Take another look: The alternative world of ‘Barbara Kasten: Stages’, by David Pagel, June 8, 2016
“Barbara Kasten: Stages” makes you wonder why the Museum of Contemporary Art doesn’t organize more exhibitions like this: right-sized surveys of works by artists who are not superstars but whose oeuvres enrich a visitor’s understanding of the present.
Organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and overseen in Los Angeles by MOCA senior curator Bennett Simpson, the nicely focused exhibition at MOCA Pacific Design Center lays out Kasten’s artistic concerns. The way the world changes when it becomes a picture — and what this means for viewers — is Kasten’s great subject.