3 posts tagged “sculpture”

Joe and I spent the weekend in the Berkshires, and despite the fact that I tried numerous times for the umpteenth millionth year (okay, maybe only 9) to get Joe and/or his family to go with me to see a Shakespeare & Co. play, it didn't happen. I was really hopeful this time, but alas, I think that I am just plain alone in my desperation to see Shakespeare. It was Romeo & Juliet, which I've not yet seen on the stage, sigh.

It's true. Project 365 has fallen by the wayside. I just FORGET. And after 3-4 days of forgetting or taking pictures at the last moment in the day just to say I took something, well, I'll just stick to taking pictures as I think about it. But I have scored some interesting shots over the last couple of weeks, so here is my last almost-365 post.

Chihuly glass sculpture at Mohegan Sun. They finally cleaned it. When I saw it last it was covered in the most disgusting layer of yellow gray smoke crud. I used to work at a bottle supply company that Chihuly used to buy containers to mix his paints. He would always send a cab driver over to get the delivery which I thought was so strange.

 Here are some pictures from the same trip...we went with friends and hit up Mystic, CT for lunch prior to going to Mohegan Sun. The bar was at this great cozy place called the Captain Daniel Packer Inn. Definitely hit that place up if you are going to Mystic. Great pub menu in particular.   Corks and bottles and this great art deco lamp that Joe has... 

Share a photo of something that made a huge impact on your life:

Six years ago at this same time of year, I was taking an oil-painting course. I had never been a fan of Impressionism but with learning how to manipulate the thick paints, I realized the skill and talent it took to create the works of art we are familiar with by artists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas and the Post-Impressionists, van Gogh, Gaugin and Cezanne. Much to my great surprise (I actually had HATED his work in the past), I found myself interested in van Gogh and had even begun reading Dear Theo, a fascinating collection of letters from van Gogh to his brother.
 

Also around this same time, six years ago, I started talking on the phone to a guy that I found on Matchmaker.com. It was a fluke really...I had decided to talk to just one more person before I went on a dating hiatus since all the rest turned out to a. want me for the wrong reasons b. not want me at all c. wanted me but were too stupid to act on it or d. they just didn't live up to my standards. Good thing I did, because one place of common ground that Joe and I had was this funny insane man whom the world mostly rejected during his lifetime. As an artist, Joe was really able to relate to what I was talking about when I was trying to explain the transformation I was having when it came to my understanding and appreciation of art. He began telling me about his favorite van Gogh painting at the Fogg Museum at Harvard. It was a self-portrait, an odd piece that made extensive use of a very green color for the background (the webshot doesn't do it justice...it's extremely lime in color in life).

Over the next few weeks we talked about many more things. But it came back to that painting and van Gogh ended up dictating where we met. I recall that vivid moment, stepping out of the cab, seeing him sitting on the

steps, my ticket already purchased. He was wearing a black sweater, it was October 1st. I remember how I felt seeing that bright bit of green, wanting to touch the thick paint (because I'm too tactile, I want to feel the way the oil has dried, the texture, the layers) but holding back, conscious of the man by my side.
 

We wandered the museum, talking about everything we saw. I was so comfortable with him. We looked at the Bauhaus art, the Durer woodcut exhibit, by a small gallery with Philip Guston paintings. Two hours after we had met, we were walking through an exhibit of 27 Terracotta angel sculptures, 14 of which were attributed to the sculptor Bernini. It was a cozy, dark, winding exhibit. The statues were beautiful and detailed. The light was perfect, romantic and there wasn't a soul around.

He didn't kiss me then, but he did later. It didn't matter though. I knew that everything from that point on would be very very different in my life.

I wonder sometimes, if van Gogh looks down at the world in astonishment at how much he ultimately influenced both the art world and the people who love art. He changed my life, which may sound a bit dramatic, but I believe that to be true. I don't know what things would have been like if I had taken up some other type of interest than oil painting, if it was a different artist that I had found interest in who may have been represented at the MFA or in some other museum--i.e. would a different venue have changed how Joe and I related to each other? I don't know, but I really do believe that van Gogh had a big hand in changing my silly little life. Thanks Vincent.
 

  I'm such a fucking mushball, huh? Go ahead, you can commence with the gagging...  ;-)