As I mentioned in previous postings, Vienna, Austria
is a unique city if one wants to live art, and live it without pressure.
Everything seems to be revolving around auditory, visual, gustative and sensual
stimulation. I have been in Vienna perhaps twenty times over the past two decades
and still feel like discovering it for the first time.
The reason is not Mozart, the imperial palaces, museums,
Strauss, Klimt, the concert at midnight in the St. Steven’s Cathedral, the
Danube or the Opera. Instead, it is the physical proximity of these various
artistic stimulations. In a day one can go from Baroque to neo-impressionism; from
a quartet to a full symphony orchestra; and, from Dadaism to “anti-happening”!
… On a cold and cloudy day, decided to do exactly so
– go from Klimt in the Leopold Museum to Koller in the Mumok.
Having seen many of Klimt’s work before, the real
discovery on that day was a banner in the gift shop of the Leopold Museum. Here
it is:
I was surprised they continue to attribute this
statement to Klimt, as there is well established validation of it belonging to
Adolf Loos. Indeed, he was analyzing Klimt’s “obsession” with women models when
he started his article “Ornament and
Crime” (1908) with that famous sentence.
But it made me think. Erōtikos is the stirring of libido. And, I believe that libido is a
general state of excitement and desire that goes beyond sexuality. I think
there is professional libido when one enjoys his work; there is spiritual
libido when curiosity finds a cozy corner in the vastness of the
less-understood; and, there is a sensual libido that celebrates beauty in all
its forms. In that sense I fully understand what Loos was saying.
As an artist, I often associate that professional
libido with symmetry and harmony. Seems simple, or even simplistic, but adorned
in gold or naked, like Klimt’s models, professional libido is the search for
that symmetry between the known and the newly discovered. And when there is discovery,
it is the stirring of that libido that leads to creativity. In form, word, or behavior.
… So, went to Mumok Museum next door to Leopold
Museum to see Koller’s work.
Júlis Koller questioned art and expression. His most
famous symbol was the question mark which he painted on every panel of his wood
house in Čičmany, Slovakia. This neo-avantgardist questioned expression, rules
and became an anti-art, anti-behavior, anti-politics artist. That is why the Mumok
Museum of Modern Arts called the exhibit “One man Anti Show”.
It takes a while to wonder why a ping-pong table
placed in a vast open space on the floor of the museum is art. Or why painting
a question mark on a large canvas is a unique creation. I think after a while
one comes to the understanding that it is not the expression of the artist that
is what the Mumok Museum is sharing but his attitude. In some way, his artistic
libido.
So, here is how I reached that symmetry and harmony
during the exhibit. Next to his picture where he covers his face with a plate,
I stood and covered my face with a ping pong paddle!
… Later in the day, while walking around the city, I
passed by the Jewish Museum. The poster in its large front window made me think
again about the variations in expression.
… Do we all pass through these modes of expression
with our libido “Like a Rolling Stone”?
December 10, 2016
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016
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