Tuesday 2/12/08

We headed to the Murray Guy gallery for an artist talk with Matthew Buckingham. We started by watching a video art piece by Buckingham called Amos Fortune Road which he made in 1996. It was a really interesting piece, telling a story of discovery without audio, written text appeared on the screen with the visuals. The film questioned ideas about our problematic relations with the past and history, when things transition from the past into history. It was strange because the subject matter of the film is not one of which I would normally relate to, however the piece seemed to pull the viewer in, wanting to continue to discover more. In a sense, identifying with the character of which I didn’t have an obvious connection. With no voice to connect with, the audience creates their own for the film. I found the driving scenes in the film reminded me of when I drive familiar roads; my mind goes into a sense of imagination and thinking, like there is a space of reflection between places. Buckingham spoke really well, and I really enjoyed his talk.

After a quick lunch we caught the subway uptown to go to the Metropolitan Museum. It was enormous! So big in fact, that unfortunately I didn’t have time to see everything. I did get to see the Greek and Roman art, Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Modern Art, the Drawing, Prints and Photography section and the European Paintings, all of which were amazing. The Greek and Roman, and Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas were fascinating, with artefacts, sculptures and jewels there was so much to take in. My favourite was the Modern Art section; one piece called Dancer – Airplane Propeller – Sea by Gino Severini was oil on canvas and he used the most amazing colours. Another amazing use of colour with oil on canvas I found mesmerising was Spectrum V by Ellsworth Kelly. Other pieces I liked included Zhang Huan’s Going to Work, which was made from ash on linen and Elizabeth Murray’s Terrifying Terrain, which was oil on shaped canvases. The Met was a fantastic experience and if I have time I will definitely be going back there to check out the exhibitions I missed.