Category — Blurbs

Cooper-Hewitt houses an amazing collection of finely-detailed watercolor paintings. Its Thaw Collection displays paintings from popular Nineteenth Century locations, mostly different rooms of palaces. The artists’ effort is expressed through the realistic lightings and the great detail of every part of the room. Each painting draws me in; I can almost feel the cushion of the chair and the cracks on the table. The overall picture expresses simplicity and serenity; nothing dramatic is occurring. Yet, when the massive amount of details surface, all the paintings are actually complex. Therefore, ambiguous feelings of the artists’ intentions develop. It makes me wonder whether the details intend to make the viewer focus or feel tranquility while imagining himself in the setting. Each small stroke of the brush plays an important part in the painting. Not only do the details contribute to the masterpiece as a whole, they contribute to the observer’s feelings while he studies it.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art houses one of the largest and most prestigious art collections. In order to visit all of the exhibits at the Met, a lot of time will be needed; therefore, I decided to only focus on the Asian art collections. Asian art is know for its emphasis on fine detail and intricate patterns relating to nature. Pottery and ceramic artifacts are an important element of Asian culture; therefore, it is no surprise that the exhibit was abundant with it. Some artifacts made of porcelain had images of flowers and farmers cultivating rice fields. This symbolizes the role that nature has in Asian countries because they were mainly agricultural societies in the past and many are still in the present. There was even a tiny square garden with rocks and bonsai trees inside, showing the connection with nature. The Asian art exhibit was informational and helped me connect with my culture.

“The internet is for porn!” “Everyone’s just a bit racist!” If you don’t find humor in these phrases, don’t watch Avenue Q. But for those of us with a sense of humor, Avenue Q will exceed your expectations. It is a hilarious Broadway show about finding one’s way in the world. The puppets pursue relationships, face poverty and question their sexuality. Even though the puppets face real problems, it’s still a make-believe world where anything can happen. Monsters mingle with humans and pizza boxes break out into song and dance. There are several one-night stands (featuring naked puppets) and Germans are still referred to as Nazis. But don’t worry! Even if you’re not German, there are plenty of racist jokes to go around. You won’t leave the show without being somewhat offended. 

Diversity is very important everywhere, especially in art. Art comes in all shapes and forms and I realized that once again watching an act performed by the National Theater of the Deaf. I did not know what to expect watching the performance because I did not know if they would only use sign language or use body language. But the performance turned out to be really easy to watch because there are four people and two of them are not deaf. They narrate everything that is happening. The story of the play is really simple. It is about a boy learning to accept that his friend and mother are deaf and learning to cope with it in society. He learns to introduce them and explain why they are different. He also makes different friends throughout the play. The play teaches the audience a few basic sign language words. Afterwards the talkback helped us understand how the play came together. We got to ask questions about difficulties of being deaf. The play was definitely a fun new experience for me. I learned a lot and it helped me realize just how much is out there in the art world. There are so many things that I have not been exposed to and I cannot wait to start discovering them!  

Martin Klimas’ Flower exhibition at the Foley Gallery was a truly enjoyable experience. The photographs consisted of blossoming flowers arranged in a vase placed against colored backgrounds. You might think what’s so great about flowers? However, these photographs were taken at the split second the vases shattered while the flowers were still standing. At first I thought it just photographs of models with shattered pieces of glass glued to cotton but that turned out to be wrong. The photographer was able to create such beautiful images due sound detected flashes from his camera. Each time the vase hit the floor, the flash would automatically go off taking many pictures in one second. I love the photographs because it gives you the still image of something you can imagine in your mind but you don’t see it happen often in reality. Klimas’ photos allow you to see shattering transformations for more than the usual fraction of a second.