Art Spaces that Captivate

While easy enough to forget, the art experience really begins before we view any artworks. From the architecture and exterior of a museum, gallery or other art space, to the way we interact with the people working there, and how we are affected by the spaces that surround the artworks themselves. There are exhibitions that stand out in our mind as memorable, but have you asked yourself why? Beyond the works themselves, art spaces serve as the backbone for the exhibition. One of these great exhibition spaces is Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland.

Water Court at the Pavilions Photo: Iwan Baan Courtesy: Glenstone Museum

Glenstone is an example of what can be achieved when there’s an ability and flexibility to create an art space from scratch. Yet in this case, the interior and exterior building and landscape design matters just as much as the curated works found in its galleries. Planning the architectural design can be challenging on its own, as the space would not have the flexibility of changing like the artworks do.

Valentina Nahon, Sr. Director of Public Engagement at Glenstone, spoke with me about the importance of creating an impactful art space experience for all visitors. The Glenstone experience begins outdoors, the entry point to its sprawling 230 acre footprint. A natural growing field with small hills and distant trees reveals paths, each leading to the galleries or to outdoor sculptures, like Jeff Koons’ Split-Rocker or Tony Smith’s Smug. The sculptures are part of nature itself, where they fit seamlessly each adapted to their  own unique natural setting. You won’t find more than one together, unlike a typical sculpture garden. 

Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker, 2000 stainless steel, soil, geotextile fabric, internal irrigation system, and live flowering plants 37 x 39 x 36 feet © Jeff Koons Courtesy: Glenstone Museum

These outdoor spaces invite you to be curious about your surroundings, the sights and sounds, and even through the steps you may take, where small stones make sound as you walk. All these components cause you to be more present in the experience. Nature holds a space for each work you come across outdoors. One of my personal favorites is Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller FOREST (for a thousand years…), where you are taken back in time through sound to reflect on humanity.

Nahon explains the purpose behind these art spaces:

Our mission at Glenstone is to be a place that seamlessly integrates art, architecture, and nature. The minimal design approach to both indoor and outdoor spaces is intended to facilitate meaningful encounters between our visitors and the artworks displayed, free of any distractions. The site design includes restored meadows, woodlands and streams to enhance the natural backdrop for outdoor sculptures, while the neutral building material palette complements the artworks on display.

When entering the galleries, the nature element persists, recalling the outdoor setting first experienced. The neutral wall colors, the large glass panels, and the water elements all embrace the landscape existing outdoors. The outdoor and indoor spaces interact heavily throughout the galleries, known as Pavilions. Beautiful natural light and high ceilings allow for this immersive effect in most spaces. There is a peace of mind from the mood-evoking surroundings that allow the visitor to explore at their own pace.

Installation View: Faith Ringgold From left: Faith Ringgold Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing Papa Can Blow #1: Somebody Stole My Broken Heart, 2004 acrylic on canvas with painted and pieced border 81 in x 67 in ACA Galleries, New York Dah #3, 1983 acrylic on canvas 74 in x 58 in ACA Galleries, New York Dah #4, 1983 acrylic on canvas 74 in x 58 in ACA Galleries, New York California Dah #5, 1983 acrylic on canvas 110 in x 48 in ACA Galleries, New York California Dah #4, 1983 acrylic on canvas © 2021 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York Photo: Ron Amstutz Courtesy: Glenstone Museum

At times, some spaces open up fully as you walk in, like a surprise effect to expose the artwork within. It is almost like an unveiling of Glenstone’s most valuable assets, the art itself. That is in a way what galleries and museums are, they hold a space that reveals creativity in the form of Faith Ringgold, Cy Twombly, or Robert Gober, as something precious and frozen in time for the visitors to see. 

Nahon tells us about Glenstone’s creative team collaboration, responsible for this entire experience:

At Glenstone, we have a series of galleries that host changing exhibitions, while others are purpose-built to house a particular artist’s work. Planning a new exhibition is a collaborative effort that begins with the artist’s vision. We have a group of talented associates with varying backgrounds and experiences that contribute to the realization of a new installation at Glenstone.

Rendering of the boardwalk approach to the new building at Glenstone Museum, conceived to house a large-scale Richard Serra work and designed in collaboration between the artist and Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners. Located on Glenstone’s Woodland Trail, with landscape design by Adam Greenspan/PWP. Image: The Boundary Courtesy: Glenstone Museum

This collaborative vision is necessary in all art spaces. It allows for an immersive experience that starts from the outside all the way to the core, the artwork. Spaces can adapt to the artists and their artworks, but I think it really has to be the other way around for it to create balance among the space that has already been created and what the artworks have to offer. Then, it is when the art is placed that the footprint of the space transforms to become one with the space according to its message, how interactive it is, and how the viewers respond to it.

