Pier In/Out, 1973, Gordon Matta-Clark

In my first two months working as a Gallery Assistant at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, I’ve been able to experience the galleries in much more depth than in my prior visits. As a result, I have a greater appreciation for the Pulitzer as a whole.

I first visited the galleries for Dan Flavin: Constructed Light and then Ideal (Dis-) Placements. I spent a maximum of two hours seeing the artworks, mindful of their surroundings, but not focused on the interactions between the artwork and the architecture. Now, I spend about thirteen hours a week with Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, and am grateful to fully experience Matta-Clark’s art, Tadao Ando’s architecture, and the interactions between the two.

As a Gallery Assistant, I have a lot of time to contemplate the space where I stand. I spend my time in the galleries studying the artwork, coming to my own conclusions, and listening and observing visitors’ responses. Something most people don’t get to see is the galleries’ changing light throughout the day. Viewing the exhibition at 10 am is infinitely different than at 5 pm. Viewing the show on a gray, rainy day is completely different than on a sunny day. Observing the art in this new light is consistently exciting.

The shapes of the windows in the building are echoed in Ellsworth Kelly’s permanent piece, Blue Black. At a certain time of day the windows above Blue Black allow a patch of light to shine through, in the same rectangular shape and visible on the wall adjacent to artwork. Looking through the windows next to the watercourt, you see more of the same shape, as well as blue from the sky reflecting on the pond. Windows and geometric shapes are clearly important in Ando’s work, and can also be seen in many of Matta-Clark’s pieces, such as Bingo, Pier In/Out, and Splitting. Noticing these parallels within the Pulitzer is exciting and keeps me aware that there are more nuances to be found.

Matta-Clark’s Pier In/Out is an immediately striking piece. A metal and glass rectangular cut from a pier in New York is placed on a stand and displayed with a photograph of the pier from which it was taken. The photograph shows both inside the building and its exterior. On a short visit I probably would not have noticed the clever placement of Pier In/Out in the gallery, but after spending many hours in front of the piece I noticed yet another parallel between Ando’s architecture and Matta-Clark’s piece. In between the cut and the photograph is a vertical, rectangular window, looking onto the front entrance of the Pulitzer. Through the window you see the outside of the building, then the inside again through the glass doors. The photograph and cut of Pier In/Out do the same – showing the outside and inside at the same time. Making little discoveries like this encourages me to continue looking at Matta-Clark’s works and drawing parallels between Ando’s architecture and Matta-Clark’s art.

Unfortunately, working at the Pulitzer has shown me that weather directly affects my mood. On cloudy days the reflecting pond only reflects gray, and the windows allow only gray dull light to come through. These days seem to move slower than the days when sun shines through and energizes the artwork and the people within the galleries. Experiencing the Pulitzer in these two conditions creates a different feeling in the galleries, and visitors experiencing only one of these types of days may have a completely different experience than if they had come on a different day. As a Gallery Assistant, I’m happy to experience Urban Alchemy at all times of day and types of weather, and can continue to be excited by the exhibition every day.