i recently viewed the art exhibit at the lacma, “magritte and contemporary art.” it is a wonderfully constructed show. john baldessari designed the exhibit area with wall-to-wall carpeting that mimics a theme in magritte paintings, sky blue background with white puffy clouds. the entrances to the exhibit areas have shapes cut out of the doorways that mimic a shape from a magritte painting. the docents wear derby hats.
the content of the show is nicely organized. in addition to the magritte paintings are the works that were inspired by them. on the wall next to the magritee painting, “personal values,” (a roomscape with objects all out of proportion: a giant comb laying on a bed, a person-sized glass standing in the middle of the room, etc.) is vija celmins’s untitled piece, a giant comb made out of wood and painted in enamel to reference the comb in magritte’s painting. for me, seeing these two pieces next to each other made the individual pieces more meaningful. there were nice surprises like this throughout the exhibit. all in all a lovely show, well worth a visit.
for more about the exhibit: http://www.lacma.org/art/MagritteIndex.aspx
