The 2% gallery tour was art viewing made easy. Always a pleasure to visit Mr. Serra's work.

The theme of Dave’s tour today was “Time.” Dave believes most visual art can be viewed and absorbed in just a moment, so he chose 4 galleries displaying art which took more time to observe and absorb.

First, we visited the Gagosian Gallery, which contained 2 weatherproof steel sculptures by Richard Serra that almost filled the gallery from floor to ceiling. Both sculptures are similar to the torqued sheets of steel that formed labyrinths in the MOMA’s garden back in 2007. The 20(?)-foot “walls” of Serra’s labyrinths shepherded the active participant through narrow and seemingly endless “hallways” that appeared to defy the laws of physics – I lost my orientation as to where I began and ended my journey and wondered how it was that I only moved forward but somehow ended up in the same place I started. I also started leaning through one of the sculptures because the walls were slanted. The walls of that sculpture were so tall, I couldn’t rely on my view of the ceiling or walls of the gallery to maintain my bearings. Overall, the Serra exhibit was an enjoyable experience to which I had to simply submit myself without analysis or judgment.

The next gallery was Matthew Marks Gallery, and the artists were Fischli & Weiss. We faced rows upon rows of display cases parallel with the floor containing glossy magazine ads lined up like frames in old school celluloid film strips. Upon closer examination, the ads came from all over the world, ranging from racy American cars to Spanish laundry detergent. Dave suggested we back away from the images and not scrutinize each ad individually, but rather glance at the pool of ads with soft eyes. I found the overall experience of this exhibit interesting because it illustrates how things can look different when one changes one’s perspective and approach.

We then visited James Cohan Gallery, which had various dark rooms with several video images projected on the walls by Bill Viola. The videos in each room were in various stages of progression, generally beginning with non-descript black-and-white snowstorm images reminiscent of old handheld 35mm movie cameras. As I focus on a particular projection, all of which are in slow motion, the fuzzy silhouette of a person slowly appears out of the gray haziness and continues to walk closer and closer toward the camera. As I patiently watch the video, the speed of which seemed like watching day turn into night, or vice versa, eventually the person becomes a full-sized gray silhouette who suddenly steps through a brilliant, high-definition waterfall wall that seemed to be waiting in the foreground this whole time. As each body part breaks through the waterfall, it becomes vividly colorful and so high-def that a child (or an adult on some mind-altering drug) might feel compelled to reach through the monitor to touch the person who seems to be right there in the flesh. Eventually, the entire person (or in some cases, persons) in each video fully appears through the waterfall in full-color, drenched and dripping with water and standing still, evoking the feeling that they just emerged from the womb, naked and new.

The last gallery we visited was Sean Kelly Gallery, and the artist was Anthony McCall. It, too, contained several dark rooms with projections of minimal light patterns from one side of the room to the opposite wall. Each room was filled to the brim with a light smoke, probably the stuff they fill dance clubs with. At first glance, my small-pupiled eyes were drawn to the obvious simple white circular projections on the wall. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I became more aware of the smoke-filled space between the wall and the projector, through which the white light traveled. The smoke and light beams together formed a seemingly solid tube connecting the opposite walls. And our final experience was to walk through the large white tube of smoke, which at first felt counterintuitive because my brain was tricked into thinking the tube was solid and could not be penetrated. But as I walk through them, I felt as if the walls of light encapsulated me as a solid wall would. The interesting aspect of this exhibit was the different levels of experiences one can have… it was not just visual but also experiential art. Thanks, Dave!