Fannie's Picks from Burning Man

(There are a lotta pictures in this post, be patient for the load, you'll enjoy them...)

Here's why Burning Man is a truly fabulous art festival: the art runs the gamut from great to just plain silly; and because one of the 10 principles of BM is to provide a safe place for "radical self-expression," judgment is left at home.

So what happens is this: you really & truly experience the art: you interact with it, you play with it, you climb it, you strike its pose, you sit in its shade, you are awed by its beauty, size, sadness, humor. You meditate inside it. You are inspired to propose marriage in front of it. You put your deceased father's shoes in it & release your angst as the piece burns up. You sift through ashes the next day and contemplate the meaning of time and living in the moment.
This is the joy of art at its absolute best.

Burning Man is whatever experience you want to have (with a fair amount of dust on top). Yes there is drinking, partying, techno music, and of course nudity (after all, it is really hot in the desert). There is also a classical symphony. This year a gorgeous Olympic skater performed a tribute to a friend at a roller rink. An opera singer broke out in an aria for a group of burners sheltering inside a piece of art while a dust storm raged outside.

You simply can't categorize 65,000 people having their own adventure in the desert.
Same goes for the art: all shapes, sizes, and experiences.
I just loved it.
The art, the art cars ("mutant vehicles"), the camps--all a feast for the eyes and senses.

Qualifier: Although I was at Burning Man for many glorious days, I missed so many pieces of art.  The SCALE of the place is mindblowingly VAST, both the art space and the "city" itself. I'm offering up a FEW images of pieces I was able to seek out or to stumble upon (literally--the dust can blow pretty hard).

"Embrace" by Matt Schultz & the Pier Group. Definitely a highlight for me & for many others. An amazing work of engineering as well as art: there were stairs up into both heads, a series of decorated rooms, and a huge heart sculpture in each. I was sorry it was one of the many artworks that was burned.

My favorite time to be out was just before & after sunrise, enjoying beautiful light, a calm on the desert. And watching the last of the party crowd straggle home to their tents.

Why does the Man need a prostate exam if he's going to be burned anyway??

Another of my favorites: Peter Hudson & team's "Eternal Return." The entire sculpture spins when several viewers row on the erg machines attached at the base. At night, a strobe light gives the effect of a single gymnast executing a glorious flip over a bar, as the strobe shines on the spinning gold figures. Quite breathtaking. 

Mark Lottar's Pear Cloud was very fun at night.

This was a wonderful cardboard construction & provided a nice shade spot (even sleeping bench, see feet).

Even these bike racks were beautifully designed.

Yep, a fair amount of that out on the Playa.

Evening view onto the Playa through the eye of "Embrace."

Artwork on walls inside "Embrace."

The 2 Beating Hearts inside "Embrace." These were removed just before the burn and  preserved.

Early morning burn of "Embrace."

"Embrace" site day after its burn.

Most Burners get around on bikes...

...not everyone though.

The Temple of Grace was extraordinary -- an intricate, lace, ephemeral structure that held thousands of remembrances by the end of the week just before its burn.

Visitors left messages, images, all sorts of momentos to mark a loss, passing, or release.

This lady made (appropriate) comments depending on where you touched her as you received your Free Hug.

"Add a stick, make art." Not impressive art, but good random participation.

On my way to the Lingere Party with Burner pals.

A bit of gender bending does go on.

Some of the Art Cars, or Mutant Vehicles, are fantastic works of art themselves. There are a few hundred cruising the Playa day and night.

"El Pulpo Mecanico" --another of my favorites. Especially at night when fire jets out of the tips of his arms.

Note the comfy seats this dragon holds in his claws.

Even Porta Potties get artful attention.

We entered the "city" just at sunrise, pretty glorious timing (after driving all night and 4.5hr wait in line).

The bacchanal for the Man's burn gets under way.

I can't wait to go back.

But is it Art??

I was hiking through the woods --ok, I was bushwhacking through the woods--thinking about definitions of art.  I'm so happy not to be in college & have to actually care about the difference between art and "craft," for instance. But it's fun to muse on meanings.

