My visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

 

In this blog post I'm going to share with you six pieces that made the biggest impact on me during my visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.  I'm ashamed to admit this but I haven't been to the Albright-Knox in well over ten years.  While I remember some of the pieces, most of the pieces on display were new to me.  This is a great time to get to the gallery, they are currently featuring Pop Art with the Sweet Dreams, Baby Life of Pop, London to Warhol.  To see such iconic pieces up close and personal was well worth the price of admission.  I loved the exhibit. 

Which artworks made an impact or impression on me? Why?

One piece that made an immediate impression on me, albeit a negative one, was this piece by Claes Oldenburg, Untitled (Cigarette Butts), 1968, Varnished cigarette butts mounted on wood.

My initial response was this "Um what?? Dirty cigarette butts varnished to a piece of wood? Art?"  Being at such a beautiful gallery amongst amazing pieces of art is basically discarded trash.  This piece just didn't sit well with me at all.  I felt almost offended by this piece.  I just kept looking at it thinking, okay what am I missing?  I would walk away and come back and still was just not getting it.  I mean if its a dig on smoking and the bad effects it can have on your health but I really don't think that's what this artist intended.  As I continued on, I kept flashing back to this piece and laughing to myself.  What a joke.  

Another piece that had the biggest impact on me was Andy Warhol's Jacqueline Kennedy III from the portfolio "11 Pop Artists, Volume III," 1965, Screen Print From an edition of 200

Here Warhol took photographs taken of Jackie Kennedy before and after her husband President John F Kennedy was assassinated and displayed them together.  The images are haunting.  The images portray different emotions the first lady was going through.  The feelings of happiness, shock, numbness and grief-ridden.  Warhol has done a beautiful job of freezing this moment for us all, while I wasn't alive when this terrible tragedy occurred, seeing a piece like this brings it to life for me and makes me feel, even if only a fraction of what it must have been like for the nation and most importantly for this family to have someone so young and full of life taken away in an instant.

 

Which artworks do I feel a connection with? Why?

 

I felt an immediate connection with Georges Seurat's Study for Le Chahut, 1889, Oil on canvas.

I have adored Seurat's work from afar from a very young age, to see this piece in person was very exciting for me.  To be able to see up close the pointillism coming to life was fantastic.  The detail is amazing, I know from the text that he often painted the frame as well to further bring the painting to life, seeing this in person gave me so much more appreciation for Seurat and the all the work that went into his paintings.  The color palette he used was another aspect that grabbed my attention, the vibrancy of the reds and the pinks contrast perfectly with the painted blues on the frame. Makes me feel like I'm at a Parisienne theater enjoying a lively Can Can show.  C'est Si Bon!!

Another piece I felt a connection with was Roy Lichtenstein's Picture and Pitcher, 1977, cast executed 1978, Painted bronze.

 

The simplicity of it is what first struck me and then the fact that while its three dimensional it still had the feel of a two dimensional piece.  The way that the legs are offset towards the center create an almost flatness to the piece at the center.  I was worried the picture I took of the piece wouldn't capture that well but I think it turned out great.  The yellow adds life to the piece while the white adds a sense of comfort and home.  I also loved the simple yet contrasting color scheme of this piece, just three colors yellow, white and black.  The use of lines in this piece is also quite interesting, like the artist was sketching with the bronze.  Especially the use of the cross hatch lines.

Which artworks would I like to know more about? Why?

One piece I would like to know more about would have to be the enormous piece on display by Jackson Pollack, Convergence, 1952, Oil on canvas

The piece is almost the entire wall, so of course I immediately wondered, just how do they transport and get pieces of this size to and from galleries? Another thing I've often wondered about Pollock's work is just what is it he wants us to feel and think?  Convergence of what exactly?  Life, people, societies or simply the colors of his painting coming together to create a unified piece? 

 

 

Another piece that left me curious was John Armleder's Untitled piece, 1980-98, Acrylic and pencil on canvas and acrylic on wall.

 

Did the artist originally envision this to be this large a piece or was it originally a much smaller piece that he created on one single canvas?  The scale of this piece is massive, inhabiting an entire wall.  The artist has drawn circles of varying colors and sizes, the largest circles are drawn directly onto the wall while the smaller ones are drawn on canvas and placed equidistant from each other on the wall to create one massive piece.  Another thing I wondered was did the artist intend the reflection of his piece onto the marble floor to be a continuation of the piece?  The reflection onto the floor adds to the overall piece in my opinion.