A Diamond in the Ruff

Sometimes you find a diamond in a ruff, and the New Britain American Museum Of Modern Art is definitely a gem to be cherish. Founded by private citizens for the enjoyment and education of the public, the museum focus exclusively on American art spanning more than 250 years.

Here are some of the treasures that I enjoyed during my visit.

Carl Lundgren's "Holy Man". Given the appearance that he is directly staring at the viewer with his hands held up questioning the existence of life through time, and is life always complete.

“The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy” by Graydon Parrish. This painting was commission to commemorate the tragedy of ‘911’. In the back ground you can see the skyline of Manhattan.

In the foreground appearing to be standing on an Island are two figures standing in the middle blind folding symbolizing the ‘Twin Towers’. The blind folds represents the innocence humanity faces and how blind fate can be.

From realism to science fiction, “Twilight Terrors” illustrates a young boy who is imagining he is being pursued by a dragon. The artist Rowena Morrill is known for her science-fiction and fantasy art. The young boy mannerism is depicted as calm somewhat cool with is hands in his pocket just strolling along. In contrast the incandescent dragon is colorful, bright in rage.


From science fiction to history, Alton Tobey made a successful career as a historical artist.

Sumerian Priests as it is title is a depiction of Sumerian life. The painting illustrates the priests entering into the temple to carry their harvest offerings to their chef god. Ziggurat as they are known were constructed to bring the ‘gods’ closer to mankind. Ancient Civilization believe that these temples connected the heavens and earth.

Half way across the world, Hung Liu a Chinese born artist paintings often make use of anonymous Chinese historical photographs, particularly those of women, as subject matter. This painting is title ‘Relic XII”. The red square could be read as ‘Nu nu’ which in Chinese translates to “female slave”. The butterfly symbolizes joy.

Julie Heffernan’s ‘Everything that Rises’ is staged in a grand ballroom like space, the artist appears to be telling a story about the life of the mind, imagination and myth. The flight of the birds and the fire could symbolize heaven and hell. The scene here appears to be haunting as well as enchanting.

This is an hologram of the artist Harriet Casdin-Silver who was a pioneer of the use of holograms as an art medium.

This exhibit provided a listening excerpt of the artist life in Silver’s own words.

What caught my eyes was that as you move past the exhibit, the hologram move with you.

A modern America art movement that was popular during the 1930's Regioanlism is the artisic focus of showing everyday scenes of life in the United States.

“The real subject of this work is, in the final analysis, a conglomerate of things experience in America” Thomas Benton.

The art of American Indian life. Here Benton acknowledges the significant role Native Americans played in the creative history of America.

The art of American life in the South.

The art of American life in the West.

One common theme that can be found in the four paintings by Benton, is the theme of music.

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." Berthold Auerbach

"History is not a static image or frozen story. Even if its images and stories are very old, it is always moving forward." In the piece below, artist Radcliffe Bailey assembles vintage photographs, objects he collects, and painted words and creates a multi-layered narrative which explores the history of the journey African Americans face during the trade between Africa and North America. The collage is self title "Transatlantic".

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed…It feels an impulsion…this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds”
When viewing a piece of art, we may not fully know or understand the reasoning behind the color arrangement, the imagery, of what we are observing. However art sparks an impulse in each of us that drives our own interpretation of what we think we are seeing. Although the true artist may know the reason why he or she commission that piece of work, the true beauty lies in those interpretations which we translated to experiences.

The Day after Thanksgiving

Are we Evil.
What is the artist saying here?
Is he asking a question or making a statement?
Does it have any historical or social context?
Is it symbolic?

My First experience.



Sales, bargains, deals, discounts; these are the adjectives of what has been an American tradition celebrating the day after Thanksgiving properly call ‘Black Friday’. I decided to forgo the long lines at retail stores and outlets in search for the great bargains as millions of other Americans have done, and instead on this windy morning stuff from the delicious eatings of yesterday made my way to one of the most important architectural landmarks in the 20th century The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

From its site on Fifth Avenue a few blocks down from ‘The Met’, The Guggenheim rises as a warm spiral.

This was the vision of one of the greatest American architect of all time Frank Llyod Wright.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright

Famous for his innovations in residential architecture, Mr. Wright coaxed Americans out of their boxlike houses and into wide-open living spaces that suited the American lifestyle.
His style was often referred to as ’organic architecture’ which is a philosophy of architecture that promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world through design approaches inspired by nature, which is sustainable, healthy, and diverse. Wright set out to design a building that will be unique where everything relates to one another, reflecting the symbiotic systems of nature.

After 15 years, and 700 sketches later, in 1959 that vision was achieved.
From an urbanistic point of view The Guggenheim appearance is in sharp contract to the more typically boxy buildings found in Manhattan.

Above the museum’s entrance, a gorgeous white-on-white movie marquee of neon and fluorescent lights hanging from white, lighted chains. It blinks wildly like it was opening night. I stood standing there waiting for a message to appear, but was left with my own interpretation of why this was here when no message had scrolled across.

It suggests to the vistor that you are about to enter a palace of art, life, and entertainment.

That is exactly what I experience.

As I entered the museum, I was speechless. The interior design was remarkable. The geometric shape is laid out in one continuous upward movement that leads to spiral galleries on six floors.

In the main lobby looking up towards the ceiling you can see what appears to be stars floating above given the appearance that there is a hole in the ceiling.

