Minneapolis - A City of the Arts

Minneapolis: A City of the Arts

In addition to checking out local live music, another traveling past time of mine (and one that is quickly becoming one of my favorites) is visiting art galleries. Prior to my arrival in Minneapolis I did some research and located several free galleries worth visiting. Fortunately, my friend Zach also enjoys taking in art exhibits and accompanied me on all the gallery visits. The first one we attended was the Thomas Barry Fine Arts Center, a small basement gallery located in the heart of the Old Warehouse District of Minneapolis. The artist featured during our visit was a local, David Lefkowitz, and had roughly twenty seven works on display in an exhibit entitled at or below see level, which features a unique play on words that will be further explained shortly.

The first thing visible upon entering the gallery was a chest-high wall with four paintings fixed on it at the very bottom near the floor. These four paintings were a major part of the at or below see level concept and consisted of skyscapes that were named for four cities or locations whose elevation is “at sea level or below.” The concept, which was described in greater detail by one of the hosts working at the gallery, is that these four locations (Venice, Italy; Seychelles; Maldives; Netherlands) will be submerged under water if current rising sea level trends continue. To further add to this effect, Lefkowitz cut the bottom half of these picture frames off and placed the pictures flush with the floor to give the idea that the cities have already disappeared. I found this concept interesting and effective, and

Also included in the at or below see level concept was an installation piece covering a five feet by ten feet section of wall. The installation’s medium was sticks/twigs and hot glue, the latter of which was used to attach the former to the wall in such a fashion that it created the image of waves coming in from out at sea. This piece was one of the highlights of Lefkowitz’s exhibit and, at least according to the hostess working, took him nearly two weeks to install in the gallery. When one looked closely at this work and each individual twig affixed to the wall, it was easy to see the painstaking detail the undertaking involved. Nonetheless, an interesting and enjoyable exhibit.

Located one floor above the Thomas Barry Fine Arts Center was Indigo, a Fair Trade African/Asian Folk Art store. Since we were already at this building and had no other pressing plans, Zach and I decided to check it out. After spending a few minutes in the store and visiting with the woman working there, I found out the store belonged to she and her husband. Her name was Mary and in the brief conversation we shared I was able to see quite easily how passionate she is about Folk Art. As I listened to her help other customers I heard her describe interesting facts and details about the wares in the store, and saw her pour out a part of her that seems very dear to her. Although neither of us purchased anything at the store (due partly because of the high prices and my desire to avoid accumulating possessions), it was definitely worth the visit.

One of Minneapolis’s greatest collections of art can be found at the Walker Art Center, which offers free admission every Thursday from 5:00 - 9:00. To help save a few bucks (admission is normally $10) Zach and I hit up the Walker Center along with another good friend, Kate, who happened to be in the Twin Cities area. Although we only had about 50 minutes at the Walker Center and could have easily spent an entire day here, we were able to take in a fair amount of the different exhibits currently being featured. First there was 1964, an exhibit dedicated to art from the 1960s and featuring Andy Warhol inspired Pop Art, art deco, and other works from this era. This collection featured items from a wide variety of mediums including plaster of Paris sculptures, paintings, metal sculptures, and what I thought was perhaps the most unique: a work made of sewn cloth and stuffed with cotton to represent a pouch of shoestring potatoes spilling out. This piece was roughly six feet high from top to bottom and was suspended from the ceiling using wire. I have never seen a piece quite like it and imagine it will stick with me for some time.

The Walker Center also had an exhibit dedicated to art that is focused on the recent promulgation of social media and the way it allows people to broadcast oneself. Highlights of this included a work completed by a New York artist (I can’t remember her name) that chronicled her last months of life as she battled with cancer. The work consisted of sixteen television screens/monitors simultaneously showing different videos of her shot by her husband. The videos ranged from her lying naked in a bathtub to putting makeup on in front of the mirror to her talking/laughing/crying almost concomitantly. In all this work seemed to capture the full gamut of human emotions and provided a very honest representation of the cancer process. Another highlight was a work completed by a Japanese artist (again I can not remember the name) who pushed the limitations of art and saw himself almost as a a performance artist, though not in the traditional sense at all. The work of his on display was a sign he made of himself that was more or less a wanted poster and included all of his identifying information (including a photo, fingerprints, height, weight, DOB) as well as the offense he committed (illegally immigrating to the US) and who to contact/report him to (the NY Port Authority, I think?). Other projects this man completed include spending an entire year in NYC without entering a building and spending a year locked in a cage in his studio without speaking, writing, reading, or talking. Definitely a different path to take in life, but interesting nonetheless. This exhibit had much more to offer, but I can not summarize it in its entirety.

One final highlight from the Walker Center was an installation dedicated to Jimi Hendrix. This took up an an entire room and had six large hammocks attached to opposite sides of the room. The walls had alternating projections of 60s inspired psychedelic Hendrix photos that were complemented by the final touch: Hendrix music blaring from speakers around the room. The artist’s intent was for the viewer/audience to lay in the hammocks and bask in the sounds and sights of Jimi Hendrix and the 60s. Very cool to say the least.

The final art gallery I visited in the Twin Cities was Jean Stephen Art Galleries, a small gallery located near Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis. This gallery featured a number of local Twin Cities artists and had an exclusive collection of work by Theodore Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss. The collection of Dr. Seuss art was easily the highlight of this place and was a real treat to see. Zach and I spoke with the woman working at the gallery about his work, and she explained that he had not actually intended for any of his work to be sold or, for that matter, even viewed! He did not think any of his art was good enough for these purposes, but after viewing half a room of his work I disagree with him (I think he would lose this argument with most people). His paintings are definitely reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’s books, but tend to explore deeper subjects and are sometimes even more far out than the artwork in his books. The other highlight from the Jean Stephen Galleries was the work featured by Randy Cooper, which were called shadow sculptures. His ‘sculptures’ are made with iron wire mesh and are almost solely of the human form, primarily the female form. The process to create his sculptures is very time consuming and tedious, but results in beautiful and interesting works. The really fun part about his sculptures is seeing the different shadows created when his sculptures are moved near light sources. It is hard to describe, but the shadows cast by the sculptures are in some was more lifelike and real than the sculptures themselves. The best thing to do would be to go see these for yourself. :-)

This concludes my venture into the world of art in Minneapolis. Be sure to check out the album titled Minneapolis in my pictures. You can access them by clicking the scrolling pictures at the top of the blog page. I hope you enjoy!