Madeleine Thien on Vija Celmins鈥檚 Bikini
Booker-nominated, Chinese-Canadian author Madeleine Thien chooses a work by Latvian-Amercian artist Vija Celmins.
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means 鈥渢o see鈥� art.
Today's edition features a work by a Latvian-American visual artist best known for photo-realistic paintings and drawings of natural environments and phenomena such as the ocean, spider webs, star fields, and rocks. Award-winning novelist Madeleine Thien has chosen "Bikini" Celmins's depiction of an atomic blast which took place in Bikini Lagoon on 25 July 1946, part of the United States鈥� Operation Crossroads 鈥� one of a series of twenty-three nuclear detonations in the western Pacific. What has drawn the novelist's eye to this work - and how does she see it?
Producer: Paul Kobrak
Main Image:
Vija Celmins, Bikini, 1968. Graphite on acrylic ground on paper, 13 3/8 x 18 1/4" (34 x 46.4 cm). Gift of Edward R. Broida. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 673.2005. 漏 2019 Vija Celmins
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Episode 19: Bikini by Vija Celmins (1968)
Selected by Chinese-Canadian author Madeleine Thien
Broadcasts
- Thu 5 Dec 2019 22:45大象传媒 Radio 3
- Mon 22 Aug 2022 22:45大象传媒 Radio 3
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See all of the works from the Museum of Modern Art selected by guests in this series.
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The Way I See It
Leading creative thinkers choose an artwork from MoMA and talk about how it inspires them.
