One Cent Day At The MCA

The first Saturday of every month Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art allows Denver residents in for just one cent, and this past Saturday I decided to take full advantage, despite the fact that most of the time I find the artwork there just a little bit too weird. Surprisingly, the exhibits this month are pretty good.  All feature female Denver artists, including a young photographer by the name of Francesca Woodman. Most of her photographs are self portraits, many in the nude, with the purpose of trying to express her relationship with her environment.  Woodman was born in 1958, graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design late in 1978, and died in 1981 at the age of 22 by suicide, depressed by both a broken relationship and despair over failing to attract interest in her photography. Ironically, there has recently been renewed interest in her work.  I must say I really enjoyed seeing this exhibit.  And in addition to her photographs, one of the exhibition rooms duplicated her studio in New York, and yes, it was a mess.

Another Denver artist being featured is Flora Lewis Mayo, who came from a wealthy Denver  family and went to Paris in the 1920s to become a sculptor.  There she met Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, and they became lovers.  However, after the stock market crash, the allowance from her father was cut and then eliminated, forcing her to return to the United States.  After this, she wound up working at various manufacturing jobs and finished her working career as a janitor in an office building in Los Angeles.  Virtually all of her artwork was lost, and the exhibit mostly contains her personal possessions, photographs, and a movie about her life. As in the Woodman exhibit, there were several wall-sized photographs, such as the one of her, Giacometti, and several acquaintances seen during happier times.  One of the themes of both of these exhibits was the difficulty women faced as artists after leaving school and trying to build a career. Is this still true today?  I don't honestly know, but in any case, I enjoyed viewing this exhibit, too.  And I must say, touring the MCA was definitely worth the entrance fee this month.