CPE Group today comprised of a visit to the Toledo Museum of Art. Didactic was presented through art.
We sat in front of The Architect's Dream by Thomas Cole, The Adoration of the Child by Piero di Cosimo; we shared about what we saw and what we thought was going on in the painting.
The museum was surprisingly well-stocked; it had its share of the greats and some of my faves: Rothko, Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Cranach (nerd!), Rembrandt, Modigliani, Picasso et al, et al.
There were two exhibits that we took in, the first was Speaking Out, the art of Elizabeth Catlett.
The exhibit offered pieces sculptured, printed and drawn; a wide variety that ran the gamut from political action to the love of a mother.
Next we saw "Dream American;" an exhibit on Andy Warhol. I've taken in a few AW exhibits, and the things that always strikes me is his parallel use of death and the cult of celebrity. In Warhol's words, "The more you look at the same exact thing, the more the meaning goes away, and the better and emptier you feel." Warhol's multiple images of the celebrity offers familiarity in place of a sense of the strange. Likewise with death. Images of death and those who have died, plastered over and over again creates familiarity rather than strangeness.
Underscoring these two poles is American consumerism. About those Campbell soup cans, it was written, "[Warhol] considered consumerism the bedrock of American Culture and felt tthat art should reflect the priorities of the culture back to itself." To this Warhol adds, "Buying is more American than thinking and I'm as American as they come."
The best Warhol quote of the day: "I am a superficially deep person."
A good day. Back to the grind tomorrow.
Cheers.
Comments