Most museums showcase exhibits of artists who became well known after death, but the unique thing about the New Museum is that the artists are still alive. The New Museum has been around since 1977, but it was renting spaces at different locations for a few decades. Then in 2007 the New Museum finally settled down in the Lower East Side with its shiny silver building standing tall next to what used to be tenement buildings. There were two very different exhibits that I had went to see and I liked both a lot because they are both visually interesting and the concept for each is different, yet similar.
The first exhibit that I went to see is Live Forever by Elizabeth Peyton. Peyton is an artist who created work through paintings, drawings, watercolors and prints of celebrities and her close friends. Her inspiration came from looking at celebrity photographs from magazines and video stills from concerts and television appearances. Even though most of her works are done on celebrities, but she is not a celebrity fanatic. She only chose the celebrities that she feels plays an important role in the society, “Celebrity in itself is not that interesting to me, but it is interesting what people do…I think about art and what it is in society through the people I paint and how they are a part of their time, maybe more than other people are,” quote taken from the pamphlet from the museum.
I really liked Peyton’s work because the colors she uses are very saturated and the patterns are very bold like they are coming out of canvas. The oil painting that I really remember vividly is Blue Liam, 1996. The deep blue set of eyes really captures the viewer into the painting and the vivid red lips on Liam’s wan face gives the painting a very emotional and lively feeling like Liam is trying to communicate something through his eyes. Another work that I really liked of Peyton’s is Green Nick, 2003. This one is done with green color pencil on paper. It is both a very simple drawing and at the same time very detailed. In this drawing, Nick is wearing a hoodie relaxing or thinking, lying on a grassy field and just enjoying life. I like this drawing because in the background the trees are bare, while there are grass – seems like the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring.
On the other hand, the other exhibit I saw is To Be Someone by Mary Heilmann. Heilmann’s concentrated on the more sculpture aspect put onto canvas. She was originally a potter, but when she gotten into painting she took paint in a way that she would use clay. One of the works of Heilmann’s that really caught my attention is The Big Black Mirror, 1975, which is oil on canvas. The canvas is huge and it is painted with a black paint that is coated with a reflective surface. The frame of the canvas is painted in silver like a mirror with a frame. I found this piece very captivating because the name itself draws attention and the artwork alone is fascinating. The irony of this piece is that the “mirror” does not reflect clearly, but rather what can be seen is only the silhouette of the viewer and the light nearby.
Although Peyton and Heilmann both depict their art differently – they are similar to an aspect. The exhibit for Peyton is call Live Forever and Heilmann is call To Be Someone brings closeness to oneself. I felt that Peyton’s work shows something like a celebrity role model monument, where people will always remember them as an icon in the society. Aside from the celebrity paintings, Peyton included her close friends among these portrait paintings. Everyone has close friends who in one way or another is a role model or plays an important role in their life sometime. As for Heilmann’s work of art I felt that everyone has different viewpoints even when looking at the same piece of painting or sculpture. Especially the The Black Mirror because you cannot see anything clearly through the black surface, but you do see something – whatever you think you see is what you will see. Role models, friends and also the way one views life are very important.