Trip to the Tang Museum

On Saturday April 17th, I went to visit the Tang Musuem at Skidmore College in Saratoga, New York. The three main exhibits of interest at the museum were titled “Opener 19: Los Carpinteros”, “Fred Tomaselli”, and “Power Play”. The pieces that truly became embedded in my mind were that from the artist Fred Tomaselli’s self titled exhibit as well as a Salvadore Dali’s piece from the “Power Play” exhibit. Before I comment and analyze the above mentioned exhibits, I just wanted to comment on a piece of art that was outside of the museum. When I first walked up to the Tang Museum I saw a huge thank you bag on the front lawn of the museum just outside of the entrance (Image 1). I thought it was interesting that the above image was facing the same direction as the entrance of the museum so people could see it as they were walking into the museum. In my opinion it seems as though it would have been more appropriate to turn the bag around so that it read thank you as you were exiting the museum. The bag would work almost like a structural message to the crowd from the directors of the Tang Museum that thanks them for visiting the museum.
Since there were so many different pieces in Tomaselli’s exhibit it seems appropriate to comment on his overall style and then discuss a favorite piece of mine from the masses. Overall I found Tomaselli’s artwork to be very unique, original, and beautiful. Tomaselli’s images truly push the use of color contrast to visually appeal to the audience. His use of detailed images to create the general message in his pieces keeps the viewer’s eyes constantly moving. Having this movement throughout the piece does not enable the viewer’s mind to stay stagnant. Upon looking at an artwork, the viewers mind is in a state of constant movement where he is constantly interpreting the individual pieces of art and left in a wondrous state of mind throughout the exhibit. The main subject matters throughout Tomaselli’s exhibit were actual pills perfectly placed for interpretation. Honestly, it appeared as though Tomaselli had more pills in his exhibit than a pharmacy has in its inventory. The use of the pills was interesting because of their assortment of colors, sizes, and styles. Also in most of his pieces, from afar, I could not tell that Tomaselli used pills in the images at all. The lines of pills appeared as though they were lines that provided emphasis against the dark backgrounds. Another component of Tomaselli’s exhibit that I enjoyed was how he used detailed pictures of specific parts of the body to create the actual images of the body. An example would be how he used pictures of feet to create the actual image of a foot in his artwork. I would be curious to see his magazine collection and all of the missing pictures taken from them so he could use them to create his art.



Out of all of the pieces in the Tang Museum, Field Guides (Image 2) by Tomaselli was my favorite. Its shear size alone was enough to impress me. The contrast of the colors was amazing to me and the use of all of the detailed components kept me searching the piece to develop an educated interpretation of the meaning behind it. I love how the butterflies throughout the piece approach the figure with a distinct flight pattern, then surround the figure with such grace, and then dissipate into the starry night. The grass in the image also has such distinct characteristics that the viewer can get lost just looking at the field the worker is mending.



Another piece I enjoyed at the Tang Museum was Dali’s piece titled Setze jutges mengen fetge d'un penjat (Sixteen Judges Eat the Liver of a Hanged Man) from 1977. Some art critics believe that Dali lost his flair after the ‘60s and he was just creating art for the money. Now, in Intro to Visual Arts I have seen this topic of art and money constantly being debated therefore it is not necessary to comment on this matter for this particular piece. One of the real reasons why I enjoyed this piece was because of the memories it stirred for me. It reminded me of my trip to the Dali Museum in Berlin, Germany. I went there with a few friends of mine while we were on a study trip for our International Business and Economics class at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. At that museum I saw many original Dali sketches, sculptures, and paintings that were truly mind boggling. Also, one of my friends that I went with was very well educated about Dali, so he was able to provide some insight about Dali and some of the artwork we saw at the museum.
In the end, my trip to the Tang Museum at Skidmore College proved to be quite successful. I saw many beautiful pieces of art and was also able to reminisce about my time abroad. From the museum I was able to walk away with a new artist to include in my top 5 favorite artists as well as gain a new respect for the art world in the Capital District Area.