The artist Marcel Duchamp really stirred the pot with his entry for a 1917 art show. He bought a urinal at the plumbing supply store, signed it (R. Mutt) and submitted it for the show. His art was rejected by the show's directors. But it started a public conversation about "what is art?" and whether every day objects can be considered ART.

Now admit it, the lines are quite elegant. Even fluid. (sorry, could not resist)

On the trail (finally) I come upon a cairn, rocks someone has piled up to mark the way. I'm really happy to see it (especially after bushwhacking for an hour...).
The cairn is artfully arranged, but is it art?
If it's artful, then it's "Full of Art," right?

An artful cairn on the trail.

In another spot on the trail I come upon a mass of small cairns, created over time by many strangers who also passed this spot, were moved by the beauty of this project, and were compelled to contribute to it.
This one's sorta fuzzy--there is no single artist or detailed plan, yet a thing of real beauty purposefully grows.
Like much public art, it's temporary. The next big storm will clear the logs.

Small cairns (Andrew Goldsworthy-inspired ?) assembled by hikers, over a season.

In the houses on this remote island, people often use rocks to create artful vignettes:

Sometimes I see people hesitate to buy art because they wonder "is this ART? Is it GOOD art?"
Wrong questions.
The right question: "Do I like it?"

It's refreshing after hiking 3 hrs to come upon an Art Gallery that lacks any pretensions.

Really BIG ART, It's MONUMENTAL

I had the great (I could say huge, gargantuan, titanic) pleasure of visiting a collective studio on Treasure Island for a sneak peak at a few of the LARGE SCALE works of art underway for this year's Burning Man art extravaganza in the desert of Nevada. These works are conceived by individual artists, but created by an army of workers and volunteers, all lending their own vision and talents to create collaborative works on a GRAND scale (ok, that's just an understatement).  The results are breath-taking (ditto).
click here for more on Burning Man events & art.

Bliss Project's "Truth is Beauty" 2013; image from PlanetBibi.com

Artist Marco Cochrane and his wife Julia Whitelaw showed me around his Bliss Project. Bliss includes 2 (3rd is underway for next year) COLOSSAL sculptures of women--gorgeous, elegant, powerful, and empowering.  Marco understands at a profound level that the world would be a better place with more art in it. He has, in fact, very specific ideas of HOW the world can be better through art, & he and his fabulous wife Julia--general manager and key driver of massive logistics (in addition to her day job as an attorney)--are working them.

Detail of Truth is Beauty segment. See her metal armature "skeleton" through her silver screen "skin."

Pantograph on white tripod. Look carefully in the dotted red circles: see the 2 Pantograph arms; one follows the path carefully taped out on the smaller sculpture segment at center; the other arm determines precisely where the next larger/upscaled weld should be on the metal armature to the left--thus "growing" the scale of the arm segment shown here, in exact proportion.

The process of making the 3 Bliss sculptures is as fascinating as the result is stunning. Marco creates a "small" sculpture of a live model initially. Through repeated castings and using a Pantograph machine (totally cool, developed in 1603!), he GROWS the scale of his sculpture by welding a metal armature, in perfect ratio, from small to GINORMOUS. The armatures look like computer 3-D models come to life, yet are done entirely by HAND, with this machine based on 400+ year old technology. For the final armature, at 55-70 feet tall (!), Marco & team insert over 1000 specially designed LED lights. Finally he covers her in a silver mesh skin, which is hand tied and screwed on by an army of helpers. The detail of her shape is astounding. She is no simple model made large: she has the topography of a living person.

Segment of Truth is Beauty, looking down her spine, into her lacy armature, while she lies down across the studio

I was especially struck by how gorgeous both the uncovered armatures are--so mathematically precise yet fluid--and the SEGMENTS of the final work, even unassembled. The silver-skinned segments are like the massive statues of antiquity, now lying in pieces in the Roman Forum and on the Capitoline Hill. Yet when you look INSIDE, there is an intricate, lacy structure, aglow with colors. Marco's pieces shine with silver light, and radiate glowing color like they are ALIVE--this melding of the ancient and the totally modern is spectacular.

