Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art / Tim Hawkinson at the Getty Center

I needed some serious chill out/jet lag recovery time, so I ended up having lunch and visiting the Getty this afternoon.
I had no idea that today was the opening day for Tim Hawkinson’s Zoopsia show, nor about the Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan, 1950 – 1970 show over at the Research Institute – double happiness. Here’s the pics and the chatter. All of my Getty Center pics are always in their Flickr set, here. I guess the Thailand photos will have to wait for tomorrow – I’m still figuring out just how to order them.

Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan, 1950 – 1970

This is primarily an exhibition of literary artifacts from the art movements that arose in postwar Japan. Some of it is interesting, but a little devoid of context, which the GRI went to some length to address with some really impressive and accessible text. There is also a wealth of Fluxus related material in the show, primarily from artists Ay-O and Yoko Ono. Given that I’m absolutely in awe and love with Ono’s work, this was a winner for me. I would have liked to have this been a much, much larger show, but I really enjoyed what there was on display.

I didn’t shoot much in this show, other than the Ay-O piece below and several Yoko Ono pieces, as it was a tight space, and much of the work is publications. I did shoot the timeline wall for the exhibit, which you can view here.

above – Finger Box and Tactile Box simulations, original pieces by Ay-O – This whole exhibition had great text and display materials, and these well constructed finger boxes and the tactile box were part of that greatness. Being able to experience a simulation of the experience of the piece – which in this case is a much more important action than actual viewing – was really amazing. This is a great example of a museum working really hard to give the viewer the experience intended by the artist. View the label here.

above – Yoko Ono, Telephone Piece – I just saw another version of this piece at the Berkeley Museum of Art about a month ago. This version instills in me the same desire to wait by the phone until Yoko calls. I really liked the “on an end table” installation of this piece. It just seems so inviting to pick up.

above – Yoko Ono, Ono’s Sales List – Another great conceptual piece by Ono. I think I’m attracted to her work so much because my experience directing galleries gives me a special sensitivity to some of the absurdities of art making, and makes me more sympathetic to purely conceptual gestures. View the label here.

Zoopsia: New Works by Tim Hawkinson

This exhibition is actually divided up into two parts. One, the exhibition itself, is buried in a tiny room in the Terrace Level of the West Pavilion – not exactly the kind of space I would have expected Hawkinson’s work to be found, especially after last year’s career defining LACMA exhibiton. I actually found this exhibition of four pieces to not be very engaging – the execution seemed more “sketch-like” than finished, with the exception of the ink drawing Dragon, which I really enjoyed, especially the way it was hung from a screwed together bar of wood by a strap from the ceiling. Although the other three pieces in the show, were novel and interesting, I really wasn’t interested in them much. Leviathan, a dinosaurian skeleton made from sculpey with the bones in the shape of rowers is a clever piece, but beyond being clever, I wasn’t feeling it.

The other portion of the show was an installation of Hawkinson’s amazing piece Uberorgan, which hasn’t been shown before in Los Angeles. It’s installed in the main atrium/entryspace of the museum, near the gift shop, coat check and info desks. It’s really well placed, and it’s primarily white colouration makes it look right at home in the space. Essentially it’s a series of inflated bags and horns composed of everyday materials and constructed as if by a random trial-and-error method. It’s Hawkinson at his best, making excellent use of everyday materials to create something extraordinary and magical.

It performs for five minutes, every hour, on the hour, and quite a crowd of visitors and employees gathered to watch it do it’s special magic. Speaking as a nerd, the sheer lo-fi, DIY construction of the “brain” of the unit, which guides the twelve horns through it’s hourly performance, was amazing. A real lesson in the usage of common materials in kinetic sculpture. I especially enjoy the dust mops that help guide the paper tape program through the unit. It’s hard to explain what it looks and sounds like, so I’ll have to say that it’s like a magnificent farting, booming, funny foghorn orchestra, far too ridiculous to fall into any area of musical pretension – it’s raw magic, the kind of post-steampunk, plasticpunk fantasy of a child’s dream. Visually, it references hot air balloons, net bound sausages, comically long horns and is all connected together as if devoid of any intention, other than as an object of wonder and experiment. I shot some images of it with Michele’s camera, and to try and capture the shape of the piece, I tried stitching them together – my first time stitching photos, but I hope they extend some kind of idea as to the scale and presence of the piece and it’s elements. Next time I go see it, I’m bringing a mic and making an MP3 of it. Enjoy.

below – various views of the Uberorgan. The ticker tape contraption is the brains and the balloons, tubing and horn contraption is the pipes. Click on the one directly below to check it out in massive panoramic glory.  A lot of these guys are huge – follow the links to the full size versions and you won’t be disappointed.