In Chroma, I Live

Jaime Domínguez is highly in tune with design, color, and shape. The Mexican-born artist has a talent for playing with the visual field to draw you in and stir that innate human curiosity. In his own words, “the elements present in my work are the geometry through which I support the composition of all my designs, I could also say that architecture [is another element] but it is a very broad aspect, so I consider that geometry reduces the spectrum, mainly if we talk about the modernism, functionalism, deconstructivism, etc., within which geometry plays a central role.”

Aesthetic

One can describe Domínguez’s work as having both Minimalist and Abstract Expressionist elements. But much like those movements, there is more to discover about the worldview from which he creates. The aesthetic is much like a dance of polarities on the canvas, where light and dark meet, and strong and subtle collide. The artist’s Prisma and Kaleidoscope series also serves as reference of these layered complexities. If you’re familiar with the Mexican culture’s vibrant color themes and geometric shapes, through ancient culture, food, textiles, and handcrafted goods, you can see some of its influence on Domínguez’s artwork as well.

He explains:

Another fundamental element [important to me] is the aesthetics of Mexican popular art and specifically indigenous art, which in general is composed of simple and pure geometry in addition to its vast color palette, which is essential to execute my work... Finally, my essence as a Mexican and how I see the world from that place is what makes my work unique.

These characteristics seem simple, but it takes skill to manipulate color for balanced, effect-like purposes. You see bold colors, but you also see layers that complement those stronger hues as if they fade with grace. Or, they may emphasize the already existing color, depending on how you’re observing the work. Much like in most of his work, here viewing angle matters. 

There are the geometrical shapes in which colors are engulfed, that serve as an added punch of detail to the works themselves. According to the shape, the motion is put to action and the colors and direction are dispersed in a fluid, synchronized effect.

Deeper Knowing

To fully appreciate abstract art, sometimes it’s easiest to take a step back when analyzing a work. With Domínguez’s art it is hard to do that, because the works have an attractive quality, flowing from the shapes and colors present, that keep you in the moment. What we see is a combination of something we can relate to within us that yields the “bigger picture” in an abstract sense. We all have these latent layers to ourselves, much like Domínguez’s paintings. 

Some layers are expressed as bold colors, and some are soft like hidden qualities we expose from time to time. Whatever they are, they all encompass parts of ourselves that are very much alive and very much authentic to who we are, just like each of Jaime Domínguez’s works. They represent intricacies that are unique and beautiful, and that all reside within one place.

He shares his process:

In terms of shape, I am inspired by modern architecture, simple and defined forms. However, from time to time I break with this rule and include more organic or deconstructed forms, which I reinterpret from the sophisticated designs (interior and exterior) of cars or boats with sophisticated design. The color palette definitely comes from indigenous art. Even in most cases, I make my natural pigments with the same techniques that indigenous people use, and in other cases I acquire the pigments directly from the indigenous communities from which I inspire my work. I make my own blends with diversity of polymers so that they have longevity and a contemporary look. As for my influences in academic terms, they are more linked to architecture and many of its exponents of modernism, functionalism, deconstructivism, britalismo and some furniture designers of the early and mid-twentieth century.

Concluding Thoughts

Domínguez’s interests and techniques provide him range. They allow us to see the full spectrum of his art, where polarities attract and live within one artwork. His works have a 2-D quality to them because of his awareness with space, geometrical motion, and execution, and that is what makes them mesmerizing in their own way.

He touches on current projects:

I am currently working on the execution of my series "Pais Maravilla," which is a compilation of personal experiences with my Mexicanity, of how I see myself being Mexican in the face of global reality and at the same time what my culture has contributed to the global context. Basically, I take elements of the most relevant tangible and intangible cultural heritage in my life and put them into shape. It is a very personal reinterpretation of the transcendence of the clash of cultures (conquest) and I try to put it on a pro-positive plane in aesthetic terms. This series encompasses painting, sculpture, object, installation and is the most ambitious work I have done so far.

We look forward to seeing it! For more on the artist’s work, please visit his website.

Today’s poem symbolizes Jaime’s connectivity with the world in a sophisticated, abstract manner:

Sales

BY W. S. DI PIERO

Miguel might, if he speaks English, call the colors

of ukuleles stretching their necks from yards

of canvas duffel yoked across his shoulders,

auroral azul, cherry pop, or mojito green,

under this Pac Heights sky where the awful rich

snap their heels past shop windows, past goatskin bags

and spiked heels that bring them closer to heaven,

fibristic sheets of celadon paper from Zhejiang,

FIAT cremini, and Cinco de Mayo gelato.

