At the Museum
Believe it or not, Denver, Colorado has an incredible collection of Art Museums all of which are highly architecturally erected, well curated and incessantly designed to provide a clear path to receive that artists high experience; or at the very least channel it.
Through our week long travels, the exhibit which left the largest imprint on our minds was MARK MOTHERSBAUGH’s: MYOPIA currently showing at The Museum of Contemporary Art.
Upon entering the MCA, we first read over the artist’s biography detailing how Mothersbaugh has created works in every form and medium over the past 50 years. After seeping in his story we were prompted to route viewing a gallery full of his “My Little Pony” mirrored inspired, double-rump fiberglass sculptures – we thought what a proper welcome into his world.
The first floor of the museum was fully dedicated to Mothersbaugh’s most well known artist expression – sound. Sets of headphones were hung systematically providing melodious songs to ring in your ears alongside visual video stimulation of performances documented from his DEVO years. As we strolled through room after room, floor after floor we received a tremendous sense of emotion as his use of all the senses were incredibly stimulating.
Though it is difficult to have a well favored piece from this enormous exhibit which includes music, sculpture, video, photography, product design and even rug-making, we immediately were gasped by his 30,000 postcard diaries. Well curated in photo album styled flip books, the artist has been obsessively drawing on 4 x 6 inch postcards for decades. The majority of postcards we viewed had an interesting surrealist edge to them with mythical and human forms merging into seamless pairings. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay longer than the 8-hour museum hours to view every single drawing.
The sheer volume of works created by Mothersbaugh is unimaginable for many people to grasp as most would assume creating this vast body of art takes immense dedication. Our take is, we are certain when art and vision live within you there is an extraordinary reaction to produce. This artist’s story is entirely inspirational and has opened our minds greatly through our At the Museum experience.
Thank you Mark!
Exhibitions
Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia
The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver presents a retrospective of art and music by Mark Mothersbaugh, co-founder of the band DEVO now until April 12.
Artist Select: Mark Mothersbaugh
Artist Select: Mark Mothersbaugh initiates an ambitious new curatorial series at the Clyfford Still Museum through which creative professionals engage in curatorial work traditionally performed by individuals with chiefly academic, art historical backgrounds. The exhibition features four small drawings by Clyfford Still selected by Mothersbaugh. Each drawing is accompanied by a unique musical composition created by Mothersbaugh in response to it.
Free Days: Clyfford Still
To encourage community engagement, the Clyfford Still Museum offers free admission every final Friday of the month.
