Michelangelo Pistoletto:
Shifting Perspective (I am the other)

MOMA until 30th December 1999

Michelangelo Pistoletto is a surprisingly down-to-earth modern artist. When he speaks about his work you can really see his point, rather than asking yourself what the whole thing is all about. He began his mirror paintings in 1961, and the concept of reflection has influenced his work ever since. For Pistoletto, every work of art is a reflection onto a particular spacial situation. By means of the mirror, this space becomes continually mobile, preventing us from forming a fixed relationship with the thing we are perceiving.

Every work of art is a projection of the artist and in a mirror this is overtly demonstrated. In the process of creating a mirror, the artist is forced into self-reflection and perception. In this exhibition, the viewer also becomes a part of the art as he stares into the created mirror, the works forcing one rather disconcertingly into looking at oneself.

This also has the fascinating effect that the people in the gallery become a part of the work you are looking at, as they are reflected in the backround and are part of the scene. This is particularly appropriate in the case of the Waiting series, works which show people waiting, in queues and on street corners, against the mirror background. Furthermore, the idea of the body itself as symettrical, and as such, self-reflective. That is, that it can be folded over in the middle into a perfect match of arm over legs. This is another interesting theme throughout the exhibition, and the Leonardo Da Vinci vitruvian man emblem a recurring shape.

One of Pistoletto’ objectives is to bring art into the living situation. Hence he turns furniture upside down and puts a mirror on the bottom, to create what would make, I thought, rather swish office furniture. My favourite was the huge construction of joined sections of mirror that is then positioned at strange angles to create visual illusions of space and distance. Like a sophisticated fairground mirror, the piece successfully portrays the idea of virtual space that constantly challenges what we are actually seeing.

This bright and accessible exhibition is certainly worth a visit.

Jane Labous