Arizona - Phoenix Art Museum

 Built in 1959 and with it's most recent renovation in 2006 PhxArt is the largest art museum in the South Western United States, according to Wikipedia.

I started with the exhibition of work by Amelia Mesa-Bains. Pieces in the first room resembled home alters and ofrendas found in Mexican-American homes.

 

Her other sculptural pieces used diverse materials such as moss "The Amazona's Mirror",

woven material (that's what the label said but it looks like rug hooking or punch needle to me)

glass and

lights."What the River Gave to Me"

I was excited about this as I had been unable to get tickets to her show at the AGO.

It was just one room, quite disorientating (a number of people stepped through the black curtains and then stepped out again, unable to deal with not being able to see where they were going). I reached out, found a wall (all were mirrored) and followed it around to the exit, some bravely stepped away from the wall and risked running into it.

The mirrored walls infinitely  reflected the strands of lights that were constantly changing colour. Every now and then I saw a ghostly reflection of myself, reflected multiple times and when others were in the room at the same time, the videos they were taking on their phones also lit the space and reflected. It was beautiful and I returned to it 3 times.

Next was an exhibit of paintings by Philip C. Curtis. "Mountain Village"

"Entrance with light bulb"

Between the exhibition halls there were large foyers displaying some of the huge pieces in the collection. From the distance I took this for a painting but up closer all those little black marks were people walking. It was a video and mesmerizing. Michal Rovner "Blue Hills"

This oil painting was massive and I loved the way you first notice the figure on the blanket but the way the light comes through the trees draws your eye until you see the figure centre right. Rebecca Campbell "Jack and Diane"

Enough art for now. The next blog post will have more.