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November 02, 2005
de young is da bomb
seriously, though, i had a wicked rad time at the de young museum yesterday. i went with neilz, for the
FREE DAY every first tuesday of the month. we wound up paying to check out the hepshaput(sp?) exhibit as well, which was very intense. well,
I think it's very intense to look at objects (especially daily-use-type objects) that are like friggin
three thousand years old. unfortunately for you, they did not allow the use of cameras in that exhibit. if'n your a fan of egyptian antiquities, i'd shell out the 5 bucks to check it for yourself.
the museum itself looks fabulous, although i was not in it before the renovations. as you can tell from the above pict, there is now a tower attached to the building. this currently does not house any exhibits, but reference library type stuff, and an observation deck at the top of the tower. this was quite the popular attraction yesterday, so we omitted it from our tour for the purpose of more time to check out the rest of the museum. i think all that space is a great idea, and provides a little expansion space down the line, should it become necessary. (also-also; they're now in the process of renovating the california science academy...HUGE CONSTRUCTION SITE! the park's gonna kick major ass when they've finished all these renovations man!!!)
i tried to keep track of both the titles of the paintings, as well as the names of the artists. in the cases where i did
NOT keep track, i've posted the picts here. those i've kept track of, i put in a little photo album over there to the right. i have to mention at this point in time, that it was very difficult to maneouver my sweater and my purse and the camera AND my notebook all at the same time. i think this means i need to make a new bag...well...i just finished with a new bag, but it wasn't in time for that trip. shucks... the reason i bring this up is that i tipped over one of those poles that holds up cording used to rope off areas surrounding exhibits. in particular, i was next to josiah mc elheny's
model for total reflective abstration(which i saw a whole "making of" thing on KQED about a month ago), which would have been horrible had i actually hit any of that glass with my purse. i wound up jumping back when all of a sudden i was surrounded by three women, and that's when it all went down.
it took a wicked long time for my heart rate to return to "normal". gee-whilackers.... in the immortal words of nevil longbottom,
"why does it always happen to me? if'n there's something to be dropped, knocked over, or spilt, i am the man for the job!!!....well, you know what i'm sayin...
i really liked this piece that i think was titled:
STEPPING OUT although i have no idea who created it. what i liked about it was the material choice, since i usually associate wood sculpture with various "folk" movements, and this is very much a "fine art"-type sculpture. i like wood a lot because it feels warm to me, especially with the finish that was used. the other thing i liked about this is that it's got that early deco feeling to it. i really enjoy the initial designs of that period because of their portrayal of "modern life". everything is so intuitive and fluid as expressed through so many rounded forms; not at all what we've got goin' on in our current modern reality.
i liked this painting, which i think was titled
PICKING COTTON because of the forms and color. they remind me of a lot of the illustration in my elementary school's reading books(which i friggin LOVED!!!). however, i'd be kinda frontin' if i didn't mention the little jolt i got from seeing that modern road sign off to the right, and it's suggestion that there's a lot of modern day slavery still going on in this world...hell, even still in this country (and if'n you think that's a crock, stop paying your rent or your credit card payments). i wish i'd remembered to write down the name of the artist.
since i was feeling very touristie, neil was gracious enough to give me the typical tourist pose with this fine example of modern sculpture. i can't imagine having a personal living space large enough to accomodate this sucker!
this was my favorite painting of all the paintings in the museum. i can't remember the title or the name of the artist(although the name of the artist is like on the tip of my tongue...it's one we ALL "know"...). i could look at this endlessly and really enjoy it. the feeling i get isn't necessarily from one particular aspect of the painting. what seems to happen when i look at this painting, is that the form and style speaks to some emotional experience i've had, some how brings the good feeling of that experience to the forfront of my current synaptical reality and just warms my cockles, yo. and that's just one of the reasons i like aht so much...
these "rain drops" were on the ceiling of the room that housed the rocking chair you'll find over in the de young album. they had a random pattern that covered the entire room, but i tried to get a shot that provides both ceiling and reflective views. i thought this was both playful and appropriate: doesn't it directly address the issue of
perspective? and isn't the ability to identify multiple perspectives like a friggin
crucial part of viewing artistic work of any sort? and isn't it also equally crucial for the living of one's life?!?!?! and then doesn't that take us to the place that provides relevance for art in our day-to-day lives? yup-yup.
this was one big friggin head!
i was also impressed that this artist chose to portray such a small dog humping such a large dog.
these little buggers made me smile! as it so happens, my mom bought reproductions of these types of musical instruments when we were in mexico back in '84. one got dropped and glued back together, but it still makes a pretty neat flute/recorder! the ones she got are a cross between the one all the way to the left, and the center one. let me also mention how much warmth i feel from terra cotta....
now that i've written a book about all the art i didn't take notes on, i'm gonna go set up that album with all the stuff i DID keep track of. lemme also assure you that once i'm back to work (monday) these installments are gonna be much shorter. hopefully equally amusing, but much shorter since i will have less time on my hands.
speaking of less time on my hands, let me leave you with this picture of a 19th century skull reliquary from the gulf of papua...
Posted by Meagen at November 2, 2005 08:19 AM
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