Art & Authenticy

While at the MET doing research for an english paper, I ran across Vermeers “The Milkmaid.” This exhibit featured 36 paintings to put “The Milkmaid” into historical context.  Before this I had never heard of Vermeer but the main attraction was easily recognizable. I chose to view this painting instead of going to a show because I thought it would be good to mix it up, the entire semester we have focused on shows and new and more innovative exhibits, I felt like we forget the beauty that still exists in traditional arts.  After seeing the painting I did a little bit of research, and I was surprised to find that this was created in a time when milkmaids were often represented as lovers. It is interesting to think of this painting in this time period, but I do not see anything overtly (or subtly) sexual about this. Either way,  like  Salome by Regnault, it is deceptively simple with a understated beauty not found today; it is definitely worth stopping by to see this piece in person.

As I walked into the Paley Media Center, located on W.52nd Street, I knew this was exactly what media was all about. Filled with television screens, magazine advertisements, and movies screening in various corners of the center, media was all over the place.

Comparing three different countries’ news shows was most eye opening for me. On Zee TV (India’s television network), the news reporters were glamorously dressed up. News topics covered current events – mostly on the Bollywood scene. Where was the news? Not in Zee TV’s news program. Seeing the channel made me realize how beautified everything is in India and how much Indians worshipped actors and actresses. It put me off, seeing how I regarded many Indian men and women to be sophisticated and more reliable news sources than our FOX News or ABC News. As I looked online to research Zee TV, I realized the Zee branch has other channels: Zee Gold, Zee Cafe, Zee Trendz, Zee Sports, Zee Cinema, and Zee Smile. All of these channels are for entertainment purposes, not for informational ones. I’d rather stick to CNN – yes, it still shows footage of Michael Jackson’s death, but I do hear about worldwide events and not just Britney Spears!!

Do you want to check Zee TV out for yourself? Click here.

It’s really quite a shame that huge exhibits overshadow the smaller galleries in the MoMA.  These smaller exhibits are like the middle children of Modern Art.

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In thinking about presidents, the first things that comes to mind is political policies, leadership, order, protection, and war; this however, was not what I experienced in the Treasures of FDR and the Sea exhibit in the South Street Seaport Museum. Continue Reading »

Ever heard of Gustav Klimt? No? You should start doing some research then.

Klimt is an abstract painter. I’ve only recently been introduced to Klimt because his name was mentioned in a reading.

His paintings of women are gaudy and elegant. A paradox. His women are all beautiful and pale, with blushing cheeks, but the bodies of the women would be covered with gold paint. The gold looks like a mosaic, but all of it is painted on.

It might be a little hard to believe unless you see it for yourself.

I love Vermeer. I loved Vermeer even before I took Art History. There are controversies about rather his paintings can be considered to be truly genius because he did paint with the aid of the camera obscura (dark room).

His technique doesn’t matter to me as much as his expression. The light on his subjects is almost always so soft and warm.

The Milkmaid was no exception. She may seem homely, but she is bathe in a pure, angelic light. In the description, she is suppose to attract male viewers (the Cupid tile in the corner is proof). The painting is not so large, but it has incredible detail (again the Cupid tile). However, no matter how beautiful The Milkmaid is, it still can’t rival The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

During my trip to The American Folk Art Museum I was most inspired by the Approaching Abstraction exhibit. The exhibit can be termed as unique, strange and even eccentric by some as it showcases models that are made up from materials like straws, graph paper, mismatched buttons and even plastic wonder bread bags. The exhibits truly encompass the theme of “making something from nothing”. The exhibit titles as The Button Tree by Gregory ‘Mr. Imagination” Warmack has the framework of an actual tree that was cut down and was rescued by Mr. Gregory from the streets. As a mark of silent protest against the uprooting of trees Gregory created this art piece in which bottle caps and buttons of different shapes and sizes are nailed to every part of the tree. Through his art Gregory is “willing the dead tree to linger in life still, now as a work of art”. Such is the inspiration behind many of the art pieces in this exhibit. The imaginative and creative represent much more than a pretty or aesthetic picture. They all have an underlying deeper meaning that express the artist’s personal experiences and beliefs.

My visit to the National Museum of the American Indian was my first time being exposed first-person to the culture that lived on the land years before the Europeans had arrived. I met a lady whose name I do not recall, but is on the left in the photo above. She is a professor in CUNY City College and has taught a course in Native American stitching. I saw her making stitches live with buffalo sinews, which are the first threads that Native Americans use. The Native Americans use all parts of the Buffalo—sinews for threads, stomach for pouch, fur for clothing, etc. It is fascinating to see her fingers moving the sinews around and creating colorful patterns that I have only seen in textbooks and on the internet.

Buffalo Sinews

Buffalo Stomach Pouch

After boarding two docked ships at the South Street Seaport, I was already seasick and had to immediately get back on the ground. Even though I live close to the South Street Seaport Museum, I did not realize that it consists of many buildings in Seaport and has real ships that the visitors can go on. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, apparently is a great fan of the sea, despite his health condition, always went sailing, fishing, and even commanded the navy during WWII. As I relaxed and enjoyed the view onboard, I experienced what President FDR must’ve felt when he was at sea—calm, clear-minded, and hopeful. The clips of President FDR on the ships with his friends showed that he must’ve been really strong and tried to prove that despite his polio, he can do more than what we expected him as a president to do.

I have heard many say that exhibitions centered on contemporary idols are only meaningful for the fans of those idols. “Who Shot Rock and Roll” is considered to be one of such exhibitions. Since I somewhat agree with the saying stated above, I was choosing to see the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of renaissances paintings rather than “Who Shot Rock and Roll”. However, Alina’s enthusiasm about the exhibition in her blog post aroused my curiosity. Therefore, I decided to visit the Brooklyn museum with a friend who is equally clueless about rock music in an effort to test out the rumor that only people who appreciate Rock and Roll will appreciate the exhibition that revolve around rock stars. Continue Reading »