seance required

November 12, 2018 by Phyllis Odessey

I wonder if the exhibition Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future would have been the blockbuster it appears to be, without the Me Too movement. Hilma af Klint was an outlier.  “I stood in front of the easel, so small, so insignificant; but within me flowed such a power that I had to thrust forward.” af Klint  Her abstract paintings were radical, dominated by theories of the occult.   Without the text provided at the Guggenheim, their “meaning” would not be […]

Categories: Art • Tags: guggenheim museum, Hilda Af Klint

the ugly thing

October 31, 2016 by Phyllis Odessey

This isn’t a blog.  It’s a heads up. Most of my friends know I love ceramics.  The current exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design:  Voulkos:  The Breakthrough Years (1953-1968) October 18, 2016 to March 15, 2017 is a show about liberation.  Garth Clark, ceramics dealer and historian had this to say about Peter Voulkos:  “He removed ceramics from the death grip of good taste.” I attended a panel discussion about Peter Voulkos about the Museum of Art and Design […]

Categories: Art, Philosophy • Tags: Agnes Martin, guggenheim museum, Museum of Art and Design, Peter Voulkos

The Rancher Artist

July 14, 2013 by Phyllis Odessey

JAMES  TURRELL Guggenheim Museum June 21- September 25, 2013 If strolling down the street in New York this summer feels like walking on hot coals, head for the James Turrell exhibition at the Guggenheim.  It’s a cool down for the mind. Before the guards kicked us off the floor, I had a chance to experience Turrell’s piece in the rotunda as I imagine the artist wanted us to.  Full frontal.  Absorbed in the light changes.  Surrounded. The colors change slowly […]

Categories: Art • Tags: guggenheim museum, James Turrell

The VOID is not DEVOID

February 24, 2010 by Phyllis Odessey

  Contemplating the Void Guggenheim Museum, New York February 12 – April 28 I don’t listen to or watch the news anymore; it’s too depressing.  An upbeat story:  scientists have discovered that lisping is genetic, not psychological.  If you lisp, this is definitely good news, but I get my kicks in other ways. Going to museums and galleries is my pick-me-up of choice.  The current show at the Guggenheim Museum, “Contemplating The Void,” is a buoyant moment.  Unlike most museum […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Contemplating the Void, curator, David van der Leer, guggenheim museum

24 Tons of Steel

February 22, 2010 by Phyllis Odessey

Memory by Anish Kapoor Guggenheim Museum New York City Commissioned by the Solmon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Deutsche Bank A blimp-like shape wedged in a small room at the Guggenheim Museum is unsettling.  24 tons of Cor-Ten steel constructed from 156 parts.  Anish Kapoor’s sculpture, Memory sits there, waiting for the viewer. Memory is an accurate name for this piece.  You have access to the piece from three different vantage points, but at no time can you see the entire […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Anish Kapoor, guggenheim museum, Memory

Being Jenny Holzer

April 12, 2009 by Phyllis Odessey

Easter Sunday: The Guggenheim Museum: The Third Mind:American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989 The museum commissioned Ann Hamilton to create a site specific installation in the museum rotunda. Her work, human carriage (2009), “is a mechanism composed of two elements: book weights made from thousands of cut-up books that ascend and descend the rotunda via a pulley system, and a pair of Tibetan cymbals encased in a white silk bell carriage, which cascades down the balustrade along the rotunda spiral.” “Human […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: guggenheim museum