|
|
||
|
Andy Goldsworthy |
||
|
... AND ANOTHER THING "Iowa Cattail Screen" represents another attempt by Goldsworthy to bring his on-site art into a museum context. It's open, lace-like construction of reeds and pieces of wood spans its gallery from wall to wall, producing (for no apparent reason) a barrier across what is usually one of the museum's most heavily traveled spaces. Multiple museum guards in black suits stand guard near the piece and pounce at anyone who gets close enough that they might touch it.
Even from the allowed distance, the pieces of wood can be seen as though they're hanging in air, suspended in time -- an in-museum equivalent to Goldsworthy's gestural events in nature in which he tosses sticks into the air in front of a camera. While too much is lost in the transition, the work at least provides a suggestion of the scale of the wood pieces he uses in this "real," or real-er, art. This is hardly important information, however. The result is that "Iowa Cattail Screen" is a truly thin experience; far more engaging for its craftsmanship (again, the use of reeds and thorns to hold the elements together) than for its invitation to imagination. And, again, one has to wonder why he chose to bring the pieces of wood with him from Scotland instead of finding some in the museum's part of the world, or even in Iowa. |
