Born on Christmas, 1911, Louise Bourgeois has had (and continues to have) a long and prolific career as a working artist. Inspired in large measure by her childhood, she has often said: “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.” (PS - PBS is a tremendous resource for information about her - go and see here!)
A few of us Council-er's went and saw her retrospective at the Guggenheim in '08 and were so taken with her and her work. Her spirit simply beams through everything in her oeuvre. We especially enjoyed her collections of jars and glass vessels (window display??) and her Cells. Her groups of glass vessels, with their origins in the common and domestic, have a poignancy that is almost heartbreaking, working in tandem with their gorgeous aesthetic impact. Her Cells, delicate, intimate portraits of experience, are filled with all the aching bits, objects that contain a nostalgic value that is somehow wholly understood from the outside. The sensitivity that she brings to these arrangements underscores her over arching emphasis on the relationships between these objects, their symbolic and personal meanings, and the way that these meanings become embedded in us for always.
Anyhow, enough words, go enjoy her and her work.
xoxo COUNCIL
