Free-dom
One of the MANY perks of this particular temp job (which already includes breakfast every morning and DOUBLESTUFF oreo cookies in the afternoon), is that it also has FREE passes to The Museum of Modern Art. I didn't believe it at first, but then Graham asked if I wanted to meet him after work last night and go to the museum, I thought I'd give it a try. Sure enough the FREE PASS lay in the envelope for me to get into the Museum of Modern Art FOR FREE. It turns out the FREE PASS also let Graham in. For FREE. This is so exciting for many reasons. One, you don't have to wait in line to buy a $20.00 ticket, and two, you get in FOR FREE. Did I mention the free part yet? It's FREEEEEEEEEEEE!
MoMA has one of my favorite collections of all time. Not only does it have my favorite paintings by Hopper,Van Gogh and Chagall, but it also has some new favorites and serious iconic masterpieces that you can't argue if it's art or not. I was standing, viewing the amazingly large Rosseau painting, enjoying the peaceful moment of viewing it alone, while a crowd gathered around nearby oggling its iconic neighbor, The Starry Night. I was admiring the dark coloring when a family came to look. The dad bent down and said to his daughter, who was maybe 8, "Looks like that man is in trouble." By looking at the sagging posture of the little girl, and her braids that were coming apart, I could tell that she was at the end of a very long day SEEING THE SIGHTS. The girl looked at the painting wearily, half scowling. Then she said slowly and deliberately: "That. is. one. disturbing. painting." I was about to laugh outloud, when her mother said rather quickly, "Yep, it sure is. The man was INSANE." Then she went on to add, "Kind of like that lady who yelled at as today, carrying her cart. Right?" Welcome to New York, people!
The great part of going to MoMA for free is that you can go in an hour before it closes and not feel completely stressed that you've got to see everything. You can take your time, go to only your favorites, or anything that catches your eye. One of my new discoveries was a newly acquired painting/collage by Rauschenberg. It had us both riveted for awhile. It was huge and seemed to be free in all forms. It was an assemblage of thick paint streaks, glued fabric, splashes of paint, magazine images, and illustrations. Everytime I looked at it again, I saw something different. Graham pointed out the entire row of paintchips that seemed to united the whole piece. It was the largest collage I've ever seen and its enormity and obvious freedom really INSPIRED me. So, imagine my DELIGHT, when I remembered that there was an entire Rauschenburg show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until next week. My temp job doesn't have a free pass for the Met, but the Met is luckly by DONATION, which near to FREE.
Museums are the closest things to church for me. I walk in, and their spiritual vibe is OVERWHELMING. I feel so lifted by all the art, inspired, fulfilled, moved, and yes, very FREE, indeed.
MoMA has one of my favorite collections of all time. Not only does it have my favorite paintings by Hopper,Van Gogh and Chagall, but it also has some new favorites and serious iconic masterpieces that you can't argue if it's art or not. I was standing, viewing the amazingly large Rosseau painting, enjoying the peaceful moment of viewing it alone, while a crowd gathered around nearby oggling its iconic neighbor, The Starry Night. I was admiring the dark coloring when a family came to look. The dad bent down and said to his daughter, who was maybe 8, "Looks like that man is in trouble." By looking at the sagging posture of the little girl, and her braids that were coming apart, I could tell that she was at the end of a very long day SEEING THE SIGHTS. The girl looked at the painting wearily, half scowling. Then she said slowly and deliberately: "That. is. one. disturbing. painting." I was about to laugh outloud, when her mother said rather quickly, "Yep, it sure is. The man was INSANE." Then she went on to add, "Kind of like that lady who yelled at as today, carrying her cart. Right?" Welcome to New York, people!
The great part of going to MoMA for free is that you can go in an hour before it closes and not feel completely stressed that you've got to see everything. You can take your time, go to only your favorites, or anything that catches your eye. One of my new discoveries was a newly acquired painting/collage by Rauschenberg. It had us both riveted for awhile. It was huge and seemed to be free in all forms. It was an assemblage of thick paint streaks, glued fabric, splashes of paint, magazine images, and illustrations. Everytime I looked at it again, I saw something different. Graham pointed out the entire row of paintchips that seemed to united the whole piece. It was the largest collage I've ever seen and its enormity and obvious freedom really INSPIRED me. So, imagine my DELIGHT, when I remembered that there was an entire Rauschenburg show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until next week. My temp job doesn't have a free pass for the Met, but the Met is luckly by DONATION, which near to FREE.
Museums are the closest things to church for me. I walk in, and their spiritual vibe is OVERWHELMING. I feel so lifted by all the art, inspired, fulfilled, moved, and yes, very FREE, indeed.
posted by Summer Pierre at
11:44 AM
4 Comments:
i feel that way about museums as well! i love your description!
Have you ANY idea how much I envy your proximity to those museums? Any idea at all???
I'm always a bit surprised by museums that charge admission. I'm used to Washington DC where ALL but the smallest ones are FREE: Smithsonian--free! National Gallery of Art--free! It's a real treat! The zoo is free too! (pay for parking, tho, so I guess it evens out in the long run). Love them during non-tourist season, in the middle of the week when it's quiet, tho it's hard to avoid the plethora of school field trips.
What a great perk!
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