So I spent brunch time with my good friend Ivana at the MET Museum on Saturday- I know so long ago, right? Well, I’ve been literally hopping from country to country and I haven’t had time (or money) to spend for online services. That’s enough of that for now. That’s a later conversation.
Right, so back to discussing the MET. With my incredibly social and brilliantly talented friend and art companion, I saw several pretty interesting exhibits, both permanent and temporary. I’ve been to the MET before so I knew what I was looking for, but I figure I’d post about it because I’m sure someone might be interested. I’ll give you the run-down in the following paragraphs:
Permanent Exhibits:
The Hall of Greek and Roman art is spectacular. I think it would be fairly reasonable for me to assume that most who visit the museum- new comers and regulars head through to this first (and it’s not just because it’s right smack dab beyond the entrance). Okay, well I’m sure that is a key factor in the probability that it’s seen first but let’s give everyone an intellectual benefit of the doubt. However, there are several spectacular rooms dedicated to Roman and Greek art.
We also wandered through to traditional African religious art. Because the majority of the items were behind glass I wasn’t able to get great photos with my iPod. I wish I had brought my digital camera. That would have been the smart thing to do. Sigh. In any case, the wood carvings and statues in that room were dedicated to the gods. I could tell from looking that there was so much history behind it. I’ll definitely look more into it and get back to posting it, but the little info cards next to each item only explained what they were, not their significance. That was something Ivana and I agreed was short-sighted of the museum.
If you keep searching you will find the rooms for Medieval European and Japanese Armor. Here you will find weaponry, suits, and other assorted battle-wares. It’s sort of stupid but all I could think of when I saw some of the armor was the movies A Kid in King Arthur’s Court and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While I’m quite aware that must make me seem insane, please indulge me. Tell me you do not think of Shredder when you see these?
And as for the European armor, I would like to point out that my Hobbit-like proportions of 5’4″ I would have been a likely candidate for the King’s armies back then.
The modern art segment is equally intriguing as the classical ones. Here you will find yourself pondering how the artist actually arrived at their conception. Instead of trying to wrap my mind around it and wasting even more text space, I’ll just post some of the more interesting photos for you and you can figure it out on your own. Sound good? Good!
“Procession (Exodus)” – Clinton de Menezes
Distance shot of Clinton de Menezes "Procession (Exodus)"
Closer shot- you can see those little specks are figures of people.
Photo courtesy of Ivana Morgan
“Gyre Lounge Chair” – Zaha Hadid
Neon green. Mm. My favorite color.
“Lucas”- Chuck Close
Lucas by Chuck Close
This next one really intrigued us. It’s just a wall of colors. What most fascinated us is that when you switch to black-and-white you can’t see a change in the tones. We noticed this when Ivana took a photo of herself in front of them.
"The colors, Duke, the colors!"
"I'm colorblind, kid!" - Photo courtesy of Ivana Morgan.
And since I subjected my friend to being on my blog, I will now post a photo of moi, to balance the awkwardness:
Photo courtesy of Ivana Morgan
Temporary Exhibits:
Katrin Sigurdardottir is an Icelandic artist. She has an exhibit in the Met until March 6th, 2011. She based the works, according to the MET’s official site after 18th century French rooms and architecture. This exhibit will be open until March 6th, 2011.
Hôtel de Crillon:
As you can see in the photos below, the rooms are decorated and painted in white. The blue you see was caused by reflections off the glass inside and the windows. The room is actually quite small, but those mirrors give it the illusion that it’s much winder when viewed at certain angles. Both the wall and furniture design are based on 18th century French boiseries. You can see more of them in the Wrightsman Galleries.
Only external views are permitted for this portion of the exhibit.
As you can see, the room is only painted and decorated in white.
Hôtel de Cabris:
The paneling here is more interactive. You walk through a semi-circular enclosed space, with Wonka-esque features, also completely designed to look like French decorative architecture.
The walls and doors are cut at odd angles, giving it the illusion that it is topsy-turvey.
These panels also have mirrors.
This is only a sample of what you’ll see currently presented at the museum. They also have an exhibit on Khubilai Khan- which we did not have a chance to explore- and their annual Christmas tree, which of you are unfortunately prohibited to take photos.
