Day of Culture, Part One
Saturday was interesting. I had gone out with the office guys for a beer or four on Friday. A journey to the suburbs. Mad Oilman gets spoiled living in the city. The, er, clientele is a bit different out in the 'burbs. Not quite as edgy. No bother. And it is amazing what you learn when the beer is flowing. And in oilfield tradition, we were by far the loudest and most obnoxious group at the chosen establishment. Having said my farewells, Mad Oilman was not done. No, the night was fairly young.
Headed in town to a friend's bar. Good to know the owners of an establishment like this. Relatively small but with a liquor selection to rival any other in town, it is a welcome (albeit less frequent) stop on Mad Oilman's tours. A fine beverage, a Romeo y Julietta Reserva Real and good friends. Eventually head home to casa Oilman.
Wake up next day hungry. Real hungry. This calls for Lupe Tortilla. A carne asada, some refried beans, a Dos Equis or two and I'm rarin' to go. Since there's a symphony to attend later in the day, we need to find something to do during the afternoon. I was thinking about the Museum of Fine Arts. There's a Cartier exhibit the Mrs. really wants to see and it's only in town for the next few weeks. But I don't mention this thought.
About ten minutes later the Mrs. suggests we go to the MFA. Well how about that? So away we go. The Cartier exhibit was pretty amazing. Very dark room with very well lit display cabinets containing all manner of glittery sparkly things. The Mrs. was very happy. No idea of the value of the items in that exhibit but it had to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
At the end of the exhibit there was a film. We walked in halfway and saw the work required to take a Cartier design from artist's rendering to finished product. Very cool. We waited for the film to loop to see the half we missed. Unfortunately, we should have left when we were ahead. It seems the curator of this exhibit feels very highly about himself. And this display of artisanry. Started going off about the 'space' of the museum, this 'neutral space' which (through his 'brilliance') is now a Temple, a Church. Like the Japanese, or visiting an altar. Like I said, I should have left after the documentary part. So we listen to this jackass bloviate for a good five minutes. Then a weird thing happens. There's a hideously bad 'art' film with the curator and his models in some warehouse. The style of this crap looked like something created by a director for a Ministry video. Just before Ministry fired him for being an idiot. At this point I can take no more and I'm starting to yell at the screen so it's time to leave. I go to the message book to leave a comment but the pen is dry. Dammit. Well, probably for the best as my comment would have been a bit, well, critical.
Off to the next exhibit. Modern African Art. I was surprised. There was some damn good stuff on display (as well as the typical political message crap). Overall I thought about a third of the exhibit was of very high artistic merit. Great collection here. I was most impressed by two artists. First is Abu Bakarr Mansaray. Unfortunately the work related in the link is nowhere near the magnificence of what was seen at the show. Basically a fantasist, Mr. Mansaray creates maniacally detailed plans for machines with strange functions and stranger descriptions. They are something to behold.
The second was George Lilanga. (Link currently busted but it worked yesterday. Weird). I wasn't really blown away by Mr. Lilanga's paintings, although they are hugely saturated (and quite large) cartoons. It was his sculptures that really stood out. Fantasy again reared its head as these sculptures, carved of wood and painted in vivid colors were most fantastic. Cartoonish, but with such a level of skill, execution, and vison that they transcend the cartoonish. Beautiful, beautiful things. I want one.
And of course any trip to the Museum requires a trip upstairs to the classics rooms. Not a lot of people up here, but this is where the good stuff is. Amazing still life paintings from 1400 to 1600. I like those. It is a rare painter today that can match the skill represented in these rooms. Flawless techniques. Artists at the pinnacle of their craft. I'll write more about these rooms at a later date.
Cultural mission number one completed.
