Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A Day at Dia: Beacon



Next stop on my road trip...Dia: Beacon. This museum is the home of Dia Art Foundation's collection of art from the 1960's to the present. Located on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, NY, the museum is housed in a former Nabisco box printing factory that was redesigned by the artist Robert Irwin. It is impressive place to view an equally impressive collection of art.




I planned my trip to Dia: Beacon to see a temporary exhibit of one of my most favorite artists ever...Antoni Tapies. Tapies is a Spanish Catalan painter whose work tends toward abstract expressionism but truly transcends this approach. His artwork, though usually canvas-based, is highly sculptural and textural. He often incorporates marble dust and sand, and sometimes uses material and objects to create assemblages on his canvases. And he often adds numbers, letters, and sweeping gestural marks to his paintings. I first read about the exhibit here in the New York Times.

The exhibit, entitled "The Resources of Rhetoric", was well worth the trip. Unfortunately, Dia: Beacon allows absolutely no photography. (This is one of my pet peeves, as for me, viewing art in a museum or gallery seems incomplete if I cannot photograph it). However, several of the paintings in this exhibit were borrowed from the Fundacio Antoni Tapies in Barcelona and I had photographed them on a visit there several years ago.




And just because I am so inspired by Tapies' work, here are a few more images not from this show, including an accordion book that was exhibited at MoMA:





I discovered the work of so many more amazing artists at Dia: Beacon. Again, as there was no photography allowed, I will post examples of the work of each artist from my own photographs that I have taken at other galleries, museums, and at Sotheby's, the auction house.

John Chamberlain: Creates freestanding and wall hanging sculptures from old automobile parts.



Louise Bourgeois: Sculptor of abstract and organic shapes. Also famous for her spiders, one of which was at Dia: Beacon. This photograph was taken at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.



Joseph Beuys: German artist who created performance art pieces as well as installations, paintings, sculpture, and assemblages. His work was often political and humanistic.



Gerard Richter: Diverse artist creating blurred figurative paintings, abstract paintings, and overpainted photographs.



Bruce Nauman: Artist working in a wide variety of media, including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance.



Richard Serra: The museum has several of his monolithic, 13-feet high, curved steel plates, which you can enter and/or walk through. I was most amazed by the "skin" of the steel, composed of a natural patina of peeling and velvety rusts, ochres, blues, browns, and greys. I have included some close-ups below taken from a previous posting from his show at MoMA.

24 comments:

nancy neva gagliano said...

good for you....on the artroad again...tracking your fabulous finds. wow.
but,
what are you REALLY driving?

MrCachet said...

Nancy,

I don't think he's driving a FORGE! That's the interior view of the pickup he pictured yesterday, I think.

Congratulations on the interview, Seth! Marty just announced it will appear tomorrow. Great guy who has a deep interest in 'our' kind of ephemera. With that said, I'm really liking the beer bottles, but the name didn't stick when I went to comment on today's post.

Ride on, and don't leave the camera behind. I suppose they'd discover you if you carried a Minox Miniature, wouldn't they?

layers said...

I have read about Dia:Beacon but have not been there yet. A. Tapies is one of my all time favorites as well. whenever I see his work in person I can't take my eyes off it. You also mentioned several other favorites-J.Beuys for sure.. I got to see G.Richter show in London at the Nat. Portrait gallery there in June-fabulous work. I saw a B.Nauman video installation recently at the Seattle Art museum-- a favorite for some time.

Zoe, ontheroad said...

Great overview. I may rry to cross the State and see these myself, if I heal up soon.

ArtPropelled said...

Thanks for taking us along on your road trip Seth.I'm enjoying it immensely.

Caterina Giglio said...

very visually chewy stuff!

Debrina said...

A great post, Seth. How nice it is to reflect and chew on the fat like this after you visited the gallery. What a shame you couldn't photograph the work...I'm pretty naughty, I usually sneak a camera in anyway and take very quick snaps!

