Flipside Career Focus: Visit to the Art Conservator

In celebration and exploration of Flipside, which displays the often hidden unexposed backsides of Tibetan paintings, RMA Teens journeyed to the Brooklyn Navy yard to meet with members of the Art Conservation Group—a group of art conservation specialists who have helped behind the scenes to preserve many of the Rubin’s own, and often very ancient, pieces. What started out as a gloomy day weather-wise quickly turned into an exciting trip consisting of behind-the-scenes access into the world of art conservation.

We entered the spacious warehouse building where the art is kept, and where, as we were to learn, the conservators spend their hours deliberating over what it is that plagues the art and how best to conserve it. Us Teens then sat in a rather oblong circle, like we often do, and Leslie, the Group’s founder, began speaking to us about her role as an art conservator. Right away we were captivated, listening intently to Leslie’s description of conservation duties, which, to summarize, include locating the “problem” with the art piece, sending samples of it to a lab to identify possibly harmful microorganisms, and figuring out the safest and most effective way to “cure” and conserve it. She explained that Renaissance art is easier to conserve than modern art, because the materials Renaissance artists used were both more organic and more permanent. She explained that salt pollution is a killer for conservators, seeing as it causes most materials to discolor and deteriorate, and often makes objects very difficult to clean. Beyond fun facts regarding conservation, Leslie went into detail about her personal inspiration for becoming a conservator, which arose from a love of art but no desire to be an artist, as well as about the academic processes necessary to becoming a conservator. It is essential to have an extensive knowledge of art history, the fine arts, and chemistry, and a whopping three college/graduate degrees in order to be a professional art conservator. Leslie noted that having to succeed in chemistry class was a struggle, considering she came from an art background, which I’m sure would resonate with the lot of us.  

As our seated discussion wrapped up, we prepared to see, first-hand, Leslie and her team’s most recent projects. After being told to keep our hands in our pockets so as to not accidentally (or purposefully) touch the fragile art, we were led into a huge room with intensely bright lighting that contrasted the dark outside sky. All of the Teens, Pauline included, gasped out of excitement and near disbelief. We found ourselves faced with beautiful modern sculptures, as well as some kind of tribal art, clearly from two completely different dimensions, but all in a room together. Many of the items in the room were waiting for diagnoses—for the team to inspect, investigate, and detect the issues to ultimately cure them. At one point, I simply couldn’t contain myself any longer and just had to ask Leslie how much of a rush she gets when she touches these incredible, and usually very old and historic pieces of art. Her eyes lit up as she responded with an enthusiastic “It’s awesome,” and I couldn’t imagine the feeling being any less.  

We stayed talking with Leslie for longer than scheduled, clearly inspired and very curious still. After thanking her on the way out, we convened outside to reflect on our fresh experience. The opinion was unanimous: Art conservation is awesome. What I realized both stands out and appeals to me is how hands-on and investigative the nature of art conservation is. Furthermore, conservation integrates art and science in such an interesting way that makes the connection seem utterly natural.

With regard to the Rubin, it is remarkable to understand now how and why its art is able to remain so intact and beautiful. Without the discipline of art conservation, it is very possible that much of the Rubin’s art, all of which we love so much, would be falling apart faster than a sand mandala on a windy day. Art conservation is the key for maintaining the beauty, integrity, and health of art. Like a doctor diagnoses his or her patients and attempts to treat them, so does a conservator for art, and for that reason, it is a very honorable, very essential profession.

FLIPSIDE…THE EVENT!!!

We’ve been having all these amaaaazing discussions and adventures related to Flipside and Living Shrines.  Soon it will be time for you to join the fun!  Please come to our teen event totally designed and run by the Rubin Museum of Art’s Teen Guide Council.  Meet us and join in conversations on the exhibitions and collaborate on a giant art shrine!  Can’t wait to post pictures and videos here of YOUR experiences in these shows…  xx

Flipside, Living Shrines, and Willpower

Have you ever kept a wonderful secret? A secret so wonderful that you wanted to tell every person you came across? Or have you ever seen the blueprint for a building or a map of underground tunnels? The new Flipside exhibition evokes all of these experiences at once. Flipside focuses on the consecrated backsides of Buddhist thangka paintings (instructional paintings). The consecration of the back of the work transforms each painting from an artwork to a holy object. Thus, Flipside demonstrates the architecture of each work: the infrastructure that supports the depiction on the front. Extending this idea of support, the backside is the spine of each piece, the spine that keeps the spiritual beings, ideas, and lessons of the painting standing straight.

Flipside has greatly impacted my perception of another new exhibition at the museum: Lisa Ross’ Living Shrines of Uyghur China. This exhibition presents several photographs of a body of work Ross took over an eight-year period in Uyghur China. I see so much movement in these photographs, and it was movement that connected these two exhibitions for me, that is, the activity or the flow of meaning, whether it be between one side of a painting to another or the wind blowing a cloth on a shrine, which maintains the sacred aspects of both the thangka paintings and the shrines. Indeed, what is the lifeblood of the sacred, and how is the blood flow of the sacred maintained? Today Teen Guide Council met with Lisa Ross and in our discussion one of her comments provided a very interesting response to this question. She spoke of the temporal materials that characterize these shrine, sticks, wood, cloth, animal carcasses and bones, objects that all wear away in the desert. Thus, people are constantly adding new materials and elements to the shrines in order to preserve them. Although these shrines identify burial mounds and honor the dead, they demonstrate, quite intensely, the presence and activity of life.

Both of theses exhibitions convey liveliness and energy and both deal with ideas of what is sacred and how to demonstrate and maintain what is sacred. Together these exhibitions reminded me particularly of Buddhist mandalas. Mandalas are mental tools used to focus one’s will unto certain goals and to then help one achieve those goals and a higher state of being. One meditates by mentally traveling through rings of fire and a palace (the mandala) until one reaches one’s goal at the center of the palace. I myself think about mandalas often in a non-religious way. They still deal with personal and sacred actions for me but they are also simply the building of good and healthy habits. Thus, in any sense, mandalas are a way of conditioning one’s mind; they are tools to craft one’s mind into a sacred place, into a shrine. They are tools that may be used to craft one’s own will into a sacred structure. How else might we craft our own will into sacred structures?

 - Madeleine

Living Shrines and Flip Side: Discussion Questions

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about discussion questions pertaining to the two of the Rubin’s current shows, Living Shrines and Flip Side.  I hope to be able to use some of these questions in our discussions we will be leading in our next teen event in early May.  

• What are different burial rituals in different societies and in different ages throughout history and all over the world?  (See the photograph of burial mounds) 
• In what way is burying a human body an act of consecration or a sacred or divine act? 
• A main highlight of Buddhism is about the lean away from material possessions and material goods.  Why, then, are objects so sacred in some sects of Buddhism? Are objects and shrines a way to communicate with a higher, divine power? 
• How are the Islamic shrines in Living Shrines different from other shrines or shrine objects in the museum, such as in the shrine room? What might explain these differences? 
• What exactly is a shrine? Can a shrine be non-religious? 
• Is there one object that you treasure above all other objects? Why is it meaningful? 

I’m enjoying pondering these questions with my fellow RMA Teen Guides, and I look forward to getting to ask teens who come to our event similar questions! 

-Julia