Guggenheim Raft

graphite on paper
14.0 x 17.8 cm (5.5" x 7")

This drawing was done a couple of weeks ago in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The raft was part of an exhibition of the work of the Chinese/American artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, currently at the Guggenheim.

The exhibition took up almost all of the Guggenheim, and most of it, including the exploding cars, left me cold, as does most conceptual art. I'm either too lazy or too disinterested to bother working out the conceptual basis of the art; and when I do bother, I find the concepts involved, and what the art is trying to tell me, too simple to have much, if any, relevance or importance for me. The effect of the Guggenheim exhibition was much the same as walking through an over-priced adult fun house, except that it wasn't very adult or much fun. What did catch my attention, and what I did love, however, were several works in the show, which, stripped of their allegorical meaning, and regarded simply as objects in their own right, were delightful. The hanging raft was one (minus its' two Toyota car engines) , a reed and/or wood raft pierced with arrows was another, and finally, an installation, which took up an entire room, and involved some hanging wood bodies and a simulated river complete with boat. (By the way, the kids seemed to love the riding the boat through the river coarse.) In my ideal world, you could enjoy such weird and wonderful objects, just for being weird and wonderful, instead of having to worry yourself about what they might mean.

Cai Guo-Qiang continues at the Guggenheim, New York, until May 28, 2008.