artists

Global warming is a real threat, according to this anti-establishment piece of street art in Amsterdam.

One of the first items to greet visitors at Musée National d’art Modern’s elles@centrepompidou exhibition, this display of messages—simultaneously humorous, provocative and all too true—from Guerrilla Girls is the perfect welcome to the thematic show. The exhibit seatures the work, culled from the museum’s collection, of women artists of all disciplines in the 20th and 21st centuries. Elles@centrepompidou runs until February 2011. Luckily, the wonderful antics of Guerrilla Girls, the self-described “conscience of culture,” has no end date. Read all about the “feminist counterparts to the mostly male tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Batman, and the Lone Ranger” on their website. [Click on the image above to open larger in a new window and zoom in to read.]

“Follow the masters! But why should one follow them? The only reason they are masters is that they didn’t follow anybody!”
—Paul Gauguin

A building in Amsterdam goes “Boom” with the help of some Lichtenstein-inspired street art. [Click the photo to view larger in new window.]

Of all the museums we visited during the trip, the Tate Modern in London ranks at or near the top of that list. This piece, Venus of the Rags (1967, 1974) by Michelangelo Pistoletto, caused me (and others) to pause a bit longer than many others. Along with the size of the installation, its juxtaposition of elements old and new, classical and contemporary, sculpted and disorderly, offers us a bit to ponder. According to the Tate Modern website:

Venus of the Rags appears to bring together an iconic figure of classical culture with the detritus of contemporary society as the solid Roman goddess props up a randomly formed pile of gaudily coloured second-hand clothes. In fact the figure is based on a kitsch statue found in a garden centre rather than a genuine antiquity.

Click the image above to see the work from another angle.

We purchased our tickets a few months in advance, and now only a few hours of anticipation remained until we saw Modest Mouse. But before we headed to the Melkweg in Amsterdam for the show on Sept. 7, we came upon these rodents: neither mice nor modest. And to think, this wasn’t even the Red Light District. At this moment the paint was still wet, as the artist set up another stencil on another side of this temporary construction wall. As for Modest Mouse and the big show, the band rocked through a wisely crafted setlist, which included—as the sixth song of the night—“King Rat.”

“The function of art is to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”—Anaïs Nin

I immediately fell in love with this large painting—mural really—covering an entire wall of an approximately two-story building on Quai de Valmy along Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. Fun and colorful, this seductive wallflower isn’t trying to sell anything, but she certainly makes one want to recline near the peaceful canal on a warm, sunny afternoon (like on September 14) with drink in hand. [Click the photo to view larger in new window.]

I spent the first two weeks of September abroad, exploring the sights and sounds of three amazing cities: Paris, Amsterdam and London. Not surprisingly, much of the trip (if not all of it) revolved around various forms of art. Each day and night of the journey was filled with all kinds of discoveries—small and large, planned and unexpected, inspiring and entertaining, captivating and exciting.

From paintings, music and theater to architecture, culinary arts and books, art comprised the itinerary: wandering the magnificent and seemingly endless rooms of the Louvre; watching a Shakespeare comedy come to life, as if written just a few weeks prior for HBO, on the banks of the Thames; experiencing an intimate live performance by Modest Mouse in Amsterdam; browsing the shelves of the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris; spotting some comical or thought-provoking street art; stumbling upon an alternative art gallery on a side street in the City of Light; spending some quality time with the likes of Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Kandinsky, Rembrandt, Warhol, Dali, Matisse, Gauguin, Miró, and Picasso while discovering so many others at Musée d’Orsay, Tate Modern and Musée national d’art moderne at Centre Pompidou.

The Madness of Art will feature these delightful discoveries, artistic encounters and inspiring experiences through daily photographic installments in a series titled “Art Abroad” (using mostly original photos I took on the trip, except for memorable pieces I want to share from museums that prohibited cameras). Hope you enjoy the daily tour through the streets and museums of Paris, Amsterdam and London these next few weeks.

“Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.”—W. Somerset Maugham