The Modern Aesthetic and John Chamberlain

John Chamberlain, 1962

John Chamberlain's recent "Choices" show at The Guggenheim was very inspiring. Though the show is down now, I did get a chance to visit it by myself one spring morning.

While climbing up the circular walkway, the retrospective unfolded -- the earliest work at the bottom of the building and ending with the most recent pieces at the top. Twenty minutes of taking it all in and reaching the top, I began to go back down, imagining myself as a sculptor. I was getting deeper and deeper into that fantasy that when I came home, I almost enrolled in a sculpture class.

De Kooning, 1960

His work is so painterly. Each piece of crinkled strip of metal is like a single brush stroke -- like in a De Kooning painting.

Looking at Chamberlain's work made me see things differently. I started taking photographs of collaged patterns of everyday things and making my own collages that reminded me of his sculptures. I'm continuing to document the world around me in a different light.