I absolutely love the Met! Even though I really wanted to go to the Whitney Museum, I was still excited about our spontaneous trip to the Met. My favorite part of the Met would have to be the Asian Art section. The Asian Art section houses art from many parts of Asia, ranging from Eastern Asia (China, Korea, Japan, etc.), to Southern Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.) I love visiting the South Asian part because that is where all of the Hindu art are! I am Hindu and I love learning about my religion. Hinduism is polytheistic religion, meaning that there are many gods. However, my family practices Hinduism by choosing one of the gods as our main “god.” Our god is Vishnu, and ever since I was a little girl, I always had an interest in reading and learning about Vishnu. One of the sculptures I stumbled upon was Standing Vishnu.

Vishnu is one of the major gods in Hinduism. He is often referred to as the “preserver,” since he is known as the one who protects the universe. Vishnu’s depiction in this specific sculpture shows his protective role. For example, one of his arms has the mudra symbol, which is a symbol of protection. By making this gesture with his hand, Vishnu is protecting Hindus from whatever possible evil might threaten them. Also, in his upper hands, Vishnu holds a battle trumpet and a war discus. This implies that Vishnu is part of the military, which further puts emphasis on this notion that Vishnu is the preserver. Vishnu’s expression is one of calmness, which again alludes to his protective nature.

When I go back to the Met, I will try to visit another gallery (probably the Egyptian Art). But I will definitely set aside an entire day when I go back. It is really hard to explore the entire museum in only three hours.

Deciding what exhibit to go to in the Metropolitan Museum of Art can be quite a daunting task, so difficult that I left my voyage up to chance, randomly selecting a room and heading there. In my quest to locate The American Wing, I stumbled upon a sign for Japanese Art. Coming from half an Asian background I’ve always found Asian art particularly beautiful and interesting, so off I went to explore.

I stood in a dark room with few people, accompanied to the sound of a waterfall. It was quite pleasant, and their uniquely modern sculptures took me by surprise. I was expecting traditional art such as calligraphy and flowers, but instead, I saw abstract pieces – one of the most interesting was a deer made out of glass balls.

However, it was the 1979 piece entitled Footprint of the Buddha by Kondo Yukaka that took me in awe. From afar, I thought the overall print was beautiful, but once I got closer, I saw the fantastically unique detail. Each indentation was the name of a country, city, district, restaurant and name the artist knew, some in English, others in Japanese. This merging of cultural beliefs is very intriguing. Japanese ceramic art resonates very close to Japan’s culture, so to have it contain English words and an Indian Buddha footprint, exemplifies a fascinating culmination of all cultures.

Unfortunately, these camera-phone pictures lack depth and fail to do the piece justice. When I studied and admired it, I tried to see it from all angles, bending down to be at eye level and standing on my tippy toes to get an overhead view. Each angle made it appear slightly different from the other, making my overall impression very comprehensive. Other than the angles, I also found the placement of the two pieces interesting. When going online to find information on it, I noticed that the two pieces were pushed together as opposed to being spread apart. When they were pushed together, it made the piece appear more like a footprint, yet when spread apart, it became more abstract.

Overall, I found this piece both beautiful and interesting, and I’m happy I stumbled upon this serene section of an otherwise chaotic museum.

When I was going to the library for the archive project when I came across this sculpture. I thought it was a really unique sculpture since I never saw anything like it. I was wondering why it was in front of the a high school. It turns out that it’s a memorial sculpture made by William Tarr made by a self-weathering steel. This same steel, which is called the Mayari R. was used for the walls of the schools buildings. When I found this out, I thought that it was really cool. The connection between the sculpture and the school was so amazing! I thought it was a great idea! I mean, who thinks like that? Relating the sculpture to the school. I thought it was terrific.

Have you guys found a sculpture with this kind of connection to its school?

Yesterday, due to the failed trip to the Whitney Museum….(just kidding), we went to visit the Metropolitan Museum. As I had never been to either museum before, I was very excited and interested to see the exhibits there. My first reaction when walking into the Met was that this place was huge. After splitting up, a group of us, accompanied by Professor Eversley, set off to locate the Balthus exhibit, but were quickly captivated by the many other exhibits and works of art that the Met had to offer. When we finally reached the Balthus exhibit, I was very skeptical but intrigued by his style of mid century art work, which included many street scenes as well as portraits of young girls in suggestive positions. Overall though, it was a very interesting experience that I hope everyone will get a chance to see. From walking through the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian gallery to viewing original works of art by Pablo Picasso and Henri Mattise, the Met’s quantity and variety was fascinating. I will definitely visit the Met again in the future in hopes of further exploring their wide array of art works.