Best Weekend Modern Art Getaway
Des Moines Art Center
First off, there's the building, which is a work of art in itself. The Des Moines Art Center was built in three stages, each designed by a top Twentieth Century architect: Eliel Saarinen (who designed the St. Louis arch), I. M. Pei (who conceived the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland) and Richard Meier (who has been heralded for his design of the monumental Getty Center in Los Angeles). And the building sits at one end of Greenwood Park, a swath of virgin forest that's been preserved for centuries. Each of its wings provides a stunning backdrop for the Center's comprehensive collection of late nineteenth and twentieth century art -- especially Pei's section. He designed high ceilings to provide space for hulking sculptures such as a giant three-pronged electrical plug Claes Oldenburg (of Shuttlecocks fame) created out of Naugahyde and stuffing, and a big, goofy rendition of a booth at the Iowa State Fair made by Red Grooms. What's truly inspiring, however, is how thoughtfully the work is arranged; in some rooms the works seem to play off one another to create little stories. For example, on one wall hangs a giant Anselm Keifer painting of train tracks stretching off into an obscured horizon. Directly facing this painting, in the middle of the gallery, is a sculpture by Juan Munoz in which a man carries another man on his back. It looks like they're trudging off into Kiefer's painting.
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