Besides all the other great benefits from visiting my dad downtown at his office, there is one thing that I am very fortunate to be able to see. Every time I go to visit him, I always take a walk around the National 9.11 memorial. This memorial, for me, is unlike any other monument or memorial that I have ever visited because it is honoring and remembering a horrific thing that happened in my own city. I still remember where I was the moment that the planes crashed into the towers, and all the uncertainty and horror that filled the country, New York City, and my family. I remember the day like it was yesterday, I was in kindergarten and I was unexpectedly sent home. When I got home, I walk in to the sound of my mother crying in her room watching the television. After I was informed of what happened I too was beginning to feel very scared because my father worked in the building right next door and, because all the phone lines in the entire state were down, we couldn’t get in touch with him. This was definitely one of the scariest moments of my life. Thankfully he was ok but during the time from the towers being hit to my father opening the door to my house was pure terror.
Now when I go to the memorial, I remember that day from two different angles. I look at in the eyes of people like me and my mom who were worried about our family that was at the scene trying to get away, and I think of the people who were either trapped inside or the people who showed ultimate courage that went inside to help those trapped. Those people are the ones that I will forever have respect for.
For those who haven’t been to the memorial, what you get to see is the list of all the people who died that day. You are able to, like I do, read all the names one by one and pray for the families that lost their loved ones and honor all who died because of their services. There is two of them placed in the locations of the two towers that were hit.
This memorial is in my opinion the most powerful memorial in the world because besides for all the names, there is a waterfall on all four walls that drops water down and then another smaller waterfall in in the middle that seems to have no ending. From every angle you stand, you are unable to see the bottom of the second waterfall. This is very powerful in my eyes because it seems to just never end into the core of the earth. This uncertainty brings back the uncertainty I felt that very day.
This memorial hits the aspects of beauty, emotion, and brings back memories to all who visit, which in my mind is such a beautiful work of art.
On October 7th, my class and I took a trip over to the Rox Gallery in the Lower East Side to see artist Tom Smith’s exhibition “Heavenly Bodies”. I have been to other galleries on the Lower West Side before that were much larger than this one, and for much higher prices of art, but never to a smaller, more concentrated Lower East Side Gallery. This experience was exceptionally great because we got to meet and speak to Tom Smith himself. There is no better way to analyze a piece of art or any other work than talking to the creator of the piece. Tom Smith was very informative on how he made each painting and why he chose to place the paintings in the gallery the way that he did.
Mr. Smith said that it was a multi year project that was created in more than one location. Each painting was done based on a vision that he saw when was in a specific place. What was extremely interesting to me was because this project took several years, Smith was able to use the method of “progression” where he would create the same type creation using different styles to create it. For the first section of paintings, he cut little strips of 2 different paintings and glued them together creating a new form of the original idea. The next step Smith decided to add some 3D texture to his work by cutting half circle-shaped wood and putting that on it.
The third and final sequence of art was created to appear 3D by the way that it was painted. This art is essentially an optical illusion because the works that are actually 3D don’t appear 3D from far but as you get closer it became more clear. As opposed to the 3rd type where it appeared to be 3D from far and then when you looked closely it became obvious that it was actually just painted to appear that way.
All in all, my experience at the Rox Gallery was awesome. Being able to meet and speak to Tom Smith was a treat and because the art was not as expensive I was able to enjoy it more and dream more realistically about owning one of these fantastic pieces one day.
Since September 18th, Madison Square park has been home Tony Cragg’s beautiful Walks of Life sculptors.
Cragg explains in an interview: “I think that sculpture is a kind of sensitizing activity and that it has a role in being a catalyst that may lead to more sensitive thinking.”
When I was looking at his sculptures, I found that I definitely had a “thoughtful” experience! His sculptors are (obviously) still, yet, they feel like they are in motion! As you walk around the sculpture, it changes and moves with you—it’s quite beautiful! It made me think about the way I define “still” and “moving,” an obvious contradicting that this art exemplifies.
The experience actually brought me back to our last art exploration in Madison Square Park. When we visited as a class, we looked at Rachel Feinstein’s sculptures, which were also sort of a contradiction. A sculpture is supposed to be something you can walk around (a characteristic Walks of Life is a prime example of)—but Rachel Feinstein’s were mainly of flat! They looked more like drawings than sculptures!
Either way, Madison Square Park seems to always have something beautiful to look at; I can’t wait to see what is next!
Simply entering the Guggenheim museum was an experience. The building seems to almost open up because of how small the entrance is compared to the rest of the building. You look up and see the tall roof and notice that you can’t even see any artwork. Looks like Frank Lloyd Wright’s intention to put the focus on the building first worked.
The first exhibition that I saw was ZERO: Countdown to tomorrow, which was interesting given the amount of advertisements I saw on the exhibition during my time on the 4 train. This first exhibition was full of abstract and conceptual art full of arts such as Yves Klein to Jesus Rafael Soto. It was a really unique group of works due to the strangeness of the pieces. For example, Klein’s work didn’t have any physical piece. When I asked the tour guide for the reason, he stated that the original piece actually was Klein smoking next to the piece and the smoke itself was meant to the piece. It was difficult to find out what the pieces meant but they were definitely interesting to look at.
The second exhibition I saw was Wang Jianwei’s Time Temple. I was not a big fan of the wooden piece that the artist created, mostly because it was difficult for me to appreciate it since I neither understood the piece’s intention nor did I find the piece aesthetically pleasing. However, I found the painting incredibly beautiful. The contrast between the acrylic and oil paint was cool to see as was the decision to portray the painting was four different connected parts of an actual painting.
The final exhibition I saw there involved modern Indian art, specifically focusing on the art of Vasedeo Gaitonde. This final exhibition was difficult to see simply because of how worn out the paintings were as well as because of how abstract the pieces were. Most pieces used extremely dark colors, making it difficult to notice any details on the paintings. While the pieces were created using interesting tools, I personally did not enjoy the paintings. Altogether, I had an enjoyable time at the Guggenheim. Perhaps the next time I see an advertisements on a new exhibition for the Guggenheim in the subway, I might actually go to the museum.
Today, during my rainy walk home from school, I got stuck under a store awning waiting for the light to change. I started to watch the raindrops and I couldn’t help but notice the amazing way water can manipulate whatever it is reflecting—even though its clear.
It reminded me of some of the art I produced when I was in high school. For my portfolio, I decided to concentrate on a line that focused on glass. I love the illusions created in glass images—it is an art in and of itself! Just like with water, what I found especially fascinating was the magic glass created despite the fact that it is completely transparent.
I had so much fun trying to mimic all of new shapes and colors that appeared with glass, here are some of the pieces I created:
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