The concept was the vision of artist Angela Bulloch who came up with the idea of inserted a L.E.D. powered “night sky” into the museum's oculus in order to create a perception that day is night and that your actual outside rather than inside.

Title 'Firmamental Night Sky'

Angela Bulloch team up with nine other artist to literally use the museum as an entire exhibit title ’theanyspacewhatever’. The exhibit brings together these ten artist who have chosen to each produce an individual, site-specific work for the museum that interacts with the viewers.

‘The any space what ever’ is the notion of having free floating moments that often links one scene to another but isolated makes no since. This was apparent when I walk pass Walt Disney’s beloved Pinocchio floating face down in the Guggenheim elliptical pool.

This was latest piece by artist Maurizio Cattelan who is known for imbedding sarcasm into his works. Not sure what the kids think seeing one of their beloved childhood figures drowning face down. Was it murder or was it suicide?

The interior of the museum is painted all white given the feeling of purity with bright fluorescent lights

creating a background wall of lights that gives the appears that the paintings hover weightlessly in luminous space.

One such painting was commission in 1911 by Franz Marc who was one of the principal painters and printmakers of the German Expressionist movement. Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect. Marc believed that animals possessed a certain godliness that men had long since lost. He developed a theory of color symbolism where different colors evoked gender stereotypes.

This painting title ‘Yellow Cow’, with its brilliant colors and geometric contour of the scenery was a wedding gift to his wife.

The interpretation of the colors within the painting suggest that the yellow represents a gentle, cheerful, and sensual principle that symbolizes femininity. On the other hand the blue represents the spiritual and intellectual symbolizing masculinity. The painting has been interpreted by historians as a symbol of Franz Marc and his wife. The yellow cow a depiction of Marc’s wife, and in the background the blue triangular mountains an abstract self-portrait of the artist himself.

In another gallery I found a work of art commission by Vincent van Gogh title ‘Mountains at Saint-Remy’. Painted in 1889, ‘Mountain at Saint-Remy’ represents the low range mountains that surrounding the hospital that Van Gogh was staying for mental distress. Van Gogh felt that painting the outdoors would help to restore his health.

With its shades of greens and blues and heavy paint, the mountains can also be viewed as waves in an ocean, where the road leading to the institution represents the beach.

Disclaimer: (The museum does not allow photos to be taken other than from the lobby area. The two photos above were not taken by my camera but found on the internet as part of my research. They are much beautiful in person.)

The Guggenheim Museum currently designs exhibits to be viewed by walking up the curved walkway rather than walking down from the top level.

Just about everything at the Guggenheim sneaks up on you in some way which expands the

pleasure and meaning of the piece of art.

One such exhibit is the maze erect by cardboard screens which transformed one of the museum’s ramps

into an interlocking system of patterned screens and dividers.Strange little shapes, some lighted, are attach to the displays that are actually the shape of a chicken.

A must see is Catherine Opie’s complex body of photographic works. Catherine an American artist is a social documentary photographer of international renown whose primary artistic concerns are community and identity--gender, sexual, or otherwise. She is known for shedding a formerly unseen light on her subjects; whether they be lesbian couples or the architecture of America’s greatest cities.

Using the world’s largest Polaroid camera, a series of large-scale pictures dedicated to the performance work of Ron Athey was taken as part of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS.

The Estate Project for Artist with AIDS was establish to preserve the cultural legacy of the AIDS crisis so that future generations can enjoy, study and engage artworks as aesthetic achievements and historical documents. The project provides assistance to artists with HIV/AIDS working in all disciplines or art. http://www.artistswithaids.org/

The body of work taken by Catherine was a tribute to Ron Athey and his performance work.

Ron Athey is an LA-based performance artist who is renowned for his onstage rituals, including mummification, blood-letting, and piercing.
http://www.ronathey.com/

I can say I truly enjoyed my visit to The Guggenheim. Today the paintings were unimportant. The design, the beauty, and the warmth of the museum was the work of art of the day.

My first experience became my last as I exited the museum.

“Are We Evil.”

A moral opinion.

My Last Experience.

British Art

The Yale Center for British Art houses the most comprehensive collection of British Art outside the United Kingdom. The museum concentrates on works from the Elizabethan period (1558-1603) which is often considered the golden age in English history.

Natural light through valuted skylights and shaded windows illuminates the interiorBuilt of stainless and concrete, the interior is elegantly simple. The galleries are organized on four levels design in a cube like shape. The spiral staircases have a montone exterior built of steel and concrete. Two dimensional view of a large room gallery. "The Reception" an oil painting by John Frederick Lewis (1805-1876). This piece of work was influence by the lifestyles of the people of Cairo where Lewis lived for nearly a decade.

Augustus Leopold Egg's (1816-1863) The Life and Death of Buckingham shows the Duke surronded by nobles on the one hand and alone in a more humble dwelling on the other.

There are alot of symbolisms in both images. In the party scene, you have the interior glow of the room offered by the moonlight. In the death scene you have the light is provided by the sun .

The Frame that is showcasing the painting by Samuel Scott (1702-1772) is more remarketable than the actual painting itself. The painting illustrates the engagement between the British and French fleets that took place in 1747 during the "War of the Austrian Succession".John Martin (1789-1854) was an influential English Romantic painter who paintings were inspired by contemporary panoramas. The "Deluge" is a depiction of Noah's flood

James Ward(1769-1859), was known at the height of his career as the "Mammoth of animal

painters.Commission in 1803, this work is titled "Man Struggling with Boa Constrictor, A Study for 'Liboya Serpent Seizing its Prey'".