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The New Modern Art Museum in FW
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TomHendricks474
Dec 8, 2002, 9:45:16 PM12/8/02
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The new Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth opened yesterday, Saturday.
It houses a growing collection of modern art and is in the same area as the
Kimball and the Amon Carter. The Dallas Morning News did a puff piece on it
and I'm responding to what they said. I first have to tell you I have not seen
it
in person, so this comment is only from the numerous pages and photos in the
article.
The museum is designed by architect Tadao Ando and Associates. It cost $65
million. And 154 works are displayed out of a total of over 2,750 owned.
But I've got problems with all of this. And here they are.
First the design is cold and minimalistic. There is nothing warm about the boxy
empty frigid architecture. But it is a massive space - most of it empty. It
seems that like many architects today Todao seems more concerned about showing
off empty space than art. And looking at some of the photos, it looks like a
museum of empty spaces with some art thrown in as an afterthought. It seems
like ego architecture - where the designed spaces are the star. And that's what
we should be looking at. It has 153,000 sq. ft. With only 154 art works on
display, that comes to 344 sq ft. per art work! And because the museum cost $65
million to make, that means over $400,000 was spent to show off every piece of
art!
There is something almost obscene about that.
I am a painter myself that sometimes does abstracts and assorted 'modern' art,
and a fan of some modern art; yet I would suggest that a better use of this
money would be to do a 'conceptual art' piece that gives a poor country the $65
million to keep from starving - rather than house these 154 art works in a
minimalistic silver palace.
I've fought hard for the advancement of art for the last 10 years of Musea's
existence, but there are also priorities. And I wonder if housing single art
works - in vast spaces of 344 sq. ft. each at the cost of $400,000 each is true
culture or just crass.
It houses a growing collection of modern art and is in the same area as the
Kimball and the Amon Carter. The Dallas Morning News did a puff piece on it
and I'm responding to what they said. I first have to tell you I have not seen
it
in person, so this comment is only from the numerous pages and photos in the
article.
The museum is designed by architect Tadao Ando and Associates. It cost $65
million. And 154 works are displayed out of a total of over 2,750 owned.
But I've got problems with all of this. And here they are.
First the design is cold and minimalistic. There is nothing warm about the boxy
empty frigid architecture. But it is a massive space - most of it empty. It
seems that like many architects today Todao seems more concerned about showing
off empty space than art. And looking at some of the photos, it looks like a
museum of empty spaces with some art thrown in as an afterthought. It seems
like ego architecture - where the designed spaces are the star. And that's what
we should be looking at. It has 153,000 sq. ft. With only 154 art works on
display, that comes to 344 sq ft. per art work! And because the museum cost $65
million to make, that means over $400,000 was spent to show off every piece of
art!
There is something almost obscene about that.
I am a painter myself that sometimes does abstracts and assorted 'modern' art,
and a fan of some modern art; yet I would suggest that a better use of this
money would be to do a 'conceptual art' piece that gives a poor country the $65
million to keep from starving - rather than house these 154 art works in a
minimalistic silver palace.
I've fought hard for the advancement of art for the last 10 years of Musea's
existence, but there are also priorities. And I wonder if housing single art
works - in vast spaces of 344 sq. ft. each at the cost of $400,000 each is true
culture or just crass.
(this is from the Musea e-mail club postings)
Tom Hendricks, ed. of Musea
(now celebrating our 10th year)
http://musea.digitalchainsaw.com
For a list of the Corp. Art Weasels
http://CJR.org/owners/
tecwhiz
Dec 12, 2002, 10:28:32 PM12/12/02
to
Suggest if you are so into artsy carp you go see it first, bozo
"TomHendricks474" <tomhend...@cs.com> wrote in message
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"TomHendricks474" <tomhend...@cs.com> wrote in message
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