Museums: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden #6

During a recent visit to the Hirshhorn, we spotted a variety of artworks in and around the museum.

One work (pictured below) was a neon sign hanging in the window of the lobby.  If you you were in DC or NYC during the late 1980's/early 1990's, you might remember seeing the same image emblazoned on buttons and stenciled on sidewalks.  You can read about the origin and meaning of the image below.

On the Hirshhorn's lower level is an immersive art exhibition featuring murals on the walls and floor.  

Belief+Doubt by Barbara Kruger (2012)

According to Hirshhorn.si.edu: "Famous for her incisive photomontages, Kruger has focused increasingly over the past two decades on creating environments that surround the viewer with language. The entire space—walls, floor, escalator sides—is wrapped in text-printed vinyl, immersing visitors in a spectacular hall of voices, where words either crafted by the artist or borrowed from the popular lexicon address conflicting perceptions of democracy, power, and belief.

At a moment when ideological certitude and purity seem especially valued, Kruger says she’s “interested in introducing doubt.” Large areas of the installation are devoted to open-ended questions (“WHO IS BEYOND THE LAW? WHO IS FREE TO CHOOSE? WHO SPEAKS? WHO IS SILENT?”), while the section occupying the bookstore explores themes of desire and consumption. At once addressing the individual, the museum, and, symbolically, the country, Kruger’s penetrating examination of the public sphere transforms one of the Hirshhorn’s key public spaces."

Moving outside the Hirshhorn, we discovered a very large work by Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein.   

A lot has been written about Lichtenstein's brushstroke series. Was it a commentary on abstract expression?  Was it a parody of Lichtenstein's own work?  Whatever Lichtenstein was doing, Greg liked overblown scale of the brush stroke (the work is about 25 feet tall) and its exaggerated simplicity.  Plus, Greg wonders where Lichtenstein found a brush that big.  

Nearby is a work by sculptor Claes Oldenburg, the father of Pop Art in the U.S.  

Walt Disney called and wants his mouse back.

Thanks for touring the Hirshhorn with us.