“Paper: Pressed, Stained, Slashed, Folded” at the Museum of Modern Art

By: Sarah Blumberg

 

     If there’s one thing the MoMA exhibition “Paper: Pressed, Stained, Slashed, Folded” makes clear, it’s that paper is an incredibly versatile material.  Then again, I guess that’s the beauty of paper.  For such amazingly ubiquitous stuff, however, it’s so often overlooked as a source of artistic inspiration.  During the 1960s and 70s, when many artists were taking an interest in using everyday materials and conventional processes in non-traditional ways, paper was a medium that was reassessed.  The focus of “Paper” is the reexamination of this material, often in incredibly unique and surprisingly beautiful ways. 

One of my favorite works from this show is Robert Rauschenberg’s Page 4, from his 1974 series Pages and Fuses.  Because Rauschenberg was a master of using non-traditional items to create works of art, it is not surprising that he was also interested in using traditional materials in unusual ways.  Page 4 consists of two sheets of handmade paper in Plexiglas frames that are mounted, one above the other, on the wall.  The paper was created around a single piece of twine, which appears only as a ridge down the middle of each of the works.  The twine runs vertically from the top of the work through the bottom, hanging well below the lower piece of paper.  It is only in the spaces between and around the paper – in the middle section between the two pieces and below them, outside of the framed paper – that the twine can even be identified as such.  The juxtaposition of the white of the handmade paper with the golden color of the twine is visually stunning.  The three-dimensional quality that the twine adds, both as part of the paper and in the way that it simultaneously connects the two pieces and is suspended below them, causes this piece to successfully inhabit an area somewhere between that of print and sculpture. 

While I liked most of the pieces featured in “Paper,” I wasn’t particularly excited about the works from artists that used organic materials either in the creation of their work or as a substitute for paint.  My one main exception to this was Richard Long’s 1992 Untitled.  This oversized vertical painting, while consisting of nothing more than Mississipi mud on paper, is eerily beautiful.  The application of the mud on the paper gives the work a sense of movement, much like the Mississipp itself, and I found myself fascinated by its color and pattern variations. 

The organic works in this exhibit that utilize food products, however, are not nearly as well executed.  I found some of them to be visually appealing, such as John Cage’s 1990 Wild Edible Drawing No. 8, in which Cage uses edible plants to create a highly textured work.  Others, such as Edward Ruscha’s Stains, which features 12 pieces from a 1969 portfolio of 75 mixed-media stains, with some of the stains including gunpowder (Dupont Superfine), wine (Chateau Latour 1969), urine (Human), and salad dressing (Kraft Roka Blue Cheese), fall short of their goal.  Ruscha refers to this work as “a little treasure chest of overlooked things,” the concept of which I really like.  Unfortunately, the implementation and visual representation of the idea, with each stain applied to the paper with an eye dropper in order to make it look like a stain rather than a work of art, is simply not remarkable in any significantly artistic way.  I guess this is the point of the piece, but it’s not enough to make it interesting.

One note about the space itself: the Paul J. Sachs Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries, located in an often-overlooked section of the second floor at the MoMA, is a great location for this exhibit.  There typically aren’t many visitors to the small spaces that make up these galleries, so unlike most of the other parts of the museum, it doesn’t feel crowded and you can actually spend some time with each piece.  I wouldn’t pay the MoMA’s exorbitant admission fee for this exhibition alone, but “Paper” presents a wide range of very compelling work that is well worth a visit.

 

   

“Paper: Pressed, Stained, Slashed, Folded” at the MoMA runs through June 22^nd

 

Museum of Modern Art

Take the E or V train to 53rd Steet and 5th Avenue or the B, D, F or V train to 47th-50th Street/Rockefeller Center

Museum hours: F, 10:30-8:00; Sat-M, 10:30-5:30

Exhibition website: www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/865

 

Comments

[H.Bicknell]

The description of the Rauschenberg work enhanced the tactile nature of the piece - which is one of the elements I really enjoy about works on paper. The fragility and time-bound aspect is something that also comes through in the Rushca description. Nice choices of works from the show to highlight!

[LEP]

So interesting...there seems to be a resurgence of the use of paper as medium in the contemporary scene as well. Recently I've seen quite a few artists using paper in inventive ways: in the show "Cutters" at Hunter College's gallery, Yuken Teruya's work at MAD, and numerous booths at the recent satellite fairs. Guess they have a precedent in the not-too-distant past.