Mary S. Hunt said...

thank you for taking us to this exhibit!
fabulous cutting edge work!

Rosemoo said...

I went with my husband awhiles back. I love that spider statue and all the Serra pieces! I was bummed we couldn't take photos too.

I really love the windows and the building itself!

You should've come to visit me at the Bookstore! I need more people to pilgrimage up to the wastes of Larchmont. And depending on how you got up there we're right off the road!

Plus I'd love to meet you. I'm just curious what the man behind the blog is like. :P

Whisperings 13 said...

hmm- that Gerard Richter piece is yummy! and, personally, I think there is nothing more moving than old steel; rusted, pitted and full of its own passions(My dad comes over and tries to scold me over my "junk pile" of rusted steel- things I have found discarded in the countryside over the years- Yesterday- I got to tell him... it's not trash... It's ART!!! HA HA HA- thanks for that! :o)

Jill said...

Loving your road show and never even left my couch. I would though have liked to fill up my car at those green gas pumps in your previous post! Looking at your blog is always a treat- whether it's to see your absorbing beautiful work, hear about a new collaboration of yours or others, see gallery exhibits, street scenes, poetry, photos, etsy showings- all so original. It's always like a first run broadway show- at every performance!

marianne said...

thank you so much for sharing- so many things i may never have seen and so inspirational. great great stuff- as always-

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

Thank you for giving me a glimpse into your pilgrimage to such a wonderful place and so full of textures...not only would I get into trouble trying to sneak a photo but would be arrested in wanting to touch the surfaces. Did I tell You I was almost arrested in the Nashville Fist College Gallery for taking photographs to share when I got home???? They did not have a catalog so I was just trying to make do with what I had available...my little digital camera. You have given me several new artists to seek and find but you were so gracious to share your wealth with all of us outside your neighborhood. Imagine and live in Peace, Mary Helen

Lawendula said...

Ah Beuys, the one who said: "Everyone is an artist!"
Most of my life I spend in the area where he lived. He was very close to anthroposophy, a fact that is not known to many people outside of Germany, I think.
Most of all I like that he was using felt and beeswax in his art, these are one of my fav materials too.

mansuetude said...

these really hit visceral

and always since i first saw a video of Joseph Beuys, have wondered about seeing more of his work.

a fabulous series.
thank you.

~*~Magpie's Nest said...

WOW thank you for the tour Seth, I learned so much, great road trip!

Always frustrating to me too when no pics are allowed, you certainly filled in the blanks beautifully

Thank you for sharing so much great eye candy and info!
~*~ Patty

Scott NYC said...

thanks so much for this report. sounds really worthwhile. I really appreciate it when you bring important art shows to the attention of your readers. Thanks again!

Tumble Fish Studio said...

Thank you so much for taking us along. What a beautiful awe inspiring trip I've had with you today. I think you could have a side business if you like - personal art road trips with you to pick the spots and guide the mind a bit and help us soak up every drop of what we're seeing. It gets overwhelming for some of us and you make it so comfortable and easy going, awe inspiring, but comfortable.

Congratulations on the show - can't wait for Oct. 10th!

lynne h said...

tapie's work feels so deliberate and yet also random. this impresses me...

JonesMoore Studio Art, Lisa JonesMoore said...

Fantastic post--such rich images!!!!

rivergardenstudio said...

wow seth, thank you for filling my heart and mind with all these beautiful images of art... You must be brimming with inspiration! Roxanne

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Thank you for taking us on a virtual trip through Dia: Beacon. The images you provided (although not from the current exhibit) struck me as ones I would have been impressed with. Everyone was a winner. Thanks for sharing this experience and introducing me to these artists.

Margaret said...

Awesome posting Seth, love the road trip and your eye for a photo! M

Kim Roland said...

Thank you for your wonderful images. I haven't made it to Dia Beacon but I'm planning a visit next month for my 60th. I'm excited to see the John Chamberlain pieces. We just came back from seeing works by Aleve Loh who is inspired by John Chamberlain.