall behind me, across from a Ana Mendieta performance video, a screen was playing, footage that captured the Canadian artist, Jackie Winsor, stuff the piece with newspaper and surrounding it with wood before lighting it on fire.
Gaston LaChaise’s “Floating Figure” used to sit on a pedestal in the Outdoor MoMA sculpture garden. I miss that but every time I visit Matisse’s ”The Back” the work gets better. Of course it is the same as it was 100 years ago but my appreciation of the form he constructed has only grown. It’s as if he decided to make it really difficult for himself. Figurative sculpture where the model has turned her back to him and flattened her form so he can show his mastery by pulling her form from the shallow slab of clay.
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