The Observer, September 19, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 4
House steals spotlight in latest MOCA exhibition
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The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland opened its latest exhibition last Friday, a show sure to please even those who purport to dislike modern art. The galleries of this exhibition confront the viewer with images and objects inspired by everyday life.
Facing Race is a group of films by Elizabeth Axtman, Jefferson Pinder, Hank Willis Thomas, Kambui Olujimi, and Xaviera Simmons - five young African-American artists. These films deal with issues of race through various images including children's action figures and a man in an African mask riding a bicycle.
Sheila Pree Bright's Suburbia also deals with racial issues, although the presentation and message is often quite different from the aforementioned collection of films. The photos all depict different spaces, both interior and exterior, of the suburban homes of upper-class African-American families in the Atlanta area. The artist forces the viewer to confront preconceived notions about wealth and race; many would assume that these houses belonged to the white establishment instead of a minority group.
While the other two exhibits are fascinating and thought-provoking, Jorge Pardo's House is undoubtedly the star of the exhibition. It synthesizes various past exhibits, installations, and pieces in Pardo's career. This exhibition confronts the viewers with objects and images from the home, yet disarms them with the objects' everyday familiarity. Most of the galleries are set up to evoke specific rooms in a house. According to the opening wall text, Pardo's art "transverse[s] the boundaries between art, design, and architecture."
Upon entering the first gallery, the viewer would think that Pardo is influenced primarily by the Dada and Surrealist movements of the last century. The first piece to be seen in the exhibit is a table fashioned from rough boards and a few decorations. Two other pieces in the same gallery are a palette and a store-bought ladder, reminding one of Marcel Duchamp's "Fontaine." The first series of hanging lamps is also displayed in this gallery, reaffirming the technical expertise of the artist. Each lamp is an amazingly complex mass, giving an otherworldly effect. Another set of hanging lamps in the exhibition, while completely different visually, give a similar effect of otherworldliness.
Another major component of the exhibition is the furniture. Perhaps the most impressive is a pavilion, or bed-like structure; that blurs the line between furniture and architecture. Like many of the furniture pieces in Pardo's work, the structure is composed of particle board and given a heavy coat of paint. It is hung with red curtains. The juxtaposition of the dark, lacquer-like finish with the red fabric gives a vaguely Asian feel to the work. Other pieces of furniture in the exhibition are much more modern, often bent pieces of plywood or copper pipes soldered together. There are also several beautiful furniture pieces that display Pardo's technical skill in woodworking.
The piece that best demonstrates an installation-architectural work is "Untitled," a hut-like structure made mostly of plywood and hung with lights in the center. It occupies the round gallery in the corner of the museum. This work, perhaps more than the others in the exhibition, forces the viewer to ponder the relationship between art and architecture.
These three exhibitions all force one to think about artistic and social issues in new and creative ways. They are a delight to the eye and mind even if one does not typically like modern art, and thus they are not to be missed. The fall show runs until Dec. 28, 2008. Admission is free for Case students and members and $4 for non-members. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours on Wednesday until 8 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays.
