Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Wood And Smoke

This large ashtray was hand-carved in the Phillipines from a single piece of mahogany sometime in the late '60s or so.
A recent gift that I really like; expect to see it again.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

More Chalk



More sleep would have been nice but I never miss Chalk It Up!







People + dog-watching at it's finest, with bonus art.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The McNay Art Museum

My brother wanted to see the Edward Gorey exhibit at The McNay, but we made him wait until the last day.
Anything I might say about how much we enjoyed it is wasted breath, because it's over and you missed it.
Remember the animated credits on PBS's Mystery series?
Gorey.
My own description after seeing the travelling show at The McNay was "Whimsically Macabre".

There was lots of other great art, and an impressive collection of work by the famous impressionists like Picasso and Van Gogh and Cezanne, Matisse, Renoir, etc.
Strangely, even though I'm a photographer my preferences lean towards sculpture.


The map we were given had red areas where photography was not allowed.
Basic rule was if the McNay owns it, you can shoot it.
Still too complicated, so unlike our visits to SAMA I kept both cameras in my bags until we were booted out the door at 5 seconds past closing time.

I also took pictures in the courtyard, and from it's balconies.
LOVE the building.

Many local photographers pay a fee to use the grounds for bridal, quinceanera and graduation portraits. Others try to skip the fee by going ninja--I can always spot them at meetings by their crutches.

The previous post's turtles were in this pond.

The new wing has been open for quite a while and we always meant to check it out.
These little junipers are part of it's landscaping.

I'm glad we went, even though getting home turned the day sour.
Riding to our mechanic's shop in the cab of an old tow truck had enough moments of terror that it would make a good theme park ride.
The guy on SW Military who started asking me a lot of BS questions at knifepoint seemed about as dangerous as a drunk lemur after that, although he's lucky it didn't end up deep in his ass just on principle.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Something Strange At SAMA

Time for some New World art.

Ever meet someone who personifies the old saying "Couldn't find his own ass using both hands"?
Now you know what that looks like.


Another Robertson-inspired composition. This style is growing on me. Did I do it right?
BTW, the shadow behind the man's ear is actually a reflection of my ear.
Clever?
Accident?
So what?
Thought so.

It was in this next room, where I remarked "It looks like they looted a Mexican church", that the weirdness began.
Mexican folk art and religious art appeal to be in a big way, from the Day of the Dead to Catholicism to altars and even tourist junk. At first I was really enjoying myself.

Right around this part of the exhibit I started getting a feeling I know all too well. My heart started racing, my scalp tingled, my stomach dropped out my ass and ran away...
(BTW--while Photoshopping this photo the eye moved while I was looking right at it!)

It didn't take long to figure out (as I almost ran past it) that this big and complicated altar was the source of my discomfort.
In fact, I had to wait a few minutes before returning to get the picture, and I'll be damned if it didn't start all over again.

Say what you will about the supernatural, especially the concepts of ghosts and haunted places.
Can't be proven, agreed. (Yet! Never seen a radio wave but I have enough proof to admit they exist).
But why is it that a large percentage of people from every known civilization since the dawn of time believe?
Coincidence? Don't be foolish. Statistically impossible.
It's because they have experienced very strange things, as have I for most of my life.
Always associated with very specific locations.
Always seen/heard/felt by others.

The place I lived before moving here was haunted as hell, and I have plenty of witnesses. Impossible things happened late at night, and we could actually bring them on by talking about ghosts after 3am.
I would get smacked in the face while sleeping and awake to find my arms were under the covers, so it wasn't me thrashing around hitting myself. A quick run to the mirror would allow me to see the marks before blood started to flow.
As the paint on my walls faded I discovered bullet holes, and asked a neighbor about the deaths in my place. He confirmed.
I'm a rational and intelligent man who could have lived quite happily NOT believing in this stuff, but an open mind and careful examination of the evidence leaves no other explanation.
And like I said, I've got LOTS of witnesses.
(Some of whom would rather not talk about it while others think I should write a book).

So trust me when I tell you that there is a haunted room at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Whether it's connected to the objects displayed within or from something that happened in the building's previous life as a brewery I can't tell you.
I just know what side of which room I'm going to be careful about visiting.

And I fully intend to return, because it's also my favorite exhibit.
I'll just have to work quickly.

Monday, August 31, 2009

A Day At The Museum

Went back to the SA Museum of Art on Sunday afternoon, paid our money (didn't think name-dropping would work) and toured as much of the place as we could find.
It seemed to be laid-out in such a way as to gently guide you through the whole collection, but if you make a wrong turn would you ever know it?

Didn't feel like taking pictures in Egypt or Greece for some reason, nor of the Chihuly ceiling. Still enjoyed those collections.

China and Japan got me clicking. This was from a re-creation of an artist's room in Japan, and I felt very comfortable there. The sparse yet functional nature appealed to me, in the same way that Japanese gardens relax me and feel right.

