That's So Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Art

Dear Husband and I received a year's membership to the Carnegie museums for Christmas from family members this year so we decided to check out the Carnegie Museum of Art. We chose to see the exhibit on the life's work of Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica (1937-1980). Neither of us had heard of him, but we were interested in tracking his work in South and North America through the middle of the twentieth century. The early period in which he played with shape, space, and colors appealed to me the most. Later he got into more interactive, experiential, and performance art. For instance, he made a whole series of capes that were meant to be worn and experienced in person and in motion. While in New York City in the 1970s, he went through a drug phase that included a four-dimensional installation that involved lying in a hammock, listening to a Jimi Hendrix album, and watching images of his face with its features outlined in various configurations of powdered cocaine. Toward the end of his career, Oiticica fused his early interest in space with a more architectural bent. Although he was gay and I suspected he had been an early victim of AIDS, in fact he died young of a hypertensive stroke.

Here's another view of my favorite piece with better light:



This is a still from the Hendrix room:



Editor's note: If you are interested in museums in Pittsburgh, check out my review of the Andy Warhol Museum.