The particular Giacometti works from the l930s on show at MOMA, such as ‘No More Play’, seem trenchant too: light falls across diminutive, rounded concave depressions — primitive graves even — in miniature. Differently, ‘City Square’, from the l940s, has loping figures, transitional past each other, and one frozen, paralysed individual, arrested by time, space, and maybe the memory of violence. Same day too, viewing Richard Serra’s gigantic spirals, one cannot erase the image of ashen, dust-covered public art, and the remnant wall structure of part of one tower. Returning to the airport, other considerations predominate for the average traveller. There is no shortage of images from Manhattan, moving or static, human or satanic.
Giacometti will be reviewed during November.
Alberto Giacometti, Museum of Modern Art, 11 October 2001 through 8 January 2002. Tel: +1 212 708 9480.
Richard Serra, Gagosian Gallery, Chelsea, 11 October 2001 through 10 November 2001. Tel: +1 212 741 1111.