I recently dragged my people up to the Berkshires to the LeWitt exhibit at MASS MoCA. Although contemporary art isn't really my thing and we were going just to see Sol, we had a terrific time. Well, I had a terrific time. I'd encourage you all to visit. Oh, and what a great place for a date! It's the perfect venue for some serious courting. Do it. Take her.
It's a little bit of a hike, but don't let that intimidate you. You'll have NPR on kind of low and the pretty Berkshires will be all around you. Both of those things will help if there's a lull in the conversation. Not to mention the fact that you'll be getting points for originality and successfully getting her there will make you seem all competent and masculine. You did get gas and hit the ATM before you picked her up, right? I mean, I assume you know what you're doing a little bit here.
MASS MoCA is housed in a former manufacturing complex on the Hoosic River in downtown North Adams. I think, as much as you may enjoy the art, it's similarly thrilling to think of all the manufacturing that has taken place there since the mid 18th century. For example, armor plates for the Civil War ship, Monitor, were forged at an iron works on that very site. Isn't that fantastic? Whether you'll want to share your excitement over this out loud is entirely up to you, but I'd recommend you get it out there. I think this date is going very well and if, in the middle of all of this contemporary art, you can talk about the Civil War she'll think you're even more brilliant and amazing.
Oh, right. So the art.
The LeWitt exhibit is quite impressive. The museum's vast open spaces are used to maximum effect in facilitating an experiential understanding of the evolution of LeWitt's wall drawings. The exhibit is arranged chronologically over three levels. Despite our desire for order, chronologies tend to be problematic and the LeWitt is no exception. The works are dated according to their first installation rather than when they were conceived. When you notice a date that doesn't match up with the others or indicate a work was installed after the artist's death, it's a little bit distracting, kind of pulls you out of your meditation a little bit, but not a big deal.
Start on the first floor to walk through the early works. Here you'll experience how the drawings really originated as a very cerebral exercise. There's something oddly intimate about witnessing LeWitt's bursts of insight and the way he constructs, then exploits, an interior logic, visually.
The middle level has the ideas of the first floor, which were radical and revolutionary in their time, converging with the techniques that would have them endure. The geometric forms really come together here as LeWitt's vernacular is further developed with color playing a greater role. You feel something happening. This stage feels very plastic and transitional. It's exciting.
It's the third story that really sang for me. Two important things happen here. First, we see the full realization of the ideas that now lie just below, forming a kind of substructure over which is laid a masterful convergence of color and shape that transcends everything that had come before. The work is luminous, shimmering. Only then, when you feel like the vernacular has been pushed as far as it can go, do you experience the final evolutionary plane, a startling climax in black and white that throws off color and flat geometric shape to exist as pure energy and movement with the suggestion of volume.
It's something to see.
I want to tell you about so much more, like the terrific exhibit Petah Coyne: Everything That Rises Must Converge and its Flannery O'Connor connection, but I imagine I've already pushed you beyond your limits.
I'll just quickly mention that there's tons of flattering light (you haven't gotten so swept up that you've forgotten you're on a date, have you?) and lots of privacy so there are plenty of opportunities to make your big move. You may want to breeze by Kids' Space to see how she feels about children without coming right out and asking her which- FYI- would totally freak her out. Please don't freak her out. This is going really well. I see you two coming back, maybe spending the night, hitting The Clark, Tanglewood, or The Mount. But let me not get ahead of myself. We should stay in the blissful present where dirty socks on the floor, the hours you spend on the golf course, and your mother haven't yet gotten on her nerves.
Finally, you'll want to head down to the nice restaurant. If I ever redo my kitchen and, if there is a god in heaven, I will, I want to do it like the MASS MoCA cafe. I like a clean industrial look in a kitchen anyway, and juxtaposing that with hardwood floors, distressed brick, giant windows with wide windowsills is exquisite. I even loved the wood tables paired with very industrial, stainless steel chairs. Of course I'd throw in a blue velvet settee, but that's just for me. It wouldn't be practical in a restaurant setting.
I guess that's all I have to report on MASS MoCA. I've given you art, travel, and dating tips and you are welcome.
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