FLAG Art Foundation

Last night, the group at the Highline, had a small cocktail party at the Flag Art Foundation.  As they are slowly rolling out the art installations at the Highline, the concept of this particular show was the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Jim Hodges that calls for public reaction and engagement. 

It is always enlightening hearing curators speak so eloquently about artists work.  The origins, the thoughts behind the pieces and why they exist.  Sometime, actually many times, I feel incredibly pedestrian listening to the intellectual construction and process behind the artists imagination.  Perhaps the explanations sometimes sound a tad pretentious at times but it is their life, their interests and I must applaud that.  A world onto itself but one that is so important.

Some of the work was truly interesting.  There was a platform with small light bulbs placed every few inches around it, think a disco platform.  This piece just sat there, in light blue, and every day for 5 minutes, different time every day, a man would come and dance/perform on the stage in a silver lame speedo suit.  We didn't get to see that but I can only imagine the reaction of the people in the gallery at that given moment.  That is what the artist, Gonzalez-Torres, was looking for.

There were many pieces, more conceptual than anything but I did like this mirrored piece.  There were a few of them hanging in one room.  The reflection that they caused was clever and drew me in.  This was from Hodges.

There were 2 pieces consisting of cut outs.  One was tiny butterflies stitched together and the other was a piece of trees with the leaves cut out to create depth.  I really liked both of these and have actually seen this work before.

The bells, that were hanging from the ceiling, was an installation we were all prompted to ring.  Interactive art.  Another Hodges piece. 

Funny enough, this morning, the piece I keep thinking about, although simple, is Perfect Lovers.  2 clocks, hanging next to each other, with the exact same time.  Although looking at the picture, it appears that the second hands are off. 

A great space, a nice event that got me excited about seeing the art that they plan to install on the Highline in 2010.