Ree Morton at the ICA

A friend of mine is a docent and this weekend she led a brief tour of some of Ree Morton's work at the ICA. My friend's tour strayed from the general format and mostly consisted of her showing me and the other people in the group a piece (without any explanation--I didn't even know the artist or the titles of the pieces until the end of the tour) and asking us what we thought it meant. 

It was really interesting to approach artworks without knowing anything about them and to hear the different interpretations people had of the works. When I go to museums, I usually look at the piece for a bit and then read about it (something as brief as a title or as extensive as an artist statement) because I like having some idea of the artist's intent. However, I liked not knowing anything about the works because they then able to carry multiple, even contradictory, meanings.

This experience (sort of like our sign project) really helped me see how an artist's intent doesn't necessarily follow from the finished work. Though I'll definitely keep reading artist statements and titles, I thought this experience was really valuable and will also remember that artworks can carry a multitude of meanings, no matter the artist's intent. 

some of Ree Morton's work: