Friday, February 26, 2010

Hello & Goodbye







I am declaring the countdown to spring officially on. Some of you in Paris today might think I am a bit premature, but you have to admit that in between the coolish gusts of winds, the sun feels warm and the days are noticeably longer. Walking home today I noticed little signs: the pods hanging off trees and small bursts of yellow and lavender flowers in the parks. Maybe I am feeling inspired from the Jan Dibbets exhibition I just saw at the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (this place needs an acronym). I have been a fan of Dibbets, a Dutch artist born in 1941, for awhile. I love his use of simple landscapes of the ocean and green reedy grass which are turned into geometric constructions suggestive of Frank Stella or Ellsworth Kelly. This exhibition compares his early 1970s work to work made in the late 2000s, using the same techniques and landscapes. It's earth art or land art à la Smithson, with less machismo and more poetic. Maybe I am partial to landscape painting in general, and Dibbets in many ways seems like the proper extension out of 17th century Dutch landscape painting--but of course photography and conceptual. It is a small exhibition and worth a quick visit.

1 comment:

Emilie said...

JEALOUS! love it blaire.