Peggy Guggenheim Collection / Art Gallery of WA

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

category: a Collection of ... Art?, author:

Abstract Expressionist Artists ... ?

from the Peggy Guggenheim Venice collection,
visited in January 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10 -- good for a laugh.

I just wish that I had met Peggy Guggenheim. I bet she would have been a sure-fire purchaser of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I'm only selling the bridge because my dear friend the Manager of the Stateless Bank of Nigeria is recently deceased. He left me a bequest and specifically requested that I give $100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars) to my dear friend Pegggie Gaagenherm. Just send $10,000 transfer fee, details of your bank account and a sample signature. Your $500,000,000 (five hundred million dollars) will be on its way as soon as we can clear customs, which will require you to pay a further minor deposit of $17,000...

You get the idea: Guggenheim was a sucker with too much money and no sense of when she was being had. So she bought a heap of kindergarten scratchings which were claimed to be Abstract and Expressionist Art.

For example... Have a look at the Enchanted Forest... It's by Australia's favourite scam-artist, Jackson Pollock. "In Enchanted Forest Pollock opens up the more dense construction of layered color ... by allowing large areas of white to breathe..." And he, "reduces his palette to a restrained selection of gold, black, red, and white." Why not just say, "He was running short of paint and time so he spread the paint quickly and thinly."

For $20 each, it was an enjoyable stroll round samples of dribble and drivel. At least it made us think: Is it polite to laugh out loud at "art"?

The Gugg collection was supported by Lego models which had been inspired by the collection. This was aimed at children. I would say that children had the better deal.

There was also a Gugg-inspired young photographer exhibition. More accurately, there was a Gugg-inspired photoshopper exhibition. There is no inherent artistry in cutting and pasting, blurring and smearing, with Photoshop. You still need to add some artistic inspiration. Although there were two photos worth mentioning:

• One photo had two hands curved to form the outline of a heart. Within the heart, green and growing. Outside, brown and dying. Simple, clever imagery: with love the world is green and growing.
  
• Another photographer had left the camera lens open. Not sure what would happen, he wrote, but what the hell. Or words to that effect. What happened was worth the lack of effort. It was rubbish.
  

And so it was time for lunch.

We tried the Art Galley cafe... Tried and left.

We've snacked there before and it's fine. Today, however, was children's day... and packed. Plus, the underlying and unpleasant aroma of food. Perhaps it was the smell of stale chip fat... Unpleasant.

We left the aroma of stale food and crossed to the Aroma cafe in the State Reference Library.

How often have you been in the concrete desert between the Art Gallery and the Library? Is it ever pleasant?

Concrete. Strong sunshine. Heat. Not enough shade.

Perhaps the designer envisaged a cultural desert. A hot and arid concrete barrens. An unpleasant wasteland in which scorched pedestrians can contemplate the destruction of the natural environment...

Who knows. It's awful. But I've know that for years.

The State Reference Library was an oasis: a cool haven. Busy, lively, alive. Adults engrossed in literature, others clearly just passing through. Children enjoying themselves, sometimes at high speed. No smell of stale food in the cafe...

We both enjoyed salads and coffee in the Aroma cafe in the library.

Salads were fresh and tasty. A good size for a satisfying lunch. Friendly service and reasonable prices. The cafe is also in an excellent location.

The cafe is off to the side of a through passage: to the side of a broad passage which leads from one side of the library to the other. So we could sit out of the way and watch the passing parade.

The Guggenheim Collection is worth a visit -- if only for a laugh. The Gallery cafe is usually pleasant but can easily feel crowded.

The Library has an excellent cafe. There is an interesting exhibition about Italian migrants to WA. There are books, records, all the great things you expect from a Reference library.

And the Library is fully open on Tuesdays.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.