Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Kunst Haus Wien
Last week, I was in Vienna, and I was lucky enough to visit the Kunst Haus Wien museum and see the permanent Hundertwasser exhibit and the temporary Andreas H. Bitesnich photography exhibit.
The museum is a five story house with uneven floors and candy colored tiles and columns, water flowing inside to sustain plants and trees, and intentionally sagging staircases. Two floors were crammed with Hundertwasser's fantastical imagery, sometimes electrifying and always dreamy.
Photography was not permitted, so I couldn't get my own picture of Pissing Boy with Sky-Scraper. I couldn't resist sneaking some shots of the philately, to prove to myself it really happened, but most of my pictures of the long glass display case were blurry.
Sheets and first day covers
There was a whole wall of original watercolors of stamp designs. I was beside myself, looking into the paintings for an eternity.
I had found Tian on a map of vegan restaurants, but didn't realize until I was at Kunst Haus Wien that the Tian Bistro is in Kunst Haus Wien. It was my lucky day. Look at that door, I love it.
The bistro looked and felt like a greenhouse.
My first try at photographing the cafe, I bumped the camera. This was the accidental result.
I had a potato and leek gratin, made vegan with gooey fake cheese. It was delicious. Enjoyed with the fast paced action of Consider Phlebas (but not that chapter; you know the one I mean).
As I was leaving, it started to rain. Then the colors really came out!
The Bitesnich photography exhibit was profound, too, and the hordes viewing it were silent as they slowly padded through the two floors of archive prints, breathing silently and seemingly trying to out-quiet one another. I went through the whole exhibit, slowly, then started over and slowly went over the whole thing again.
I bought stamps showing pieces from both artists, at the museum shop. I posted some poor quality pictures of them at stamp-scans: http://stamp-scans.livejournal.com/tag/austria.
The museum is a five story house with uneven floors and candy colored tiles and columns, water flowing inside to sustain plants and trees, and intentionally sagging staircases. Two floors were crammed with Hundertwasser's fantastical imagery, sometimes electrifying and always dreamy.
Photography was not permitted, so I couldn't get my own picture of Pissing Boy with Sky-Scraper. I couldn't resist sneaking some shots of the philately, to prove to myself it really happened, but most of my pictures of the long glass display case were blurry.
Sheets and first day covers
There was a whole wall of original watercolors of stamp designs. I was beside myself, looking into the paintings for an eternity.
I had found Tian on a map of vegan restaurants, but didn't realize until I was at Kunst Haus Wien that the Tian Bistro is in Kunst Haus Wien. It was my lucky day. Look at that door, I love it.
The bistro looked and felt like a greenhouse.
My first try at photographing the cafe, I bumped the camera. This was the accidental result.
I had a potato and leek gratin, made vegan with gooey fake cheese. It was delicious. Enjoyed with the fast paced action of Consider Phlebas (but not that chapter; you know the one I mean).
As I was leaving, it started to rain. Then the colors really came out!
The Bitesnich photography exhibit was profound, too, and the hordes viewing it were silent as they slowly padded through the two floors of archive prints, breathing silently and seemingly trying to out-quiet one another. I went through the whole exhibit, slowly, then started over and slowly went over the whole thing again.
I bought stamps showing pieces from both artists, at the museum shop. I posted some poor quality pictures of them at stamp-scans: http://stamp-scans.livejournal.com/tag/austria.