The Oceana rooms struck me as primitive and frightening. I moved faster and didn't much care what anything was.
I don't relate well to opera or poetry, either.

Looking out all the windows was rewarding sometimes, both for the grounds (which were originally the Lone Star Beer™ brewery) and for little surprises like this Fokker DR1 Triplane on a rooftop.
The famed WWI German Ace known as the Red Baron is almost universally linked to this plane even though the majority of his career was spent flying the DVII.
Such is history, fraught with misconceptions and glamourization.
The machine guns aren't correct, being more of a general idea of how all such things looked back then. This only bothers me because WWI as a conflict was literally defined by machine guns both in the air and especially in the trenches.
Art doesn't care and shouldn't be expected to, but that doesn't mean the viewer isn't allowed to care. I imagine some hairy jerk complaining about the length of a mammoth's tusks on a cave painting while the artist ponders crushing the critic's skull with a rock.
Some things never change.

I took this photo from afar (it was very big, so I had no choice ) but then didn't want to get close enough to learn more about it--already made the same mistake earlier in the case of a uterus.


Next time we'll head south of the border.
That's when things got strange.

Tomorrow I return to fetch my print, and there's a small chance I'll take a few more pictures.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

I Was Speechless...

...but I got over it.
Let me tell you, it's one thing to be told that your photo is going to hang in an art museum--sure you get excited and can appreciate how cool it is--but it's a whole other animal to walk into the gallery and actually see it.
An incredible feeling washed over me, and it lasted for the whole reception.
People immediately started talking to me but I don't remember what was said.

Turned out to be wine and snacks instead of champagne and caviar--the bacon jalapeno things were good and I also liked the pigs in a blanket.

This is my friend Jim getting his picture taken by our museum contact, Cassandra.
Jim is a funny guy, and Cassandra couldn't have been sweeter. When I helped her fix a camera problem she called me a genius, so she must be very perceptive, too.

Proof that I'm an artist.
If an art museum says so, it must be true!

It was great seeing my other camera club friends Susan, Mark and Ken.
We were among the first members after Jim started the group, and I got lucky that they are all kind, sweet, and hilarious. I've been so busy with my bands that well over a year has gone by since I've seen them yet we fell right back into cracking each other up.
Didn't realize how much I missed them.

Our photos were printed beautifully, and the framing was superb.
Of course, it was done by serious professionals.

It won't be the last time.
I want more of this.
The people at the San Antonio Museum of Art had better get used to seeing me.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Museum Reach

Museum Reach is what the newly-opened section of the RiverWalk is called.
It connects the older parts to the San Antonio Museum Of Art, and beyond to the Pearl Brewery and maybe even Brackenridge Park and the Witte Museum--we turned back to save some for another day.

Everything is clean and new and modern and cohesive compared to the rest of the RiverWalk, since it was designed and built all at once.
I can't begin to convey how much we love it.
It's wonderful, beautiful, whimsical, convenient, fun...I could go on and on.

What struck me was that unless you read the newspaper very carefully (or read Dave's blog) you wouldn't even know that all this beauty was being built! It's below street level, so miles of construction was hidden from view for years unless you knew where to look.
Then suddenly it's there, and it's great.


We got to watch several barges use the new locks.
When Lila Cockrell was mayor, she suggested that people get out of their barge and walk past the dam, then board another.
This is SO much better in every way.

I have four more photos and some stuff to tell you next time.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Sunfish!

To finish off the series of new stuff on the Riverwalk:


Under IH35 at Camden there are giant sunfish hanging over the river.
It's really cool.
I can't wait to get down there again and pick some better angles from which to shoot, now that the public is allowed access.
Unlike some people I don't cross barriers put up to prevent unauthorized access.
Unless I think I can get away with it.


A close-up of the fish in all their internally-lit goodness.

People driving overhead have no idea what's below.
Did I mention that it's really cool?

Monday, May 25, 2009

"Shimmer Field"

The Lexington Ave overpass is where the new northward expansion of the Riverwalk starts, just behind the Municipal Auditorium.
Before, the sidewalks and lighting abruptly ended here so beyond this point it just looked like your average creek.

Here is the new view:
What I like is that instead of being a mixture of old and very old ideas and materials with sporadic band-aids and improvements, the new section is all new and therefore designed from scratch (with a nod to the past) and so completely modern in execution.
It retains the flavor, but is all new and looks like it was done right.



This is what lurks below the Lexington bridge.
'Shimmer Field' definitely shimmers over your head while riverwalking or riding a tourist barge.
Wire, string, colored glass, and some lights.
But the effect can't be appreciated from a still photo--and I really tried.


It's subtle and cool in color.
Mellow.
Shimmery.
Romantic?
Artist Martin Richman did a great job.

How did an artist from across the pond get this gig?
We don't have someone local who can add interest to the underside of a bridge?
But now that we know his trick, don't be surprised if the entrance to the impound lot shimmers when you try to reclaim your towed car.

I look forward to shimmering rifle and guitar racks at the pawn shop.