Andrea Zittel: Critical Space

This afternoon , I visited the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Chelsea.  Critical Space is the first comprehensive survey of Andrea Zittel's work to take place in the US. For the past 15 years, she has used her everyday life as the force behind her artwork.  From designing clothes to be worn everyday for 6 months, to creating diets based on dehydrated foods, to making furniture that changes your view of space - she has been willing to explore all of this.  I was amazed at the intellectual depth that was required to create such detail in the furniture and the clothes. She gave such deep thought to how to create spaces.  One of her quotes basically said that creativity is more explored when their are limitations imposed on the creator.  The struggle to fight for creativity helps us to explore spaces that we would have never gone. Total freedom sometimes causes us to not fight for the space.  This resonates with me - I fight for my creative "5 minutes" everyday now  that I am a mother.  If I can write a chorus or re-write a verse of a song that I am working on - I feel very successful.  Andrea's work inspired me today to fight for the space to be creative.