Robert Irwin Getty Garden

by Lawrence Weschler
Garden Photography by Becky Cohen
Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum, an imprint of Getty Publications, Los Angeles, 20002
192 pp., 38 b/w illustrations, 166 color. Trade, $45.00
ISBN: 0-89236-620-6.

Reviewed by Amy Ione
The Diatrope Institute
PO Box 12748
Berkeley, CA 94712-3748 USA.

ione@diatrope.com

Anyone who has compared reproductions of Robert Irwin's oeuvre with the actual pieces is well aware of how poorly the direct experience of his work translates. More than with painting, or even traditional sculpture, the size/scale relationships, flattened space, and the perceptual impact represented in the facsimile dramatically alters ones sense of what one will actually encounter when placed in the physical space. Opening Robert Irwin Getty Garden and finding that it smelled like a new book, not a garden, convinced me that I didn't want to rely on my memory of the garden for this review. Although I've visited the environment several times in the past, it seemed appropriate to bring a fresh eye to this natural work in progress before I read the book with my critical reviewer's eye. To my delight, a renewed encounter with the garden and the Getty added to my appreciation of both.

For those who have not been there, the Getty Complex rests on about 750 acres in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles, California. Richard Meier was chosen to design the Getty Center in 1990, after an international search. His project aimed to present a powerfully, controlled, geometrical architecture that evoked universal ideals and it is magnificent to behold. No doubt the appeal of his design lay in the way the architectural Modernism impressively expressed the classical roots of the Getty collection. Irwin, on the other hand, was commissioned for the garden in 1993 after construction of the complex had begun. The dialogue between Wechsler and Irwin in Getty Garden includes an outline of this history and records some of the clashes that resulted when Irwin entered the project. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was that Irwin was more inclined to stimulate intimacy than grandeur, a goal that was orthogonal to Meier's conception, which stressed geometry and panoramic views. Despite this, as the book helps one conceptualize, the end result melds the two visions in a nourishing manner. Irwin's garden, which he termed "a sculpture in the form of a garden aspiring to be art" does not violate the imposing architecture. Instead it offers a counterpoint of color and texture to the geometric, austere buildings.

Robert Irwin Getty Garden presents the garden well, although it does not effectively convey the depth of what the marriage of contrasts offers. The reader is walked through various themes of the garden and, in explaining how the sections meld, we learn more of the artist's intentions and practice. The walk begins with the stream, at the top of the layout, and the publication tells how Irwin succeeded in producing sounds that differ in the left and right ear. Crossing the bridge, and making our way down the path, we look at the grasses, discover that the plant material was intentionally low to the ground at the top and that the heights increase on the first three levels going down the hill (on which much of the garden resides) and return to medium height on the plaza at the bottom. Irwin also explains that in making his choices he considered everything from seasonal characteristics to how the garden would age. I was impressed to learn more about how Irwin focused on materials that complemented his vision and that his research included an eye for materials that would age well. The section covering the Bougainvillea Plaza, the Falls, and the Maze was one of the most illuminating on his process. Bougainvilleas are beautiful climbing plants indigenous to tropical South America. They are adaptable, long flowering and can take many forms. Irwin's four-color choice here was brilliant, for they add white, magenta, orange, and red to the overall display. At the bottom of the garden, in the bowl, several photographs illustrate how powerfully the Irwin and Meier projects combine. They convey sculptural elements included in the garden and demonstrate that Irwin's use of formal qualities complement the garden's lushness as well as Meier's design. A double page photograph toward the end also is particularly effective in illustrating the dramatic, yet peaceful marriage.

Perhaps the urge to contrast Irwin and Meier explains why the book as a whole brought contrasts to mind. Over and over again it reminded me of the way contrasts invariably influence our sense of the world in subtle ways. More specifically, Netherlandish flower painting of the Dutch Golden Age came to mind after my visit, in part because the Getty Museum collection includes a profuse bouquet of Jan van Huysum who, like many Dutch artists included flowers from all seasons in his compositions. Like Irwin, the Dutch artists arranged their choices with elegance and tried to capture seasonal variety. While the historical flower paintings by masters such as van Huysum, Brueghel the Elder and van der Ast aspired to represent spontaneity and various states of bloom and demise in an illusory fashion, Irwin's work strives to present forms that will enhance our experience directly. Nonetheless, just as the garden project compelled Irwin to explore new possibilities, the compositions contrived by the Dutch artists aided them in studying color harmony and formal arrangements. More intriguing are the ways we can compare the past and the present. The fast-paced media work of today may differ stylistically from Irwin's work but the ease with which we relate to both kinds of contemporary projects can obscure the subtle ways in which our range of styles resonate with historical objects and practices. In this case, the well-crafted, seemingly innocent Dutch still-life paintings, like Irwin's garden, convey that there are levels of reality that are not necessarily apparent on the surface. Each has an apparent realism that comes into focus when we learn that the compositional and chromatic harmony within these masterful projects depicts other realities that co-exists with the immediate visual experience.

Getty Garden brings several of these other realities into focus. Overall the lavishly produced publication portrays this garden's complex appeal through the spectacular color photographs by the award-winning photographer Becky Cohen. The images capture the striking sculptural pieces within the garden, the luscious vegetation of the Getty garden, and aspects of this space we cannot see during a single visit. For example, much of the flora and fauna mentioned in the book was not in season during my recent stop. The photographs reminded me of how earlier encounters touched my senses in a way quite unlike my last experience. As a result, I felt I knew the garden better within the framework the publication provided. Its abundance increased and some basic knowledge of the details added to the sensuality of this space. I also was glad the book introduced the plants, the wood, the stone, the characteristics of key features, and various elements that were unnamed in the garden itself. Thus although it is a small book and unable to capture the spatial, tactile and general sensory feel of the actual garden in real time, the excellent reproductions did evoke the garden's colors, textures, pattern, and fragrance. Not only does the book simultaneously present seasonal time frames, there are also sweeping aerial views that further expand our appreciation of the scope of Irwin's vision. All in all, Robert Irwin Getty Garden ably familiarizes the reader with the variation the artist strived to achieve with his multi-faceted design.

Finally, I was again impressed by Lawrence Weschler’s ability to use a casual writing style to deepen our understanding of contemporary art and artists. The dialogue that propels this book continues a conversation Lawrence Wechsler began with Irwin about twenty years ago, when he wrote Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees, a book on Irwin's life and work mid-career. This continuation also nicely mirrors the experiential thrust of Irwin's work. In this case their easy give-and-take successfully captures that the project was a complex process and succeeds in relating Irwin's motifs to the work of other artists as well (e.g., Giorgio Morandi, Piet Mondrian, Philip Guston, etc.). These notations have allowed me to re-think my own experience and will no doubt come to mind the next time I visit the garden. Of course, while the images convey Irwin's mastery of this space, they only suggest the garden. It is best appreciated when one builds an ongoing relationship with the changing elements so critical to Irwin's vision. It is a wonderful place and I recommend stopping by and learning of these spots first-hand.