As Venus (and Jupiter) went direct on Thursday, I was inspired yesterday to go see some art! I was catching up with a friend and we decided to go to the MoMA and discovered to our delight that there was a special Member Preview day of the new “On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century” show. Although it might seem by the title of the exhibit that this would be about drawing only, in fact the show was more about the conceptual idea of “lines”, whether in drawing, painting, sculpture, or video! It was inspiring to see so much intriguing art all in one place and tied together with such a versatile concept. Although normally I am not as fond of group shows with a common theme, as sometimes the themes can seem a bit, well, forced, in this case the theme seemed well conceived, as the concept of “lines” is such a graphic element that almost all artists use in one way or another at some point in their art. The exhibit lent itself well to showcases some splendid Russian Constructivism art, early abstract artists such as Kandinsky, through more minimalist works of the 60’s.

I was surprised at the three dimensional quality of the works throughout the exhibit. Perhaps conceptually lines can metaphorically represent a kind of passage of time, as we all think of time as “linear.” Yet many of the works had not only a three dimensional quality but also a 4th dimensional quality of simultaneous spaces, such as artist Julie Mehretu. Her work seems to involve the outlines and structures of cities and buildings combined together in what seemed to be different times, lending an almost universal time standing still feeling to them.

All in all I’d highly recommend the show, and it wasn’t bad timing to view such an exhibit that provokes thoughts about time and space, just a day after both Venus and Jupiter go direct!