Have you ever been to an Art Museum? If so, have you ever wanted to know more about a piece of art? Besides the information that they give you on a metal or wooden plaque about how old it is or what it is made of, but where it is from and who built and created it? These are some of the many thoughts I have had when it comes to looking at a piece of art and always wondered why sometimes the artist does not get the credit they deserve. I recently went to a museum called the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. This museum was founded in 1929 and today is one of the world’s largest museums and specifically focuses on modern and contemporary art. While I was there I noticed the environment, I was in was calm. The music that was playing had a very relaxing tone to it and it was so quiet and subtle I could hear my own thoughts. However, one part of the museum I was walking through there was a group of teenagers who were making a lot of noise and making it difficult for the people around them to concentrate and enjoy the artwork. The Museum of Modern Art had six floors, each floor organized by sculpture garden, books and media, architecture and design, paintings and sculptures, and special exhibitions. They actually had two floors displaying paintings and sculptures based on the time periods which I found to be very interesting that there were many art pieces therefore they needed two floors to display it all.
The piece of art I chose from the Museum of Modern Art was the Chair (II). According to the Museum of Modern Art website the credit of this artwork was actually a promised gift of Leon and Debra Black in honor of David Rockefeller. Its medium is a chair, stretched canvas with nails and is located in the painting and sculpture department of the museum. This sculpture was built by Günther Uecker in 1963 (MOMA website). Günther Uecker was a German sculptor and is well known and remembered for his relief technique of nail work that was first developed in 1957. Also, he created three-dimensional work which makes a unique experience for the audience to look at. The art piece Chair II is a good example of his three- dimensional work because it appears to move and cast different shades of lighting as the people move around it. (Gail. “Modern Art Monday Presents: Günther Uecker, Chair (II).” The Worley Gig, July 31, 2016).
The different angles of the nails on the chair casted unique lighting shades as I walked around it making the floor have different shapes. Günther Uecker wanted to attempt and create an art that “invades the everyday world in which we live”. (Boycoff Baron, Joan, and Rueben M Baron. “Sitability Undermined: The Nail Works of Günther Uecker. April 22, 2011). The chair itself is a normal everyday chair size. The Museum of Modern Art website stated that it was 34 1/4 × 18 1/2 × 17 ¾ inches. However, when I first saw it, I was curious as to why the artist picked that specific kind of chair. In my opinion, it seemed boring and too simple. I imagined going to this museum seeing giant sculptures and almost too strange to be real artwork. In order to see the artwork, I either had to wait in a small line with people surrounding the art or go very close to glass cases to see the artist’s detailed work.
Being that this piece of art is just nails on a chair, it still caught my eye with all the nails and movement that it led me wanting to know what made Günther Uecker make it this way. I did more research and found out there is a lot more behind his story with nail-work and meaning of why he makes it in this particular way which made it much more interesting to me. I found it creative how he made the nails start at the base of the chair that a person sits on and run the nails down only one of the legs. I believe he only focused one putting nails on one of the legs so the audience had one focus point while observing it. However, from certain artists and tourist’s perspectives while looking at this piece of art they would give their opinion on how they felt about it. Most have said the art sculpture had a peaceful yet harsh look to it. When most people think about nails, they think of a sharp and rusty old piece of equipment used to hold things together to make an object or building.
Uecker had his own image of what nails can do. In my opinion, his technique making the nails look like they were actually moving made me look at it like an optical illusion. Optical illusion artwork is one my favorite artworks to look at. They are my favorite because one person can see one thing while, on the other hand, someone can see something completely different. I love how that works because it makes the viewer think more into the art instead of just staring at it and trying to figure out what the artist wants them to see. The nails were not actually moving but he gave the illusion that they were flowing down the chair. Looking at the chair, I remember thinking it looked like tiny people from a distance trying to climb from the bottom of the leg to the top of the chair. On the other hand, my friend believed it seemed to portray a mudslide and the chair was represented as a mountain. I believe Günther Uecker made the chair this way so everyone who visits and views it can have their own interpret of what they want and believe they see.
In this work and others, nails appear to function as a source of protection. However, they also function as a source of suffering. According to Apollo magazine, nails are the German artist’s signature material and Uecker’s inspiration for his work was from nature. Over the course of his sixty-year art career, Günther Uecker has used approximately a hundred tons of nails throughout all of his artwork. (Wilcox, Matthew. “Examining the Scars of History with Günther Uecker.” Apollo Magazine, 11 Feb. 2017). I find it fascinating that he makes structures that look simple but other artists would find it difficult and time consuming.
When people think about nail combined with art they all have different perspectives on it. Every piece of art is similar but also different its own way. What I mean by this is a lot of his nail techniques are very similar but each piece he places the nails on different angles and placements for movement and texture. All of his work has different bases too. For example, chairs or just a plain piece of wood. However, almost all of them have the same meaning of peace, protection and suffering.
