Some (big-M) Modern and (little-m) modern Art Work I just saw in Palm Springs….and what I am saying to engage my kids with the pieces. #4 Osho by Faig Ahmed

beriberi (47)in #art • 7 years ago

Did you see my earlier piece about a recent visit to Palm Springs museum of art? If not, I invite you to go back and take a look. This is the fourth in a series highlighting how I talk to my kids about art that is not always readily accessible.

Osho, Faig Ahmed

Another contemporary piece, and a strikingly large one. The museum would like me to know that this work of art “allows the artist to question the stability of the past and question the cultural possibilities of the future.” It really is a modern piece that plays well with history.

This is the kind of art that makes me literally laugh out loud. I love it when artists abuse materials. Using wool and fiber to make a puddle on the floor - it is a way of toying with tradition. This is conceptually similar to what the Pop artists were doing when they poked fun at the painters that came before them. Lichtenstein did a lot of this - he made a paint brush stroke art out of everything except paint - here is a sculpture depicting a brush stroke .

Source

Ahmed makes the same visual joke when he takes a rug and portrays it melting and running onto the floor like wet paint. This piece is so effective because it is make entirely out of woven wool - just like a traditional rug. However, the way it pours onto the floor it looks like paint, or wax or something far more fluid and malleable. It is a funny trick of the eye and should provoke a chuckle.

So, I would ask my kids: Is this piece serious? Is it funny? Do you think Ahmed thinks making rugs is an important and serious job? Do you think this is respectful of tradition? Reverent? The part of the piece that is on the wall is very traditional appearing -why did he do that? Does the piece have movement? Does it tell a story or capture of moment?

I don't know how to drive the conceptual nature of this piece home with a kid-friendly art project. I love the project called Calamityware that has been on Kickstarter - traditional appearing plates with nontraditional themes. I think that is somewhat related, but not exactly the mental leap I want my kids to make. Central to these pieces is a playfulness with traditional forms and content, but not the same trick of the eye.

www.calamityware.com