Feed Your Head

The passage near where this Bill Viola piece is mounted reads:
“The Greek word for martyr originally meant ‘witness.’ In today’s world, the mass media turns us all into witnesses to the suffering of others. The martyrs’ past lives of action can help illuminate our modern lives of inaction. They also exemplify the human capacity to bear pain, hardship, and even death in order to remain faithful to their values, beliefs, and principles. This piece represents ideas of action, fortitude, perseverance, endurance, and sacrifice.”

The special shows at the Memorial Art Gallery are usually the draw, but the collection itself is often better than the shows—especially under the direction of the last two directors. The place has come to life with exciting new acquisitions, adventurous pairings, and the rotation of works on paper from the collection—works like the Claes Oldenburg prints that can only handle a limited amount of light. It is the perfect place to feed your head.

Picasso made about 200 linocut prints during the last fifteen years of his life, and there is a fascinating show of the working and final stages of three in the Lockhart Gallery now. “Picasso and the Progressive Print” shows the artist having fun with his Spanish heritage and mythology.

“The Abandoned” by Georges Rouault is one of my favorite pieces in the collection. It’s oil paint over an intaglio print on paper mounted to Masonite, and the theme is part of his Miserere series. My father had four Rouault pieces hanging over the couch in our living room when I was growing up—plates he had cut out of a Rouault book. The way they were painted, the religious subject matter—I found them so mysterious.

Since the inception of the Media Arts Watch Gallery at the MAG, they have had one sensational installation after another. Rashid Johnson, one of Hauser & Wirth’s artists, has a video installation called “The Hikers” there now. And just outside that gallery is this beautiful Jean Arp bronze.

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