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Installation at the Weisman
As you enter the Weisman Art Museum on campus of the University of Minnesota, this is what is directly to the left of the main desk:
Walk around the wall and look straight right, and you see this:
Back up and get a wider view, and this is what you see:
Still further back:
And finally, the opposite side of the room, standing next to the wall where the metal has crawled up and over and into this gallery:
What is this wondrous installation? It is Merge by Sharon Louden, made of thousands of pieces of specially cut aluminum flashing, that speaks to the aluminum-clad Frank Gehry-designed museum. Louden worked with a team of assistants for five weeks creating the installation. While it appears at first to be randomly organized, pieces of silver aluminum – and some of gold, blue and red – are carefully placed by the artist as highlights.
It is gorgeous in the sunlight…
Edit 4/10/12: Sharon Louden has a video about her work. Very interesting, and you can see the work from above, and with a moving camera — much better at accurately representing the interplay of light than my stills!
2 responses to “Installation at the Weisman”
I don’t get this kind of art. Maybe not appreciating this makes me less cultured. But to me, it looks like metal shavings I see at some of the metal working shops I inspect. Static electricity holding the shavings on walls and equipment. Maybe the artist was inspired by a metal shop and recreated it on a huge scale.
My impulse is to sweep it up, or vaccume it and make the beautiful floor tidy.
If a mess constitutes art, then surely my house is a museum
signed,
Boy from the Emporer’s New Clothes
I certainly don’t like all installation art. Just different tastes, that’s all! You’re right, it does look like metal shavings from a (giant’s) metal shop. I think metal shavings are pretty, and this caught the light well with the curves in the metal. What immediately ran through my mind was what kind of gloves did they wear?!
The museum has one of the best collections of antique Korean furniture, and one gallery had some beautiful examples – the Weisman has a broad collection. I saw a couple of O’Keefes, Mimbres pottery, etc.