Art Vent

Letting the Fresh Air In

On Wolfgang Laib, Ken Johnson, and pollen at MoMA

February 6, 2013 - 5:38pm -- Carol Diehl



Art began with religion. Only recently in human history have allusions (other than cynical) to spirituality in art become an anathema among intellectuals.here, by artist Altoon Sultan, and another video.

Comments

As always, your commentary is incisive. I love the poetry and simplicity of Laib's piece, not to mention that amazing color! There is so much cynicism associated with art in this age. We adore irony and scoff at anything with pure intentions. The highest aim of art is to reveal truth and the highest aim of meditation is to discern truth from faulty perception. These two pursuits are not at odds.

As always, I love your incisive commentary, Carol. I admire the poetry and simplicity of Laib's pollen piece, not to mention that amazing color! There is so much skepticism and cynicism in art in this age. We adore irony and scoff at anything with pure intentions. Surely there can be a place for wisdom in art? If the goal of meditation is to discern truth from false perception, aren't the goals of art similar? And if they aren't, shouldn't they be?

In any event, this piece does not just bring up issues of spirituality and harmony to me, although it does remind me of the tradition of making kolams in India. It ushers the natural world into an urban space . For that reason, I think this work also conveys a pressing message about our contemporary alienation from nature. I wish Johnson had chosen to address this aspect of the work, rather than focusing on "New Age hokum."

Submitted by Mike Markham (not verified) on
I suspect that Mr. Johnson doesn't get out into the landscape much. I wonder how he'd feel if he spent a night — as I once did — walking about an ancient Indian medicine wheel high up in the Bighorn Mountains as the sky rotated above him. I suspect the experience would be lost on him — he'd complain about the cold or the fact that he was hungry. For me that was certainly a "spiritual" experience linking me to an ancient culture and through their artifact to a deeper appreciation of what they called "the Great Mystery". And it's still a mystery, in spite of what modern science tells us.

Why must "intellectuals" be so stubborn in insisting that everything be explained in such concrete terms? And isn't one of art's great strengths its capacity to ALLUDE to the very things that ELUDE us? This is the strength of Laib's work. It is precisely what it is ... and the artist wisely leaves you to figure it out for yourself. To quote Andre Gide: "Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better".

Add new comment