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.

While I was coming home from Times Square, I stumbled upon this in the subway. It was a tiny sculpture behind glass. There were many of its kind but for some reason, this one stood out to me. The sculpture features Lady Liberty singing into a gold microphone next to someone playing a saxophone. She even has musical notes as earrings on. This sculpture is placed here to show the history and common themes associated with NYC.  NYC is known as a major cultural capital that is the home to museums and galleries, theaters, and, of course, concert halls. There are many types of music that have originated in the Big Apple, jazz being one of them. Here, we see the saxophone, which is an icon of jazz. This sculpture was strategically played in the Times Square station. Times Square is a major tourist hub that almost always attracts newcomers to the city. People walking through the train station could also stumble upon this and see the symbolism behind this artwork—that NYC is one of the greatest cities in the world in terms of creating and preserving culture.

“Delusions” at the Rox Gallery was definitely a different experience from the other exhibitions we went to. However, I really liked this gallery because all of the pieces together were different from what we normally saw. In fact, this gallery featured pop art and surrealism, two types of art that, together, are pretty amazing. However, the one piece of art, or rather four pieces, that interested me were located downstairs. You all probably saw the pictures of the leaves downstairs. For some reason, I was just engrossed in those images. At first, I thought, “These are photos of the same leaf, only with different colors. What is so great about it?” But then, it hit me that these photos were not the same leaves in different colors. No, in fact, these photos were showing the stages of the leaves. First a leaf in spring is a bright green. Then as summer ends and autumn comes around, the leaf turns red, orange, and eventually the leaves become multicolored. Eventually the leaves start falling from trees and the trees become bare, with no leaves. This leads to the last picture, the picture of the black leaf. When the leaf hits the floor, it degrades and loses its color. The cycle then repeats again when the weather changes from winter to spring. These photos caught my eye because it reminded me of the circle of life. A leaf is “born” in spring and has a green color; it “grows up” during autumn and becomes multicolored. The leaf goes through a lot of color changes. Finally it withers and “dies” in winter. Something as simple as leaves can be used to show how despite everything coming to an end, there are also new beginnings. Besides, since we are in the season of autumn (though it does not feel like autumn haha), we should appreciate all autumn has to offer, which includes nature and the different colors of the leaves because in about a couple of months, they will all be gone.