Walker Art Center

The Walker Art Center

Claes Oldenburg/Coosje van Bruggen

Art was never my field. Especially modern art seemed to be some kind of strange things without any meaning to it. Since I've visited the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis with my American friends Chris and Tracy, I have changed my mind.

My friends finished their studies in Art a few years ago. Chris works in different kind of Art: music, sculptures, set for video clips and so on. Tracy likes more drawing, however she is in the moment quite busy with Josy (their daughter, 15-months).

On my museum tour I was lucky enough to have my own tour guides. Chris and Tracy explained me several pieces and gave me some background information about the artist. The most famous piece is probably the SPOONBRIDGE AND CHERRY in the sculpture garden. This huge SPOONBRIDGE AND CHERRY was build from Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

An other piece was built by Leirner Jac from Brazil.
Blue Phase 1992 Brazilian bank notes, polyurethane cord

Jac Leirner collects disposable, everyday items en masse. Stringing, pinning, sometimes gluing volumes of correspondence, bank notes, or cigarette packs, she transforms the debris of human life into curiously elegant sculptural works through the formal language of Minimalism. In Blue Phase, Leirner has strung together thousands upon thousands of devalued Brazilian cruzeiros, cruzados, and cruzados novos. According to the artist, the work is not about the inflationary economy in Brazil, relations between artworks and the art market, or the circulation of things, but is instead about "a physical presence totally impregnated by them." While their original function has now been altered, these bank notes, once transported in wallets, pockets, and hands, possess a strange intimacy as embodiments of modern human interactions.

During my visit the museum showed a special exhibition of Edward Ruscha (pronounced "rew-shay"). He likes the idea of a word becoming a picture and often plays with simple words as subjects for his paintings and prints. He does not illustrate the meaning of the word but, with great care and attention to detail, paints them in unexpected ways. In Steel, liquid-looking letters on a rust-colored background seem like they could drip right off the page.

For me it was amazing how Edward Ruscha gave this 2 dimensional picture the third dimension.