I left the same way I entered, but far more calmly. Again I had gained nothing more tangible than a chance to touch the work. I had wrestled with the space with my own two hands. I had experienced the arts institution as a metaphor quite as much as the art. After another breath, I was set to wander where I had begun.
All art offers alternatives.
I mean the work and the lives it contains, as well as the space in which it lives. From Vermeer's carefully constructed interiors to de Kooning's open networks of paint , every work invites one to enter an alternative space. I mean any earthwork fully as much as the Sistine Madonna 's or a video's theater of illusion . I mean David Smith's sculptures nestled in office parks as much as Barbara Kruger's mocking of corporate culture. Kruger is less at home than Smith among blue-color types rather than merchandisers anyway.