Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí

Serviceable exhibition at the Met. I had never heard of Ramon Casas, I liked his illustrations, drawings and early paintings but his strength was an illustrator, not painter, from what i have seen. There are also works by Dali, Gaudi, and (yawn) Picasso which reminds us that Spain, Catalonia in particular, contributed much to modern art - and not just the overrated Picasso whose fame is more due to salesmanship than craft. What a strange, paradoxical country - considered among the most backward in Western Europe yet always producing great minds and art that mainly drew from the folk culture (as Gaudi's architecture did) rather than abstraction. One might be tempted to compare it to Ireand which, despite its pre-industrial economy, produced scores of great writers at around the same time. Catalonia of course, always looked out, away from Spain and in some ways, is more French than Spanish, in the same way one could say that Provence and Northern Italy share more affinity that Provence and Paris.

It is also interesting to compare Gaudi to so called modern masters like Frank Gehry - Gaudi's deep devotion to his work (he lived in the cathedral he never completed) and his deep faith is reflected in his work (his faith, like his work may have been a little batty but it was sincere). When stood next to Gaudi, Frank Gehry, the man, the architect, and his buildings seem like a product of globalization : dumbed down, corporate branding (in this case Guggenheim, inc) that can be produced cheaply and repetitively as substitute for the time an effort it takes to cultivate real art, real architecture and real talent. It has no redeeming long term value, no practicality - its immediate gratification for an immediate whim; and the longer you look at it, the more repulsive it becomes. Gehry is the perfect architect for people like Bruce Ratner.

Back to the exhibit, It was dimly lit on account of the many delicate media there, and it was crowded on Sunday, (i don't usually go then) I will probably take another look at Friday evening (when it is not so crowded), to better judge it.