In her first solo exhibit in sixty years, Louise Bourgeois work is complex and intriguing. Her pieces are heavily loaded with memories and emotions of her past and childhood. Her sculptures succeed at being a comfort as well threatening works of art. The two pieces I selected are “Spider” 1996 and “Cell (Hand and Mirrors)” 1995. Both works fully employ the materials they are made with, as well as the space around them. The negative space is just as much a part of the sculpture as the sculpture itself.
Louise Bourgeois “Spider” is a 10 ft bronze sculpture with a bulbous body looming overhead supported by eight gigantic legs. The piece is at first unnerving, as the huge beast seems ready to attack. The piece represents however protection and comfort, a tribute to her mother.
A sense of space is created by the spider’s spindly legs, which jut out into corners before their long descent to the ground. The extension of the spider’s legs is great, yet all the legs are held in tight, but one protecting the space it has created. The space is not just negative space, but a solid part of the sculpture. It almost feels intrusive to step inside. The space “Spider” creates is protected and held as if an actual spider was protecting its offspring. This protection would solidify the intimidation of the sculpture, if it were not for the one stretched leg. The outstretched leg seems like an arm preparing for an embrace, which draws us in and allows us to feel the comfort intended by “Spider”.
The Second piece I chose was from a series called “Cells”, a series of sculptures made with found and made objects. These sculptures depict emotions and memories. This piece, “Cell (hands and mirror) is the smallest of the series.
“Cell”(Hands and Mirror) shows a cell of doors and windows that open up to a slab of raw pink marble with two fragmented hands curled painfully upon each other. The interior is lined with mirrors, which give a kaleidoscopic view of the sculpture as you circle around it. Bourgeois says there is “my reality and there is your reality, both of which are constantly changing.” This sculpture captures that so perfectly.
The open doors of the piece almost invite you to step inside of the piece, but the giant slab of marble blocks you, creating a claustrophobic space as opposed to an open one. The sculpture seems to be a comment on being trapped within ones own cell, trapped inside the mind. It is both a comforting and safe space, but you are also trapped within. No one can really see what is actually inside your mind, your reality, so by circling we are constantly getting a new view of what is inside. We are welcomed in, and yet we are still very shut out. It gives feelings of both loneliness as well as protection.
