Art Week: Day 5

Original Post: Mao at the Met
Date: February 18, 2012 at 10:13 AM

[NOTE: I have considerably more than 5 favorite posts in the Art category. This retrospective thing (see Retrospective) is hard].

 

Andy Warhol's iconic portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although the size and power of the piece largely prompted the photo, the Chinese tourist standing transfixed in front of it may also have had something to do with my taking this picture. [NOTE: Mao, 1973, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, Accession Number: 1977.226.9].

Three Figures and Four Benches

Spent the entire morning entering growth data into long spreadsheets. Probably have a somewhat glazed-over, monochromatic look on my face. Like that on the three sitters in George Segal's "Three Figures and Four Benches" from the Lila Acheson wing at the Met. Sharing the bench, but not the reality. [NOTE: The growth data are from six commercial species of rattan collected over a four year period from community forests in Laos and Cambodia. Paper forthcoming].

Mao at the Met

Andy Warhol's iconic portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although the size and power of the piece largely prompted the photo, the Chinese tourist standing transfixed in front of it may also have had something to do with my taking this picture. [NOTE: Mao, 1973, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, Accession Number: 1977.226.9].

Procession

Close-up of a large piece by South African artist Clinton De Menezes at the Metropolitam Museum of Art.  Entitled "Procession (Exodus)", the work fills an entire wall with hundreds of little figures on a background of oil paint, ash, and mud. Creative lighting accentuates the figures with dramatic shadows.  Spent a long time gazing at this. [NOTE: Go here for a nice slide show of the installation].

Astral Snake

Anselm Kiefer's beautiful Astral Snake at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reminds me a lot of this. Something very powerful about celestial snakes, whether hanging from the ceiling of a zoo or represented by torn and pasted photographs in an art museum. Perhaps related to the ancient symbol of the Ouroboros? 

Blah, Blah, Blah

Spent several wonderful hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday. So many beautiful pieces of art, but the Mel Bochner piece shown above seems most appropriate for a blog post. And expresses so well what runs through most people's minds during extended periods of sitting meditation (see Fall Sesshin 2011). [NOTE: Was at the Met to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary (thx, Elysa)].