Event 3 - The Hammer Museum

(Figure 1 Me in front of the
Hammer Museum Welcome desk.)

For my third event, I attended the Hammer Museum on November 26^th.  Through its exhibitions, collections and programs, the Hammer Museum emphasizes art work of our time, but still explores the diversity of art through the centuries.

(Figure 2 Mark Leckey, 
Transformer
 2012. LED Screen)

After touring around the museum for several hours, I could definitely see the modernity of many of the exhibitions. Perhaps the most diverse and modern exhibition I saw would have to be On Pleasure Bent by Mark Leckey, which encompasses sculpture, sound, film, and performance. By drawing on his personal experience, Leckey frequently uses ideas of his personal history and desires in his art work. By utilizing technology On Pleasure Bent attempts to form a “kaleidoscope memoir” of Leckey’s past from the “imagery that he believes conditioned him”. Walking into the exhibition I was immediately drawn in by this loud noise coming from behind some doors. However, the noise turned out to be a video exhibiting a teaser for a film coming out about the On Pleasure Bent exhibition.  In addition to the video, the exhibition also included LED screens featuring looped animations, one of which appeared to use a multitude of purple LEDs to create a moving shadow of some creature.

(Figure 3 Francisco José de
Goya Lucientes, El Pelele 
(The Strawman), 1791.

Although the Hammer Museum seems to specialize more in art of our time, I did happen to find a few older paintings where I noticed mathematics playing a role within the piece. For instance, the El Pelele (The Strawman) by Francisco José de Goya Lucientes painted in 1791 utilized certain mathematical tools to focus attention on certain areas of the painting. The artist’s light touch painting was meant to highlight the pyramidal form composed of the five figures. By placing the four women at the base of the triangle, focus was drawn in to the straw man’s head serving as the triangles apex. Focus is then further drawn into the straw man’s vacant eyes by limply splaying the straw man’s torso and legs at an angle to the picture plane.

After a few hours spent at this museum I was impressed at how all the pieces of art, exhibitions and collections complemented each other. Even though some exhibitions were complete opposites, I still felt everything was harmoniously brought together and I never felt a certain piece didn’t belong. I would highly recommend this museum if one wants to see how technology and art can come together. 

Works Cited

Figure 1. Unda, Maria. Leigh Sanders. 2013. Photograph. n.p. Web. 3 Dec 2013.

Figure 2. Leckey, Mark. Transformer. 2012. Photograph. n.p. Web. 3 Dec 2013. <http://arttattler.com/archivemarkleckey.html>.

Figure 3. José de Goya Lucientes, Francisco. El Pelele (The Strawman). 1971. Painting. n.p. Web. 3 Dec 2013. 

Leckey, Mark. On Pleasure Bent. 2012. Flyer. n.p. Web. 3 Dec 2013.