Gedi Sibony

I decided to focus on the work of Gedi Sibony because his piece at the Midway seemed to make the least sense to me. Cardboard haphazardly glued to wood? I needed an explanation.

Sibony actually had his own show, titled The Science of Imaginary Solutions, at Midway in winter 2007. Some of the pieces in that show resembled the piece I saw, called Remaining. The main materials he works with are carpet, plexiglass, cardboard, wood, and spray paint. He focuses a lot on the use of space and how materials can be used to communicate ideas. In the Imaginary Solutions show he had a piece that was partially blocking a door. This affects the space of the room because it makes the viewer pause and carefully move around it. He also likes to break down his materials and then restore them, which is seen more in pieces like Remaining.

One piece I found that has many similarities to Remaining is That's Tall's Tale. It is made with different materials, tape and plastic, but it has the same look visually. Sibony was actually creating a painting with the square shape of the plastic. He wanted to expose how the work was made, which adds an element of performance to the piece. He also focused greatly on the form and space of the piece, which made me stop to think about it longer. Looking at it without research it appears to be thrown together, but Sibony actually made very calculated decisions about where to place each piece of tape. This can be related back to Remaining because it too looks thrown together, but it must have been carefully thought out. It also uses the idea of creating a painting with a background material (wood) and "paint" (cardboard).

Another piece that represents Sibony well is Side Show, Side Show. It is more about space than material. It consists of two wooden frames leaning against a wall. This establishes a relationship between them because they are touching, and also with the gallery itself. The piece can be looked at both for the space it occupies and the space it does not because the two frames create so much negative area when placed together. They can also act as the form and it's shadow which creates depth in a small space. This creates a warmth for the viewer just by using two simple frames.

Though I couldn't find any information on the piece itself, research on Sibony's other pieces helped me understand Remaining a bit better.


Sources: http://www.midwayart.org/exhibitions/07_01_gedi_sibony/
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/gedi_sibony.htm?section_name=abstract_america_painting_sculpture

Lunch Painting

I really enjoyed the trip to the Walker. The tour helped me better understand the motivation behind post modernist work. One piece in particular that interested me after the tour was "Lunch Painting (Minus Objects)" by Michelangelo Pistoletto (1965). It had always bothered me in the past; I didn't understand how a few pieces of wood could be considered art. It's necessary to know the concept behind the art to appreciate it. During the tour I found out the intention of the artist was to have people actually sit down at the table he had built. It is titled as a painting because he wanted the viewer to create it as they sat. This idea was a lot more interesting than judging the table purely on form which I had been doing previously. I am able to fully appreciate it now. During the tour I also learned that the idea of time is very often incorporated into post modernist work. Pistoletto uses time in his piece, whether it has the viewer thinking about the amount of time spent sitting at tables or the time spent actually sitting at his piece. It was exciting to finally learn the meaning behind it. Through some research I found out that the piece is actually part of a set of works titled Minus Objects. This set didn't follow the norms of a collection, where there is usually a recognizable style or theme to all the pieces. His pieces were all different but made sense when shown together. Another piece from the collection I feel is similar to Lunch Painting is titled "Structure For Talking Standing Up". It has a similar idea because he wants the viewer to interact with the piece and use it. They also both serve as places to hold a conversation. It seems that viewer interaction is one of the main purposes behind his work.

Source: http://www.pistoletto.it/eng/home.htm