Artist Marco Cochrane with 3rd Bliss sculpture, under development. This lady will GROW during this year to over 70ft.

Marco also works on a "domestic" scale, beautifully suited for a house in need of sculpture. He is happy to make art for life-size--even table top--work.  Something to consider!
click here to learn more about his work or to contact Marco
click here for a really good interview with Marco about his background and inspiration

Bliss Dance, the first Bliss sculpture, now dances in perpetuity on Treasure Island for the public to enjoy--and you should! She is a marvel, day or night.

Thank you Affinity!

That Mrs. Gardner!

Travel tip if you are headed to BOSTON: Be sure to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Here's why: Mrs. Gardner was an absolutely AWESOME art collector.

She continued to learn about art her whole adult life.
She collected what she loved & loved what she collected.
She acquired a huge variety of both old and contemporary works, in all mediums.
She collected "decorative" work (furniture, textiles, housewares) to mix with the "fine" art.
She was pals with many contemporary artists (who in fact turned out to be damn good); she bought their art even though she saw herself as a classicist.
She hung & placed every work precisely as she wanted it to be seen (I just love that CONTROLLING hand).
She designed the whole museum to look like a HOUSE, to give the experience of viewing a personal collection in a home.
After nearly 100 years Mrs. Gardner still permeates every corner of every room.

She did all this not to demonstrate her prowess as a discerning collector; nor as a monument to herself.

She collected art to SHARE what she LOVED with EVERYBODY.

That's what makes a truly great collector.

Courtyard of the Gardner Museum

What a juxtaposition! The viewer can sit to contemplate an intimate Christ carrying the cross on the the left... or look up at Titian's monumental rape of Europa for a change of pace... Mrs. Gardner REALLY liked her Titian, even hung the fabric from her own ball gown below it. She was a lady who knew how to have a good time.

Children above study John Singer Sargent's "El Jaleo."  Hard not to get up & dance with this lady. Mrs. Gardner was particular friends with Sargent.

On the far left, one of my favorites, by Anders Zorn, "Omnibus."

Click here to learn more about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

BUYING vs COLLECTING Art

Buying happens the first time you acquire art. 
Collecting is what happens AFTER that.

Some strategies to try out:

- Think about collecting around a theme, such as subject, medium, or period. Make a goal to collect four works --maybe animals or landscapes-- each done in a distinctly DIFFERENT style or medium, by a variety of artists. (Do not become the weird guy with 20 seascapes all done in impressionist watercolor by a single artist.)

- Collect from a particular period. Often you can find affordable drawings or studies even by BIG name artists. If you like history, this is a really nice way to tie together history and art, especially when you travel.

- Collect sculpture that is kinetic, or sculpture made entirely of one medium such as metal, or sculpture made for outdoors, or made to hang on a wall. 

Collecting is an excellent way to hone your "seeing" skills, because you become very FOCUSED. By looking intently for one thing, you actually begin to see other things. You begin to appreciate other art forms, styles, mediums... You begin to see like SUPERMAN.
You develop more gut instinct that you can TRUST.

"Superman" by Andy Warhol

Do NOT buy art as an investment

The Scream by Edvard Munch. Sold for $120mm at auction. And he made 3 others....

This will cost me some friends, but I can't stand it. Yes, my finger is wagging as I say it:
Do NOT buy art as an investment!

Reality: What's "hot" in art is like fashion, it comes & goes.
Often it comes again, but maybe not during YOUR lifetime.
I've watched two friends over the last decade acquire "important collections" (their words), then try to unload them. Circumstances changed, they wanted cash. RUDE awakening: their important collections wouldn't move. The gallerists of course had guaranteed to take back the works for resale at ANY time--but that is NOT a refund, not cash in hand.

More reality: There are FEW people qualified to buy art for investment. They are professionals, who devote HUGE amounts of time to studying the market.
That is not you, not me, and not 99.9% of gallerists. Really.

So back to my strategy at 6 yrs old: buy works that excite you, in a price range that is comfortable.
Embrace the importance and pleasure of having art in your life.
Set aside some cash, then have some FUN (unlike Edvard's poor guy).