Category: Uncategorized (Page 6 of 7)

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At Night at the Museum, I ended up in a group sort of organically because my group needed an extra person. I didn’t know anyone in my group because none of them were from the Brooklyn campus, so I got to meet new people. The first work that we recorded our reaction to was an ancient Egyptian gold headpiece. We remarked how it seemed very contemporary despite its age due to its obvious intention as a status symbol, indicating that some parts of human nature remain constant throughout the ages. After roaming through the Egyptian section, we proceeded to the American Identities collection. There was a smaller enclosed room within the gallery reminiscent of a temple. Enshrined within the room were comic book style icons of American culture. However, more telling was the phrase inscribed in Latin on the back wall of the temple which roughly translated to “nothing lasts forever.” This was a great example of the role of art as a kind of wake up call and reminder of the fragility of nationalism and global domination. The Latin also evoked the downfall of ancient Rome, which at the time was also seen as an invisible and omnipotent empire. I thought the inscription was an honest counterargument to the rampant nationalistic slogans and illusions of being an eternal power that can be found in the media. I thought that overall the ability to roam the museum unhindered by the presence of so many other people and tourists was an eye opening experience. 

My experience at the Brooklyn Museum was amazing and fun. I was able to make new friends and see old friends that I have not seen in a while. Before I entered into the Brooklyn Museum, I looked at the building and saw how well crafted and designed the building was. It reminded me of the ancient Greek temples. When I entered the museum, I was able to find my friends and form a group with them. When my friends and I decided to look for a painting to talk about, I suddenly saw a painting that was about four feet wide and it reminded me of the life cycle. I went to read the description under the painting. The name of the painting was the Web of Life, which was painted by John Biggers in 1958. I asked my group if they wanted to analyze this painting, and they all said sure. When I looked at the painting, I was trying to understand the connection that John Biggers was trying to make between African Americans and nature. I also saw how one side of the painting showed the winter time and the other side showed the summer time. Then my group went to check out the arcade exhibit. We had a great time playing all of the different games, especially the ping pong ball machines. We then went to the sneaker’s exhibit, where we saw so many sneakers. Each sneaker had its own story behind it. I personally had a lot of fun at the Brooklyn Museum, and I’m truly looking forward on the many trips ahead of us.

Truth be told, I didn’t anticipate such grandeur and elegance when Prof. Ugoretz mentioned the museum at the Macaulay orientation.  I thought that we were simply going to view art and write an analytical essay about our observations.

My expectations and preconceived thoughts of the were debunked the moment I stepped outside the subway station.  After seeing the Western civilization’s greatest philosophers standing atop the museum, after seeing the museum’s enormous structure dominate the urban surrounding, after seeing security guards denying access to everyone except the Macaulay students, I thought to myself: “Wow.”

Some pictures were relatively complicated, for instance, a girl sitting on a bench surrounded by a marred sky.  Looking at this picture, I had no idea why the artist would mar the girl’s face and environment using the paintbrush.  An otherwise beautiful girl was ruined by multiple “scratches” on her face with the paintbrush.

Other pictures were easier to decipher but still incomprehensible: in the “Web of Life”, a mother holds a child at the center of the canvas while nature engulfs the rest of the canvas.  The meaning of this painting is subject to interpretation.  I, however, saw this as the artist’s way of saying that “it takes and entire village to raise a child,” suggesting that the child’s existence was dependent on the mother’s nourishment, the farmer’s seeds and nature’s fruit of life.  This piece of art was my favorite, though it didn’t evoke any emotion in me.  I simply liked it because of its uniqueness amid other paintings.

Some pictures demanded ample attention: the “Fallen Bierstadt” featured an image of a beautiful landscape which represented the beauty of American nature.  The picture was, however, torn asunder…on purpose.  The artist, apparently, used such an image to show that nature was cruel, an idea that sharply contrasts with the beauty of the landscape.

The museum was filled with other artifacts to delineate other time periods.  Although the sneaker exhibit may have seemed appealing to some people, I thought it was boring since sneakers are a relatively recent invention.  I prefer art that can take me to a different time and keep me there long enough for me to learn something about the artist’s intentions in making a piece of art.

All in all, the museum experience was an unforgettable one, mostly, because it was my first time visiting an art museum with my friends and having fun discussing with each other what the paintings and sculptures were.  However, I wouldn’t go to the museum alone because part of what made the museum fun was talking to someone else about the art and that is what made the trip worthwhile.

When I went to the museum, I had already seen the majority of the featured exhibits, but I found myself lost. I didn’t know what group I needed to go to, I got separated from my group twice, and if I hadn’t friended a group member on Facebook, I may as well have walked out of the museum right there because there was no way I was getting back to them. The people I met were friendly, and I got to know quite a few participants. However, I’m a regular at the Brooklyn Museum, and I’ve already seen the majority of the permanent paintings there. In the Faile exhibit, a lot of the electronics were broken. Most of my group (myself included) disliked the sneaker exhibit as well. The only real upsides were the people, and the interesting discussions we could have about the paintings. No matter how many times you see a piece of media, having someone else to view it with injects new life into it and makes it interesting.

Well, Wednesday was the worst day of my week. I started the day with a crazy bio lab class and on my way back to campus to meet with my friends so we could go to the Brooklyn Museum together, I got drenched in the rain that only lasted an hour (by the time I got off the bus that got me to campus, it already stopped raining). On the bright side, the Brooklyn Museum was a pretty fun experience.

I thought the questions on the screen (where we could text our answers in) was a fun idea. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to text any of my answers in because my phone has horrible reception, but that was a really good idea.

My group spent a lot of time wandering around the 3rd floor since we were already on it for the info session and it was really hard to choose the paintings we wanted to talk about. We only had to record conversations for one easy painting and one more difficult painting, but almost everything was difficult for me. I was never really a fan of art and that means I never really talked about art either.

Next, we went to the fifth floor and looked around. When we finally chose something, it was Bad Seeds Off On A Fast One by Invation Dream Club, which was pop art done over three panels. My groupmates were basically talking about the meaning of the artwork, but I was only pointing out my observations, which made me feel a little awkward. The same happened for the second work of art we discussed, which was the Web of Life by John Biggers. I found this painting a little easier to discuss because there was just so much going on.

Unfortunately, we later realized that the tape recorder didn’t record our two conversations. Maybe the person recording it didn’t press the right buttons or something – I don’t know, but we basically needed to redo it. Professor Ugoretz recommended that we just record one conversation so that we have something for the Creative Arts Workshop. This was actually pretty funny because we chose to redo the Web of Life conversation and it was basically as if we were scripted because we repeated the exact same things we said earlier when recording that conversation.

One of the last exhibits we visited was the sneaker exhibit – one of my groupmates and I were really excited to see it. I’m not a sneakerhead, but I’m a huge NBA basketball fan so the different sneakers was intriguing. I took more pictures of shoes than paintings at the museum.

One groupmate wanted more pictures so before we left, we checked out one exhibit on the first floor. I don’t know what it’s called, but it was the place past the sliding automatic doors. There was a giant sneaker in there. However, what I found interesting was that my group was wondering if the geometric chairs in there were actually chairs or works of art (we were questioning whether we could sit on them). This reminded me of our discussion in the last seminar, where we were discussing the definition of art.

Paintings I Liked

Sneakers

What is Art?

Giant Sneaker

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