Thoughts on Contemporary Art

Art Street

Located in an old warehouse downtown, M5 Arts (the organization responsible for Art Street, and last years Art Hotel) was able to secure this old building before it was to be demolished, and turn it into a maze filled with contemporary art. Though many of the artists I did not recognize, there were several with ties to Sac State’s art program, including current professors, which was great to see.

Most of the artwork at Art Street were installation pieces and many were interactive, which created quite an immersive experience for viewers. One of the works that I found interesting was an installation of slender mirror panels (roughly 4 inches wide), all hung in a row. When standing in front of the mirrors, one’s reflection was echoed and repeated numerous times, creating the sense of infinity. Though using mirrors in this way to suggest the infinite is not original, what I found powerful about this piece was that the artist used many mirror panels, all suspended and free moving, which created a fracturing effect, therein creating the power driving the work. In other words, it created— both literally and metaphorically— a fractured reality, which I find to relate appropriately to today’s current state of affairs.

There was another suspended installation piece that I found intriguing. Hanging in the center of the warehouse were giant rectangular, black and white boxes. Something about the simplicity of these made me really appreciate the work. The lack of ornamentation on the individual boxes allowed me to focus on the rhythm that the whole work created— from the repetition of the forms, to the varying heights they were suspended above the viewer, to the repeated black and white color changes. The work reminded me of the minimalist movement of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Scale was also a major part of this installation, as the work was large in scale and very expansive—the individual boxes were at least human size and the work as a whole took up at least fifty feet in both direction—which dwarfed me as a viewer. Lastly, there was a feeling of heaviness and weightiness to the work—like these forms were fighting against gravity and hovering in the air, but at any moment could come crashing back down to earth.

Overall, Art Street is an amazing experience. It is encouraging to see something happening in the Sacramento art scene. I think the main factor of why something such as this is so incredible, is because it is non-profit. These artists are making and experimenting with their ideas and materials without the threat of a gallery wanting to sell their work, which in turn, I feel allows for more creative freedom; these artists make art that they feel they need to make, in order to express what they feel they need to express. Unfortunately, I did not submit an application this time to Art Street, but hopefully I can participate with my own work in the future.