More Video Art at SAAM

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum

When: closing March 18, 2018

Happy New Year to all my readers!  I look forward to another year of museum-going and blogging my views thereon.

My march through March continues, as I'm determined to see as many shows as possible before the potential government shutdown on January 19.  Really hoping this will not have been necessary, but am taking no chances.

SAAM collects video art, as well as paintings and sculptures, and they have a space set aside to show off their holdings called "Watch This!"  A clever name, I think, as it lures you in to see what's on offer.  At present, they have four different pieces on view.  The best of them is "Face in the Crowd," which surrounds you as you sit or stand in a small room.  It's a swirling mix of people, the crowds on the street, where it's so easy to vanish in a sea of humanity.

Verdict: No blockbusters here, but you won't regret a few minutes spent looking at these new videos.

The latest Watch This!

Where:  American Art Museum

When: through March 6, 2017

The SAAM has, quite laudably in my view, decided to include videos in its collection.  Movies are, after all, an art form, and Americans are among the best filmmakers in the world.  Bravo to the Smithsonian for including this genre.

My favorite of the current offerings is "Caught in the Act," by Eleanor Antin.  It's a video of the artist dancing, along with still photographs from the film.  If you looked only at the photos, you might think she was a fine ballerina.  The video, however, tells a different story.  So the question becomes: which is more true?  You might think the answer is obviously video, but is that always the case?  In today's climate of lies masquerading as "alternate facts," what can you believe?

"Face in the Crowd," by Alex Prager is another pick of this litter.  I saw it in an almost empty room, but with the screens full of people in front and on the sides of me, I felt crowded.  There's something hypnotic about this - I felt as if I were making my way through the throngs, along with the people in the film.

My only complaint is the noise bleed.  They really need either a larger space for this, or to show fewer videos at one time.

Verdict: Nice to see a Smithsonian museum other than the Hirshhorn showing films.

Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum

When: through February 15, 2015

I love visiting the third floor of the American Art Museum/Portrait Gallery.  The floor, the walls and the windows are a riot of color and pattern - no subtle earth tones here!  I don't know when this decorative scheme would have been chosen, but I love its excesses.  Even if the show I see there isn't much to my taste, at least I've been given my smile for the day by the decor.

Happily, my most recent trip to the third floor was enjoyable for the show as well.  A new permanent addition to the collection, this is a rotating selection of video offerings; I was reminded, in a good way, of the Black Box and Directions series at the Hirshhorn.  I think art galleries and museums overlook the "moving image" as the title calls it, and it's good to see the Smithsonian continuing to celebrate it.

The film pictured here is "Fall Into Paradise."  A pinprick of light develops gradually into two people in an embrace, then, all of a sudden, they fall into a body of water.  The splash is startlingly loud - I jumped a bit, but the group of young people who watched it after me actually screamed with surprise.  I like this video - although it takes a while for the action to develop, your patience is rewarded in the end.

"Six Colorful Inside Jobs" is a series of people painting a room.  First, it's entirely red, then orange, then yellow and so on.  I know, I know, who wants to see something that perilously akin to watching paint dry?  It's hypnotic, really - the action is sped up, so it only takes a couple of minutes to paint the room, rather than a couple of hours.  And it's neat to watch one color give way to another.  It reminded me of "Floating McDonald's."  You know what's going to happen, but it's riveting in its own way.

Less successful than either of these offerings is "Walk with Contrapposto, " which features the artist walking back and forth along a narrow corridor, striking poses along the way.  Perhaps something else happens as well, but I couldn't stay interested long enough to find out.  Nam June Paik is also represented here (I recognized the piece as one of his - kudos to me) with "Zen for TV."  It's an old television set with video playing of a straight line, almost like when TV used to go off for the night (imagine!!) and you'd get the test pattern.  It's about as interesting.

Verdict: It's batting .500 for me, which is an admirable average.  I look forward to more installments in this series.