Event 2: "The Art of Our Time" at MoCA

       I went to “The Art of Our Time” at MoCA last weekend. Since all the artworks in this exhibition are post-1945, I could try to figure out how the contemporary artists merge the “two cultures.” (Snow)

       As soon as I walked in the gallery, I was amazed by John Chamberlain’s Red Beatts. The amazement comes not only from the large scale of the work, but also from Chamberlain’s idea to turn wreckage into art by science. Red Beatts is a freestanding sculpture made of salvaged automobile parts. According to the wall text, Chamberlain did not design the shape of this sculpture by preparatory sketches, and therefore piled up these automobile parts 

John Chamberlain's Red Beatts and I

improvisationally based on principles of science – gravity and balance. Since the shape and execution of this work are determined by the balance of physical forces, Red Beatts could be considered as an artwork of science in which the “two cultures” become one.

Chris Burden, Hell Gate, 1998-1999, detail

       Another artwork that makes me immediately connect it with science is Chris Burden’s Hell Gate. Hell Gate is a physical structure that models the steel girders and cross bracing of New York’s Hell Gate Bridge. As the wall text suggests that Hell Gate investigates “the origin of physical power”, viewers could speculate that Burden must master the knowledge of steel engineering and construction capacities in order to construct the complex physical structure. Therefore, Hell Gate successfully proves how science could be well incorporated in art.

Mark Grotjahn, Untitled (three-tiered perspective), 1997

       Additionally, Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (three-tiered perspective) also shows the combination of art and science. In this painting, only one vanishing point exists. This one-point perspective obeys the mathematical theory of perspective drawing developed in Renaissace.

       I strongly recommend “The Art of Our Time” at MoCA. After visiting this exhibition, I not only knew more about the interest of contemporary artists, but also realized how art and science could naturally merge together.

 

Reference:

Snow, C.P. Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print

Vesna, Victoria. "Mathematics and Art." UCLA. Los Angeles, CA. 10 Apr 2016. Web.4 June 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between." Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Web.

Treibergs, Andrejs. "The Geometry of Perspective Drawing on the Computer." Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, n.d. Web. 4 June 2016.                         

Wall text, Red Beatts, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Wall text, Untitled (three-tired perspective), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles