The Arts in New York City

As I read the title, “New Photography 2007:Tanyth Berkeley, Scott McFarlend, Bernie Searle” that was to be featured at the MoMA. I was expecting a spectacular exhibit because the MoMA is a trusted name in the field of art. Going to the MoMA itself was an adventure because it was the first time I traveled to the city alone. The cultural passport waived the normal student entrance fee.
At first I was confused because the opening parts of New Photography 2007 were primarily black and white pictures that dated back to 1900s, perhaps to the time when the camera was first invented. I happened to find that there was great diversity in the artists that were featured, including Russian artist Aleksandr Prodchenko, French artist Eugene Atgeg, Italian artist Tina Modotti, and German artist August Sandr. Among these, the one that caught my eye was Sandr’s “Portfolio of Archetypes, People of the Twentieth Century”. It was a series of photos, stereotyping each kind of person. For example, he featured an “Earthbound Farmer”, “Philosopher”, “The Wise One, Shepherd”, five different pictures of “A Peasant Woman”, “Framer and His Wife”, “Peasant Couple”, and “Farming Generation”. In a way it was almost amusing how each image portrayed was the most traditional view of type of person represented. It is clear from Sandr’s set that the backbone of German society and economy was on the backs of the peasant laborers.
While I weaved through the pictures, I noticed the themes becoming increasingly modern and the addition of color in the photos. Even though the exhibit is named “New Photography 2007”, the point of adding the old photos was to potentially demonstrate how far we have come technologically, as well as to show how history is a part of us. Maybe these artists had in some way inspired the three modern artists that the exhibit featured.
The exhibit for these three particular artists was in a room with one wall in the middle on the third floor of the museum. The first portion of the exhibit featured the work of Scott McFarlend. He was born in 1975 in Canada, and received his Bachelors degree in Fine Arts at the University of British Columbia in 1997. At first glance his photos seem like a panorama. It was only after I read the caption that I realized he had combined negatives of different photos together. Some of his photos included “Huntington Botanical Garden”, “Display of Porcupine”, and my favorite, “Orchard View with Effect of Season”. The latter showed an orchard set, but its transition year long through the four season. I was absolutely amazed me how he altered the environment around him , and in a way “constructing realism by artificial means”.
A yet another interesting artist is Bernie Searle. She was born in Cape Town in 1964 and she completed her BA in Fine Arts in 1987 and her Masters Degree in 1995 at the University of Cape Town. Her art primarily focused on memory and its uncertainty. Two of her pieces, “Still Passing By” and “On Either Side” are completely in red. Both of her pieces explain how memory is a blur, even as we try to flashback to a particular time, but cannot recall everything in exactness.She made these by cutting out red crepe silhouettes and submerged them in water, allowing the colors to bleed. “On Either Side” brought to mind the word abortion for some reason because it seemed like generations of kids were killed in such a bloody way by this one woman’s decision. The other series photograph called “Approach” looked like two mountains cut in half. In each of the halves, the man in the photo is slowly descending from the peak. To me it seemed like a thought process. When the man is atop the mountain he is in his mind. As he descends to the middle, he checks with his soul to see if the decision is right. He finally reaches the bottom and performs what he has through out in his body.
The last artist was my least favorite artist Tanyth Berkeley, in her attempt to show modern feminine beauty. Her subject were randomly chosen, usually street performers, transgender woman, and close friends. Her piece was in a set of five photos of woman, portraying woman who may not be considered so beautiful, but have found beauty in this artist eyes. Perhaps it is in using ordinary people that Berkeley is trying to say lies true beauty. The series brought to mind the Dove ads that made the statement “curves are beautiful”. In today’s mixed crowd, feminine beauty might just be more than anorexic models on magazine covers.
In summation, I enjoyed the exhibit. It seemed as though there was a lot to absorb a once. I was grateful for the fact it was less abstract that the Altered States Exhibit by Zhuang Huan. However,I feel that with each visit, my mind s opening up to accept art for what it is, instead of rejecting it because it does not make sense at first sight or is not appealing to the eyes. I also got a chance to quickly take a glimpse at Martin Puryier’s exhibit which on the floor above and was astounded by it. Now I believe anything can be art, if you can somehow explain how that piece reflects art, because art is a simply a mater of the mind.