Snark the art--My trip to MOMA

Okay, so it's been a while since I've blogged. I never promised I'd do this everyday.

Last weekend, I was in NYC. It was freakin' cold. I was with a group of friends from a Democratic website, and we had a blast! We walked 20 blocks up Fifth Avenue from our hotel to MOMA. There we saw the current collection as well as part of the permanent collection.

Having grown up in the armpit of the country, my exposure to art in general has been rather hit & miss, & contemporary art in particular often leaves me flat. I did find some of the pieces to be quite thought provoking, however.

When you first enter the Contemporary Exhibit on the 2nd floor, you are "greeted" by four naked dolls. Someone apparently thinks that is art; I don't. However, around the corner was an exhibit by a Japanese artist who, in a period of four years, created different guises & personas for herself, including gaining & losing weight. She took pictures of each of these personas. It was absolutely amazing how she was able to transform herself into different personas--student, demure business woman, punk girl, etc. I wish I could remember her name. Such is life. The other exhibit that I really liked in that particular hall was a series of photos taken of the same sisters over a period of 30 years (1975-2005). In another room, an artist had made some late-19th century women's dresses (bustles & all) out of African cloth. It was challenging to see dresses that I recognized made up in different kinds of material & I think that's what the artist was getting at. There was also an exhibit in which the picture kept changing. It was about the violence in South Africa, but some of it reminded us of what happened after Hurricane Katrina. I wish I could explain it better, but it's something you have to see.

In a corner of the next room was a bunch of lightbulbs. On the plaque above it, the artist pontificated about how the owner of the piece should feel free to move the art around & play with it. While other artists would insist on specific measurements & placements for the art, this artist didn't want you to feel "inhibited" this way. Below this plaque is a big sign : DO NOT TOUCH THE ART. So, apparently, MOMA didn't get the memo. ;)

I noticed many people heading over to another area, walking down an incredibly darkened hallway & into, what, a wall? I couldn't tell, because by the time I got to the end of the hall, it was pitch black & I couldn't see. Since I don't like tripping or bumping into people, I left. That, imo, is not art. That is turning out the lights.

We went upstairs to the permanent collection because I just couldn't leave without seeing Van Gogh's "Starry Night." OH, & there were Picassos & Monets & Seurats! OH MY! My opportunities to view works by these artists are few, unless I want to look through books & that's not the same thing. I was able to sneak up on "Starry Night" to get a glimpse of the brushstrokes, which was hard to do because they put it under glass! I was told to "get away" from the picture. I wasn't even that close. This was so unlike European museums in which you can get nose-to-nose with the picture, take photos of it, move it around, & no one cares so long as you don't take the art with you when you leave. I suppose the next time I go there, MOMA will have put up a "PLEASE DO NOT LOOK AT THE ART" sign. Whatever.

2nd Blog-Never Trust a VP with a Gun

Having lived in South Texas for my entire life, I can honestly call "BS" to the story put out by the White House regarding the shooting at the Armstrong Ranch. Dick Cheney must be blind if he's shooting off his gun with a human being in his sights. That or he thinks that Texas quail wear hunter orange vests. That, or he doesn't know how to shoot a gun. Damn, to think that I, a pacifist, know more about handling loaded firearms than the VP of the US who is supposedly out "hunting." OR, as I have heard some postulate, he was drunk, had a heart attack, whatever. Firing off his gun when a member of his hunting party was still in the field & unaccounted for was a NO-NO. (ah the things we learn from our fathers who hunted) First we heard that the VP's own ambulance was used to take Mr. Whittingdon to the hospital in Kingsville. Oh no, says local law enforcement, we first heard about the shooting when an ambulance was sent there. (If an ambulance was already at the scene, why the call for back-up?) The next lie the White House would have you believe is that local law enforcement got to speak to Cheney before he left. Not so, says the sheriff, who should know this. His officers were not allowed to interview Cheney at all. I find it absolutely amazing that they waited 24 hours to break this to the media & decided that Mrs. Armstrong (a Republican crony, as interestingly enough is Whittingdon) would do this. Which she did by waiting 24 hours (I suppose so they could get their stories straight) & contacting a rookie reporter at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, who merely transcribed what was written & then didn't go about doing reporter-ly things, like say, oh I might be pulling this out of thin air, calling the sheriff in Kleberg County to see if a report had been made & speaking with others who might have been there. I'm not so sure about this checking up on sources, since I only had 2 semesters of journalism.

My first blog

Oh sure, I've heard about blogs for a while now, I just never got around to writing one. I had a hard time coming up with the name, & settled on "Meanderings." I tend to meander through life anyway, and I didn't want my blog to focus on just one thing, since I'm interested in so much. My biggest hobby is travelling, although I won't be able to travel as much or as far this year as I have in the past. I need the $$ to spend on my house. My travel plans this year center around the US. I'm going to NYC next week, then a few places around Texas (for work). I might go back to NYC in April for the big protest march sponsored by United for Peace & Justice. My long-range travel plans call for me to complete the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrimage sometime within the next 5 years. :) Wish me luck on that one!