Last week when our class met at the Portsmouth Museum Of Fine Arts, I was happily surprised to see a large variety of work. However, I was very surprised to see how confusing the overall layout of the museum. I couldn't find my way around in an organized matter, and I think I missed some of the exhibit because of this.
This got me thinking how the space can effect the way that your work is viewed and understood. I know in many of my paintings, I don't feel like they make any sense until you are about 10 feet away from them. That is when I feel they look the best. If my work were exhibited in some of the smaller rooms located in the Portsmouth Museum Of Fine Art, I don't think that it would be doing them justice.
I have often wondered if this gallery space conundrum is why I have so often disliked Mark Rothko's work. It has bee said to me on many occasion that I would understand his work more fully if I had viewed it in the circular, cathedral- like space he envisioned it being shown in. I am still not convinced, but at least a bit more open to the suggestion that one day I could grow to respect his work more than I do now... until then I suppose.