The Zimmerli Art Museum on Rutgers University’s College Ave campus, held a special exhibition entitled “Water”. The majority of the pieces were primarily drawn from the museums collection, which included drawings, photographs, prints, paintings, and installation artwork. The main theme of the exhibition dealt with water’s relationship with society over the course of time and it’s influence. All the pieces had an obvious visual depiction or reference of water, but varied in strength in transmitting the idea behind the exhibition. For example the installation piece “Ice and Ark” by Ross Cisneros composed of a large fish net that hung from the ceiling with water bottles inside it, was an instant thought provoker. The fish net and water bottles can easily be associated to the ocean water, as well as society because after all they serve a purpose for the human race and are man made. The plastic water bottles can easily bring up strong important issues we currently face in the world today, for example recycling and pollution. I felt that some of the pieces in the exhibition failed to transmit what the theme or idea behind the exhibition was because in my mind I looked at the art more for it’s beauty then it’s purpose or meaning. Vija Celmins, “Untitled Portfolio:Ocean, 1975” cropped photograph of the ocean, is an example of a piece that although looked visually interesting failed to transmit anything more. I did not sense any deepness or message behind this piece. It was merely an interesting photograph, which happened to be water related.
In my opinion the artwork was decently placed together although at times I felt that some artwork overshadowed others. For example when I stepped into a room with installation artwork and photographs, I paid more attention to the installations. I wish the photographs had been separated to receive the same fair attention they deserved. I also felt that there could have been more spacing between the art pieces because in some cases I felt bombarded by to many art pieces at the same time. Some of the less effective work could have been taken down to make more space for the better more effective work to give them more of a spotlight. Less is more, sometimes.
I chose these four art pieces because it's very evident that their is a deep meaning behind them that is relative to theme of the exhibition.
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