Ranting Details: Art

(NOTE: All photos by Timur Civan (TC), all photos by Matthew Murphy (MM))

The car started winding along a two-lane highway and I feared my predictions were right: Carson and Timur were taking me to be put in prison in Beacon, New York. If there’s ever a place someone needs to go when they’re low, it’s to a correctional facility to see how much lower they can get.

The trees passed, and houses the size of apartment buildings loomed on mountains all around us. The scenery brought a comfort that disappears in places like New York City; sometimes I forget how invigorating nature can be. As we made our way through a collection of small towns, I started to think that my REAL prediction was correct: we were on our way to Dia:Beacon, the minimalist museum in Beacon, New York.

It wasn’t long before that idea was verified. After a few more turns, we pulled into the parking lot and I bounded out of the car. Carson and Timur had been raving about the museum since they took a trip there a few months ago, and I couldn’t wait to experience it myself.

(Even the entrance was cool looking. MM)

We entered into a small café attached to the gift shop, which gave no hint of the vast space we were about to see. After purchasing our tickets, we wandered through a small door and let the fun begin.

Dia is a collection of minimalist art housed in what is basically the minimalist version of the Lourve; it’s a hollowed out factory, which is such a mind-blowing space that it’s hard to focus on the art. Fortunately, a lot of minimalist art is created with the idea of how it interacts with a given space. This made for a unique experience observing 20th century masters like Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, Louise Bourgeois, and Richard Serra.

The first gallery space we entered (about the size of a football field in comparison to NYC gallery space) was a room full of multi-colored Warhol prints that hung side-to-side to create a panoramic rainbow view. My jaw didn’t leave the hardwood floor for two hours.

Room after room brought new things to ponder. Minimalist artists have never been at the top of my list, but the way the gallery spaces were lit, combined with the stark contrast of the art to the pristine white walls put much of it in a new light for me. Even something as strange as a piece of string extending floor to ceiling became an exploratory adventure.

(One of the gallery spaces.)

One of the most exciting things about the space was that we had it mostly to ourselves. There were so many different rooms that it almost felt like its own self contained city. It seemed like the space must have been a couple of city blocks in size.

We went in knowing we had less than two hours before the museum closed, but that didn’t keep us from taking our time. In fact, after walking miles around the gallery space, we decided to take a moment to rest…inside the Richard Serra sculptures.

(The way the light fell through the windows against the Serra sculptures was incredible. MM)

Even though photography was prohibited, we knew that we could get away with it enclosed in Serra’s warped oxidized steel masterpieces. Timur and I whipped out our cameras and began snapping away. After ten minutes of resting against the cold concrete floor, we decided to continue on and see the rest of the work.