TuckandStuiesMom
<font color=darkorchid>Age. Fac ut gaudeam<br><fon
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
- Messages
- 2,579
Went to the Phoenix Art Museum for a couple hours on Thursday. It was the first time I had been in the building since it had been converted and expanded from a library. The space was nice and I had a number of surprises -- some very good art and some very bad art too.
First: No surprise: a big chunk of the building was off-limits to us general admittance folks cuz' there was a big "Cowboy" art exhibit/sale going on. I could see the reception pretty clearly from the second floor and it was typical -- well executed photo-realistic renderings of the west that isn't and never was. Sorry to bust these folks' bubbles but just once, I'd like to see a contemporary cowboy painting where the cowboy's wearing a baseball hat and a t-shirt. That stuff sells good though, I'll grant you that -- plenty of big expensive SUV's in the parking lot as I was leaving.
Now on to what I actually got to see up close and personal: 1.) some excellent Asian art -- Chinese ceramics and Japanese ink paintings. 2.) Three western pieces really stood out -- a Jim Dine litho of a set of Boltcutters (awesome use of negative space), a Roy Lichtenstein assemblage (I honestly can't say that his other work that I had seen previously ever did much for me -- but this was incredible -- it was his typical style on top and a three-D cut out of an aquarium below -- coolest sea-scape ever
) and a still life from Thomas Hart Benton that just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up , it was so great. Both the composition and colors were just amazing. 3.) And yes...there was some stuff there that was pretty dang awful too -- one in particular stands out -- a HUGE HONKIN' (8' ft square easy BEFORE you add in the rococco frame) romantic canvas of "The wolves attack in the Alps". I was soooooo glad that it was only me and a guard (about 20' away) in that part of the gallery cuz' I just had to LAUGH. LOUD. I could just SO imagine how some pink-haired Scottsdale Lady musta hauled that stinkin' thing home after her first trip to Austria (It HAD to Austria!) and made her husband build a new room in their house to display it. I WISH I coulda taken a picture of the thing to share in all its awful splendour. Sadly, there were no reproduction postcards in the museum store either.
It was a good visit and if you are ever in central Phoenix, I would totally recommend a stop. $10 bucks to get in and seeing the Benton still life would have been worth that much. Right next door is the Heard Museum -- a real gem in terms of a window into Southwestern Native American cultures. Woo-hoo, we is gettin' KULTURED, baby!
First: No surprise: a big chunk of the building was off-limits to us general admittance folks cuz' there was a big "Cowboy" art exhibit/sale going on. I could see the reception pretty clearly from the second floor and it was typical -- well executed photo-realistic renderings of the west that isn't and never was. Sorry to bust these folks' bubbles but just once, I'd like to see a contemporary cowboy painting where the cowboy's wearing a baseball hat and a t-shirt. That stuff sells good though, I'll grant you that -- plenty of big expensive SUV's in the parking lot as I was leaving.
Now on to what I actually got to see up close and personal: 1.) some excellent Asian art -- Chinese ceramics and Japanese ink paintings. 2.) Three western pieces really stood out -- a Jim Dine litho of a set of Boltcutters (awesome use of negative space), a Roy Lichtenstein assemblage (I honestly can't say that his other work that I had seen previously ever did much for me -- but this was incredible -- it was his typical style on top and a three-D cut out of an aquarium below -- coolest sea-scape ever
) and a still life from Thomas Hart Benton that just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up , it was so great. Both the composition and colors were just amazing. 3.) And yes...there was some stuff there that was pretty dang awful too -- one in particular stands out -- a HUGE HONKIN' (8' ft square easy BEFORE you add in the rococco frame) romantic canvas of "The wolves attack in the Alps". I was soooooo glad that it was only me and a guard (about 20' away) in that part of the gallery cuz' I just had to LAUGH. LOUD. I could just SO imagine how some pink-haired Scottsdale Lady musta hauled that stinkin' thing home after her first trip to Austria (It HAD to Austria!) and made her husband build a new room in their house to display it. I WISH I coulda taken a picture of the thing to share in all its awful splendour. Sadly, there were no reproduction postcards in the museum store either.It was a good visit and if you are ever in central Phoenix, I would totally recommend a stop. $10 bucks to get in and seeing the Benton still life would have been worth that much. Right next door is the Heard Museum -- a real gem in terms of a window into Southwestern Native American cultures. Woo-hoo, we is gettin' KULTURED, baby!
I think I could look at it for hours. The Jim Dine and Benton pieces were real show-stoppers too.
Rick don't know dancin', good eats (the O word), or art from a hole in the ground. 
i want my gay card back with extra points.
