Posted by I love the High Museum. Its amazing. I’ve been there about 4 times but I’ve never been able to go into the ‘modern art’ sections where they hold their permanent collection. I finally got the opportunity to go see it last weekend during their ‘open exhibition’ day.
This is probably my favorite piece on display. It is titled “Drache” and was made by Anselm Kiefer, who is a German painter. (‘Drache’ translates to Dragon in English.) The piece shows the constellation of ‘Dragon’ over ocean waves. In a lot of folklore, especially in Germany, the dragon was a sign of evil. So I think the fact that he chose to put a universal sign over a churning surf, making it all monochromatic, is very powerful. It makes the viewer feel very small, along with the fact that the canvas itself is huge (I’m dwarfed by it and I am a not a short individual). My favorite thing about it has to be the use of acrylic paint on the canvas. The multiple layers are apparent and it makes it 3D so it invades the viewers space and is very aggressive. Because it is monochromatic, it is a wide palate of grey values, which reminds me of our box project on values.
If this piece we’re small enough I would totally hang it in my room. But I’l have to settle for hanging it in my future house. Or, at least, a copy of it.
