BOWS AND ARROWS AND GUNPOWDER

I hate the Guggenheim. The NY museum has become a global franchise. Their policy is "more is more" - their emphasis is on revenue. They make new buildings, rather than putting anything worthwhile inside them. Frank Lloyd Wright's monster on Fifth Avenue is a monument to the vanity of Wright and Guggenheim and a cruel joke to any visitor attempting to climb up the entire spiral. It dwarfs most art displayed within, and it mocks the ambition of any two dimensional artwork - ironic considering it was originally built as a showroom for Guggenheim's collection of non-representational paintings.

It takes an artist like Cai Guo-Qiang to really make a visitor forget how much the Guggenheim sucks. Guo-Qiang does his best to conquer Wright's space. This mid career retrospective entitled I Want To Believe features exploding cars, gunpowder drawings, indoor boat rides, and faux animals blasted with arrows. Guggenheim loves blockbuster exhibitions and this fits the bill. But Guo-Qiang's art is too wonderful to get caught up in the politics. The tiger here speaks to extinction, man's battle with nature, and colonial defilement. An interesting contrast to the Guggenheim franchise's ambitions.