Art Encounters

We just got home from the Dialogues Exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibit focuses on the shared process of art making between Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, Joseph Cornell and Robert Rauschenberg. It was quite exhilarating really, especially for this girl who is more into the Impressionists and Frida Kahlo.

My favorites were the works of Joseph Cornell. His fascination with fragments of once beautiful objects become odd collections of bric-a-brac in distinctive boxes. I like that every object has a meaning and reason for being.

The other pieces I found very moving were the posters of Robert Rauschenberg. This part of the exhibit was entitled “Artist-Citizen: Posters for a Better World.” Through printmaking he addresses current social and political concerns.

We couldn’t leave the museum without a peek at the museum store and we found this kit. Isn’t it fun? Now we can make our own Artist-Citizen posters. Heh. We didn’t really need this as my husband has tons of paints, nibs, brushes, paper, oh the paper, but we really wanted to read the booklet inside which details the artist’s approach.

Now I feel like I need to go read up on artists of the modern world. Anyone have a good book to recommend on lives of artists?