Tensions with Comparisons; 1969 P.S. One Art Center

“Opposition of gravity and weightlessness, form and its content, site and non-site, materiality and concept established the tension and connection of disparate works made within a single year.”

- P.S. One Contemporary Art Center

P.S. One Contemporary Art Centers’ 1969 show features a broad range of artwork drawn from every department of the Museum of Modern Art collection. Amassing a wide range of mediums from sculpture, painting, photography, and video; 1969 claims ‘to present a cross-section of works made in 1969 (not to recount events).’ While walking through the gallery, viewers are confronted with a multitude of contrasting artworks which highlight 1969’s constant state of unrest. The show also brings in a handful of contemporary artists to create original works for this show which ‘reflect 69 through the lens of the present day.’ Like many large-scale time period exhibitions, the primary goal is to look back at the past and relate it to our present circumstances. 1969 accomplishes its goal but leaves this artist uncertain of its necessity.

The primary reason for 1969’s success is the small infusion of contemporary art with the large collection of work from the past. When you first approach Stephanie Syjuco Custom Transitional Utility Object (Morris Mover) [2009] you believe it’s an original Robert Morris piece from the 60s. It has the same dimensions and shape, a 72” wide blanket which originates as a single piece then almost immediately dissects into six 180” long pieces, as the original Morris Untitled work. But ultimately you notice the materiality of the work isn’t Morris’s signature felt. This piece is made from the cross-stitched blankets typically used by moving companies. You also observe how dirty and disheveled the blanket is, making you wonder what experience it has gone through. As you walk past the hanging blanket you notice a glass case containing photographic documentation. These photos show the Morris Mover in-action, transporting boxes containing artwork to and from MoMA and the P.S. One Art Center.

Morris Mover does an excellent job of duplicating many of the concepts studied by Process artists. For many Postminimalists (Morris included) they wanted to show the process of the artwork as the medium itself. Morris Mover does this by re-creating the original Untitled Morris piece and using it throughout the art moving process. Stephanie Syjuco was obviously aware of the trends in Process art and created a piece which further personified the movement. Morris Movers, like many of the artworks in 1969, rests in a constant state of flux. Never quite becoming an artwork or an art process, it straddles between the two and leaves you with tension. While viewing 1969 as a whole, I see many of the artworks functioning as shifters; each piece having been created with contrasting elements and leaving us within a state of tension.

Hank Willis Thomas’ People Are Talking About [2009] was another successful injection of contemporary artwork. It was a simple LED news ticker which streamed headlines from the pages of Ebony and Jet magazines from 1969. The speed at which the headlines appeared was fast enough to be read, but too challenging to comprehend. On one level, the piece does address the lack of equal rights during 1969 and the present. But on a deeper level, the piece echoes the same uneasiness, which bridges this 40-year gap. Tension caused from drastic contrast was evident throughout the selected work from 1969 and this tension clearly influenced the creative process of these contemporary artists’s.

In a completely literal sense, Bruce Nauman’s Pulling Mouth [1969] was an excellent example of this tension. The piece consists of a large projected black and white video, which displays a close up of a mouth being pulled apart, from both sides, by two hands. The video moves at a super slow pace while the frame constantly shakes and stutters. The content is self-explanatory and shows Nauman’s typical approach of using his body as medium. The contrast of slow motion and frenetic shaking is what really brings this work to life. You pains-takingly sit there and watch the video unsure of what will come next. The end is anticlimactic, fading out to black and simply loops back to the beginning. The lack of climax perfectly illustrates the constant unrest the viewer experiences while walking through 1969.

1969’s tension was not just caused by individual pieces, it also occurred through opposing works of art. Ed Ruscha’s Hey [1969] is a simple lithography print with the word ‘Hey’ spelled out with illusionistic oily bubbles. The piece is dark, ghostly, and is similar to Thomas’ People Are Talking About in the sense that the word is seen and then quickly forgotten. Hey is an extremely traditional piece but the word is muddy with uncertainty. The ambiguity of the piece comes through by its content rather than the medium. In an opposing fashion Donald Judd’s Untitled [1969] is a shiny gold-colored metal box hung from the gallery wall at eye level. Light from the ceiling bounces off the box’s edges and creates abstract flares coming off the artwork. For a Minimalist like Judd, the ambiguity is brought about by the direct presentation of the medium. No metaphor or alternative meaning is presented and this can leave us searching for more.

When you finally leave 1969 you feel like you’ve seen a highlight reel from some of the greatest artists of the sixties. The drastically different mediums and artistic approaches constantly grind against one another causing a tension which never leaves the gallery. In this sense, 1969 can be viewed as a success by recreating the social unrest of that era. While this tension can easily be related to our current circumstances, one must ask if this comparison is necessary. Can we be certain that 2009 will be as revolutionary as 1969? Only time will tell.