Art Is Everywhere
As I walked toward the subway for some reason the steel tree catches my eye. I would walk by these trees every morning with no reaction, so why now? It hit me. This was art. After some reading I found out the three steel structures are named: Conjoined, Defunct, and Erratic. These pieces of art made by Roxy Paine were made to juxtapose industrialization and nature.
Outside the Met two Fridays ago, two black guys were at the bottom of the steps giving a street performance. They got three willing volunteers to go up and stand in a straight line and one of the performers was going to jump over them. After a minute of mental preparation, they asked for a little kid volunteer. After one guy did a flip in the air over the little kid and then somersaulted once on the ground while landing, the two guys asked for donations in such a humorous, skillful way that I found that it was almost artistic. They said in perfect unison lines they had obviously performed over and over again:
“If you liked the show and would like to see us do the big jump, please make a donation. We are not asking for much, we just want all the money in your wallet.” Whenever a kid donated money, the performers said, “Thank you. Now, go ask your parents for more.”
I was surprised to see that they got almost everyone to donate. Some people donated $20!! Their performance of the art of persuasion was something I will never forget even though I did not stay to see if the big jump was even worth all the money they received.
The Spanish sculpture Renaissance lecture given by Metropolitan Museum on Friday evening was really an enriching and inspiring experience to me. It was about both art profession and art history in Europe. It was only a less than an hour lecture, but I really got a lot from it. I found Span’s art history was really interesting, moreover, to some extent, it was a microscope of European’s art history. Sculptors from Italy, Netherlands and other European countries all had come to Span to work. Noticeably, Spanish sculptors’ style was largely affected by Italian sculptors’, especially by Micheal Angelo’s. The figures they created were more symmetrical and muscular than those by norther European’s. Their materials were mainly marble, which was from Italy, and wood, span’s traditional material. An unique technique of Spanish Sculpture was: the sculptors liked to put a gilded cover over their works. And then they mixed the gild with colors , which extremely resembled Span’s Ancient clothes’ material. Another thing I found interesting was how those works were obtained by the museum. Amazingly, all the works were original. They were first possessed by a Paris dealer. Later on, they were sold to an American merchant. That merchant accommodated them in his own house. Before he died, he made a promise that he agreed to contribute those works to the museum. Thus, the public would see. So, all the works(columns, stairs, windows, etc) were taken into parts piece by piece. Then they were transferred into Metropolitan Museum and rebuilt up.
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Art is one term, which should never be used as loosely as one noted museum would have you believe. At the very least art should have the perception of effort or at least great thought and consideration. There is simple art and then there is non-existent work given outlandish meaning. (more…)
The Frick Collection is a museum situated in East 70th St. just a few steps away from 5th Ave. This museum has various galleries containing paintings, sculptures and several antiques. The art is not contemporary but from dates around the 1400’s-1800’s. In the entrance there is a guy who provides you with a free audio tour if you want one. The audio tour is a handheld device similar to a phone that allows you to input the number placed next to the art you are looking at and after pressing play, the device will tell you some history of the painting as well as the description. The audio tour was really helpful in noticing the painter’s perspective and hidden features of the painting that are significant. (more…)
The exhibition, “New York Divided: Slavery and Civil War”, takes an in-depth look at not only the impact of slavery in the state of New York, but the toll that it had on the nation as a whole. The progress ofNew York State came after an era of controversy concerning slavery. The exhibition shows us the struggle of the African American slaves as well as the after effects of the abolition of slavery in New York. (more…)
For my first cultural event I went to the Frick Collection in Manhattan. The Frick Collection is located on the corner of East 70th Street and 5th Avenue. The museum was the private collection of a turn of the century art collector called Henry Frick. Mr. Frick made his fortune in steel and then used his great wealth to transform his house into a small art museum, which bears his name. Before my visit to the Frick Collection I didn’t believe that one individual home in New York could be so beautifully decorated and have so many famous pieces of art. What stood out most for me about this museum was the architecture in the house and the well-known European painters represented there. (more…)
My visit to the King Manor Museum, history right in the backyard of Jamaica, Queens was a surprisingly enjoyable and informative experience. It shed light on the oddities of late 18th century high class American culture as well as the significant works of one man’s post-American Revolution political career, Senator Rufus King. (more…)
“The Big Draw”, presented by The Drawing Center as well as being part of the River to River Festival, made its second appearance in New York City. “The Big Draw”, a popular arts program in the United Kingdom comes to New York to share one day of free artistic fun with everyone. Spread over five locations in Lower Manhattan, “The Big Draw” provided unique activities at each of these locations. Such activities included discovering the secret of Asian Calligraphy, knitting and crocheting, ordinary scenery drawing, drawing objects in motion, as well as graffiti laser tag (which was cancelled). Most of these events were held at the same time making it impossible to experience all these events fully if one wanted to visit them all.