Gallery Hopping

I was pretty horrible first semester about taking trips to art galleries around the city, but now that I'm actually working at one, I figure I ought to at least make the most important stops.

Static Museum Exhibits of Note:



MoMA:

John Szarkowski: Photographs
February 1–May 15, 2006

John Szarkowski was actually the MoMA's Director of Photography from 1962 to 1991 and helped to establish Lee Friedlander, Gary Winogrand, and Diane Arbus during his tenure at the museum. I was already inclined to like Szarkowski because he's my first semester Photo I professor Thomas Roma's mentor and friend, but loyalties aside, the exhibit is wonderful and certainly worth the trip. While I suppose one could argue that photography is in itself primarily an exploration of light and shadow, Szarkowski in particular pays detailed attention to shadowplay and also has a keen eye for framing strong horizontal and verticals lines. I realize that sounds incredibly inane and unimpressive, but go with me on this one.



Met:

Robert Rauschenberg: Combines
December 20, 2005–April 2, 2006

Robert Rauschenberg's 67 combines at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are bizarre mixed-media collages involving clocks, sneakers, baseballs, old newspapers, and other sundry esoteric items (like goats, for instance). Considered a member of the Neo-Dada movement, Rauschenberg is a successor of one of the worst artists in existence. Even though I tend to stay away from any art that somehow associates with Dadaism, I thought these were all fairly interesting and even meaningful (unlike, for instance, a signed urinal). At the very least, they're colorful and captivating. But if you're still bored, play I Spy with the explanatory placard's media list... can you find the can opener and the shoelace?

Embarassingly, the Met and the MoMA are the only two major galleries I've ever visited in this city, but I'm making it a personal goal to stop by the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and the Frick Collection by the end of the semester.