Today I...
went to the Austin Museum of Art with Michael. They are having an exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work. It was a show of several of the gigantic sketches/collages/drawings that Christo does for their installation works, along with the swatches of fabric and a few of Christo's earlier wrapping work. The wrapped objects were neat, but also kinda ho-hum, especially when you consider the gigantic environmental installations that spawned from the original cloth ideas.
Anyway, it was amazing. We went through the gallery once, it's a small gallery after all, and then they did a guided tour so we did that too because it's just different having someone else talk about the works with you rather than just looking at them yourself. Oh, I should mention that they were also playing a documentary of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work throughout the years culminating in the Gates, though the film was done before the Gates actually went up so not much on that, and it was amazing. I loved it. It was so heartbreaking, hearing their ideas shot down by bureaucrats and such. Thankfully, a lot of that concern is over with because people have begun to realize that Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work is worth having, or so the museum worker says. I bet there's still a LOT of red-tape to get through.
It was most heartbreaking to hear that the valley curtain had to be removed after just over 1 day of being up because of strong gale winds. That just sucks balls.
Favorite things about the exhibition in a list form:
1. A lady defending "running fence" in California in the documentary by saying something along the lines of "people object to this art because it is temporary. I welcome it. Some of the meals I prepare aren't very good, and I'm sure all you can say the same. But sometimes, I put in a lot of effort, and when I'm done, the meal is like a masterpiece; it's a work of art! It's going to be eaten in ten minutes, though!"
2. Hearing that the only project in which they did not restore the land to the condition it was in before they got there was the case of the wrapped islands in Florida: They removed 6 tons of trash.
3. Hearing that the manatees that live around the islands in Key Biscayne LOVED the pink fabric and would frolic underneath it. It's possible that the lady said they mated underneath it, though I might have been mishearing it.
4. French guys on the Pont Neuf arguing about whether the wrapping of the bridge is art, one guy says "We wouldn't be talking if the bridge weren't wrapped!"
5. for The Umbrellas, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had lectures in California and Japan; the first question at the Cali lecture, "How much will it cost?" The first question at the Japanese lecture, "Why did you choose blue and yellow?"
I love Japanese people.
6. Another museum volunteer who went to their lecture at the Paramount theater last week (why didn't I know about this?!!? I suck.) saying that they're really cool and funny and not at all pretentious.
7. In the documentary, they showed a bit of one of their lectures, "How do we pay? We pay for it ourselves. I could be covered in diamonds right now, but I prefer the projects."
I love Jeanne-Claude.
8. I'm really glad I'm doing my pop-up on them. I don't know how the hell I'm going to do it, though, and it's due on Wednesday. And also, I can't think of an original Christo-ish structure, except for flags. and flags are fucking ho-hum. We shall see, though.
I might hang out with people again tonight. We shall see. They need to call me, is all.
Anyway, it was amazing. We went through the gallery once, it's a small gallery after all, and then they did a guided tour so we did that too because it's just different having someone else talk about the works with you rather than just looking at them yourself. Oh, I should mention that they were also playing a documentary of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work throughout the years culminating in the Gates, though the film was done before the Gates actually went up so not much on that, and it was amazing. I loved it. It was so heartbreaking, hearing their ideas shot down by bureaucrats and such. Thankfully, a lot of that concern is over with because people have begun to realize that Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work is worth having, or so the museum worker says. I bet there's still a LOT of red-tape to get through.
It was most heartbreaking to hear that the valley curtain had to be removed after just over 1 day of being up because of strong gale winds. That just sucks balls.
Favorite things about the exhibition in a list form:
1. A lady defending "running fence" in California in the documentary by saying something along the lines of "people object to this art because it is temporary. I welcome it. Some of the meals I prepare aren't very good, and I'm sure all you can say the same. But sometimes, I put in a lot of effort, and when I'm done, the meal is like a masterpiece; it's a work of art! It's going to be eaten in ten minutes, though!"
2. Hearing that the only project in which they did not restore the land to the condition it was in before they got there was the case of the wrapped islands in Florida: They removed 6 tons of trash.
3. Hearing that the manatees that live around the islands in Key Biscayne LOVED the pink fabric and would frolic underneath it. It's possible that the lady said they mated underneath it, though I might have been mishearing it.
4. French guys on the Pont Neuf arguing about whether the wrapping of the bridge is art, one guy says "We wouldn't be talking if the bridge weren't wrapped!"
5. for The Umbrellas, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had lectures in California and Japan; the first question at the Cali lecture, "How much will it cost?" The first question at the Japanese lecture, "Why did you choose blue and yellow?"
I love Japanese people.
6. Another museum volunteer who went to their lecture at the Paramount theater last week (why didn't I know about this?!!? I suck.) saying that they're really cool and funny and not at all pretentious.
7. In the documentary, they showed a bit of one of their lectures, "How do we pay? We pay for it ourselves. I could be covered in diamonds right now, but I prefer the projects."
I love Jeanne-Claude.
8. I'm really glad I'm doing my pop-up on them. I don't know how the hell I'm going to do it, though, and it's due on Wednesday. And also, I can't think of an original Christo-ish structure, except for flags. and flags are fucking ho-hum. We shall see, though.
I might hang out with people again tonight. We shall see. They need to call me, is all.