Smiling past them, he passes with his happy load,

a display model whole and nude in his hand,

on sale to no one, uplifted like a Stratocaster

sacramental from mahogany forests in Paraguay.

Making Things Whole

Our perspective on life is constantly being influenced by external factors. External influence has the capacity to sway the way we act, think, and feel. When it comes to what externalities we assimilate and make part of our beliefs and daily lives selectivity matters. Ana Rendich, an Argentine-born artist based in Virginia, is in tune with these external complexities and how to transform them into the paintings and sculptures she envisions and creates. 

Process 

Study, small work.

The way Rendich presents her artwork is selective, and it all begins with her unique creation process. Much like dissecting information, she is discerning on what matters to her first subconsciously, then consciously. She connects with her inner narrative to turn it into art. This process honors her strong sense for the creative process behind every piece. For Rendich, specific themes come to mind and act as primer for her creations.

She explains:

The base of my art is bringing presence through absence. There are different types of absences: not only physical absence, but also the lack of the fabric that could make us better human beings. All these have created the need to incorporate other elements, according with the sensibility of each piece, like the use or wood, metal and paper, besides oil, silicone, etc. I enjoy immensely the closeness with my materials, the tactile and physical connection too. It takes time to find materials that work with the guiding nature of my process. For example, I often visit lumberyards and I seldom find something that interests me. It takes time to find a piece of wood that I feel I can grow and work with.

Aesthetic 

Semilla, mixed media.

Some of Rendich’s works look like candy on the wall, especially her sculptures. Her use of color acts like an added element of surprise that blends in beautifully and intentionally. There’s structure to the color itself, which creates boundary-like effects on the paintings and sculptures. Where each space is defined within the whole. Almost portraying a sense of individuality to the piece itself and its shape and shade in relation to the rest, including the exhibiting wall space. 

“In both my paintings and my sculptures, color and shape are secondary to the overall composition. They are not separate elements—both form a symbiosis of the whole work. When I make an artwork that contains individual pieces, I always keep in mind that each piece belongs to the other part, and that the space that all the pieces occupy together is what makes the work,” Rendich comments. 

The use of color creates contrast within and around its outer space. Each shade does this in a non-restrictive way, as the edges are soft, yet it makes the viewer aware of the effect. The raised clear surfaces on the resin sculptures do a beautiful job at encapsulating an area and keeping it contained through an almost clear boundary. Every piece is timeless yet frozen in time, as it exists individually first, then in relation to one another - even in the sculptures she showcases as pairs.

Deeper Meaning

Untangling Single Vision, oil on linen.

In her latest exhibit, Untangling Single Visions, at the Quirk Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, Rendich showed how simplicity can unfold. Yes, a single idea can connect through shape or color in art, but these components, much like thoughts themselves, have the power to transform. All it takes is influence, perspective, and time of fill in the absence of what not yet exists in our minds.

She notes:

My creative process is very personal and internal. In general, it is about something that awakens in me and it is then that I have this need to create the work based on a deep-rooted sentiment that came to me. What influences me most probably is the absence of consciousness, the lack of empathy. All these “ingredients” that make us less human…so I need to bring some light, not with the intention of preaching or judgmental, but to reflect and contemplate in our humanness.

When closely observing her sculptures, you begin to appreciate the depth and complexity, much like our own thoughts. This to me is saying that when we unravel a thought or vision, it naturally can lead to more context, more information, more knowledge, to make that vision richer and whole. It provides us with perspective or that consciousness Rendich refers to. It is what we gain here that shapes us to continue becoming who we are meant to be as part of our human journeys. When we open ourselves to these possibilities, we become better versions of ourselves by becoming more aware of the world overall. 

As an example of how Rendich’s mind incites her creativity, she shares thoughts on her current projects:

Right now, I am making a couple works based on an event that happened in Argentina. In September 1976, 10 adolescents were abducted by security forces in the city of La Plata near Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is called the "Night of the Pencils" because they were students between 13 and 18 years old. Six of the 10 were never seen again. I grew up with violence, and the disappearance of human beings has created more questions than answers. I want to investigate visual ideas involving human loss through violence, bringing hope and healing joined together by our common humanity.

Concluding Thoughts

Untangling Single Visions, oil on linen.

We have the power to compartmentalize everything, be it thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or even material items. These pieces are part of something greater we have created even subconsciously with all the influence that surrounds us. Everything we experience, like these lovely artworks by Ana Rendich, matter.

For more on Ana Rendich’s work, please visit her website.

Today’s poem reflects Ana’s deep connectivity to humanity, what we lack, and what we need:

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.