Blog Assignment 3

I went to NYC on the bus trip and went to a few galleries in Chelsea. This was awesome! I'd never been there before; I didn't even know how to get there honestly. I was usually always lost in the chaos of midtown and in awe of the bright lights shining from Times Square, but I think I found where I belonged this time! Chelsea was very chill and low key. You wouldn't have even realized it was flourishing with the arts if you hadn't known where to look. We went to an 11 story gallery; it was filled with different artists, ideas, materials, etc. It really showed me how many different varieties of art are out there. If you have the balls to do something, and really believe and work your particular craft, it's art! Across the street from this gallery was where I was really blown away. It was a Richard Serra gallery, and I'd never been more overwhelmed by a piece of work in my life.

It was me and 6 other people. We walked into a very large white room. White walls, white ceiling, flourescent anxiety filled white lights, nothing on the walls. Inside this room were two huge sculptures, done by Richard Serra. From the outside they looked like large iron geometric shapes. My friends Kate, Danny, and I ran around the backside laughing and "lolly-gagging" about. I was really excited because I had just learned about this particular artist 2 days prior in my 3D Design class and was psyched to be actually with the piece, experiencing it. When we found an opening that you could actually walk into it, my adrenaline pumped and I ran in first, naturally being the little girl that I am. Immediately I felt disoriented, like i was leaning to my right side and couldn't stand up straight. I'm not sure what it was exactly that made me feel this way; the slanting of the walls, the dark rusted iron contrasted against the white ceiling? I don't know. It kept winding around and around, a maze that you had no idea existed from the outside deception. I was scared, really scared at that, because these huge 20 foot tall iron walls weren't held up by anything, no glue, nails, bolts, nothing; just engineered to be free standing structures. Creepy!

Once you got all the way inside there was a "leaf shaped" opening where 5 of us met eachother. This sculpture took 5 people, 5 artists (wishful thinking for me) and sent us into total disoriented chaos. I felt like I was having a panic attack, and so did everyone else, I think. It was weird because none of us really talked about it, or to eachother. We all wanted to get out, and get as far away from eachother as possible. My earlier nieve flighty self was much more cautious entering the second sculpture. Honestly, I was super uneasy about even going into it, but "when in rome", ok maybe not the right saying. Anyways, I had to do it. I talked to an old man that worked at the gallery and he gave me some tips. "Don't speed up, take your time and enjoy it." "Don't get scared, its a beautiful piece of art." Ok buddy, I asked him to go through it with me and guess what, he wouldn't! I want everyone to experience this though, it was the first time art had ever done that to me. It was overwhelmingly powerful.

The second museum I went to was the MOMA, Modern Museum of Art. I loved it! It took me and my friend Kate forever to actually get there though! The Richard Serra gallery left us a bit uneasy, we walked 15 blocks past the street we needed to be on! Whoops! After 4 pm it is free on Fridays to view the art and exhibitions, so you can imagine how packed it was. People were everywhere scurrying about, therefore it made it more difficult to feel the pieces, to have a relaxed deep experience with any one particular piece. I did get to see Van Gogh's Starry Night! In real life too, it was really there, along with 75 other excited tourists gauking and flashing pics. (A bit of a mood kill.) Talk about being with history though, star-struck, anxious, and so happy all in one. I never knew it has been so close to me all these years, just a quick 2 hr. drive and there's a piece of art that every living human being has been touched and influenced by, whether they know it or not.

There was a whole room of Jackson Pollock! I love him; I could get lost in his layers for hours, days. I actually just heard though that it was his wife that started the whole "dripping" or "drizzling" paint affect that he's so famous for, he just took all the credit for it. You know what they say, "behind every good man....blah blah blah". Pollock is one of those artists that kind of makes me feel lost though. I love what he did, I am inspired by his "free-ness" with the materials and the attitude that comes through his work. However, as a fellow artist, if one day I want to drizzle paint on a canvas, burn some smokes and ash it on my piece, in other words, roll around in paint and make love to my canvas, its considered too "Jackson Pollock". "It's been done before," "Where's the originality". It's discouraging, and it sucks. What if I want to be Jackson Pollock-esque for a month? Jessica Pollock, well that sounds wonderful! That is a whole other topic, another place and time.

I think one of my favorite things about the MOMA on that beautiful friday evening was the people. People were everywhere. Art is so important to so many people, so epic in so many people's lives. The gift shop was jammed full of people buying things for others. They wanted to share it, other people wanted to them to bring a piece of art out with them. Its hard growing up around this area to understand that sometimes. When I was little I had no idea about scultpures, famous painters, or art galleries. Coming back into town on the bus, art dissolved with the booze. You can just feel it in the city; I felt inspired, alive, beautiful. It's so powerful because there are millions and millions of people that feel it too. Even though we sit in a classroom of 6 people, we've got a million+ support group out there in the world, hopefully one day being touched by us.