Museum Visit Day Impressions!

 My Day in DC! 


The Hirshhorn Museum Experience 

Over all, I had an amazing day in D.C, visiting each museum. Each one was a great and unique experience for my classmates and I. Both the Hirshhorn and International Gallery of Art were really unique in their own special ways. The Hirshhorn, which is where we initially started our trip, was really strikingly bold and different, it had a really unique building-shape, kind of like a circular form or cylinder which I've never seen architecturally before, and I really enjoyed it! The many hanging windows and marble workings really made you feel as though you were entering somewhere wonderful. There were lush bushes and greenery all around the building, and everything was extremely clean. It really put you in the middle of everything, and the round, circular alignment of the building made the gallery really uniquely and easily navigable. Each exhibit lead beautifully into the next, and rooms contrasted really nicely. Some rooms were dark, and some were brightly lit, which was interesting and immersive. Over all, the entire building was extremely immersive and an experience in itself. Everything was really neatly set up, and there wasn't even a ton of walking needed. It barely even felt like a museum, and more like an interactive artistic experience! We were able to view all sorts on amazing things, such as the works of Laurie Anderson, and her collection "The Weather", the many iconic pieces from Marcel Duchamp, a large and winding piece from Mark Bradford, huge pieces from Barbara Kruger, and even a beautiful sculpture garden, which even though it was quite cold outside, we really enjoyed strolling through and admiring all the outdoor pieces. My favorite of them all was Laurie Anderson's works, since they were so different from each other, and really got you involved in the artwork. 



"Four Talks" By Laurie Anderson. 



The National Gallery Experience

After experiencing the wonderful Hirshorn Museum, my group and I went to a small, cozy Ramen place for a great lunch, it was a long walk in the cold, but well worth it in my opinion! After eating, we finally made our way to the National Gallery of Art, which personally was the museum I was the most excited for! I really enjoy old, romanticism paintings, and traditional, fancy artwork as well as marble sculptures, and luckily this gallery had a brilliant display.  As soon as you enter, you can see that the building, although under some significant construction as well, is beautiful. There are tall, white walls and staircases, and the gallery is separated into two buildings. The architecture on both the outside and inside were breathtaking, and although there was once again alot of construction, the experience was mesmerizing all the same. Our group decided to travel downstairs and across the the escalator into the other building, which displayed much older, classical pieces which my group member and I's favorite. Within the main building, however, there were a lot of exhibitions and featured artists as well, lots of paintings from Picasso, classical artists, sculptures from Lynda Benglis, and my personal favorite artist exhibition; Alexander Calder. Calder's hanging mobile metal sculpture pieces were really the most intriguing to me, and the exhibition on the top floor itself is laid out very uniquely. Each spinning mobile is hung about the room, and they flow into each other beautifully. The National Gallery's sculpture garden was beautiful as well. 

The National Gallery of Art's Sculpture garden. 

Sparkle Knot XII, 1972, aluminum wire mesh, cotton bunting, plaster, paint, and glitter, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, 2007.6.90 

Alexander Calder's massively beautiful mobile centerpiece within the National Gallery of Art
Phool, 1980, plaster over bronze wire mesh with gold leaf, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, Patrons' Permanent Fund and Gift of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, 1991.241.35


Final Thoughts and Experience

In general, I was genuinely surprised by how good of an experience these two museums were for me as well as my group. Me having never visited any kind of art museum before, this was a wonderful first experience for me, and I found that the Hirshhorn and National Gallery were both really interactive and beautiful introductory art museums. Over all, I'd have to admit that "Four Talks" by Laurie Anderson was my favorite piece of artwork, and just experiencing that firsthand made my day pretty worthwhile. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Laurie Anderson: Four Talks - Final Analysis

Image
Laurie Anderson: Four Talks - Final Analysis ARTIST'S INTENTIONS As what the artist, Laurie Anderson, was trying to do or evoke through this art piece, I believe that her intentions were quite striking. Just like the room and artwork of this room surrounds or even embraces you, Laurie's intentions do as well. The piece itself is a statement, a conversation from the artist, to the viewer, an act of vulnerability. Laurie's intention was to think about, and talk about issues and many topics, alongside every other passing thought and conversation within daily life. The artist's intention is to get our minds racing about the topics she chooses, to get us to ask questions, get us thinking, make us think about the past and the conditions of the present. "What are days for?" it asks, "Who owns the moon?" "Are mountains aware?." She used it to synthesize the many themes she's been circling in her mind for decades, and all the notes of this bizar...
Read more

Laurie Anderson: Four Talks - Impressions!

Image
  Laurie Anderson: "Four Talks" Laurie Anderson's most intricate, interactive, and mesmerizing piece within the Hirshhorn museum, "Four Talks" is my personal favorite, and in my opinion the most interesting piece on display within the museum. It's a wide, painted black room, absolutely overwhelmed with rugged and unique white graffiti. PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE PHENOMENA To start with, "Four Talks" is a black and white room, with black walls adorned with white lettering and graffiti. There are a variety of words and phrases, facts, and sentences written on the walls and floor. The colors are bold, and stand out, and the room is brightly lit by lights from above. I could see four physical pieces sitting within the room. One being a greenish parrot sat atop a perch, speaking aloud in a monotone, robotic voice. The next, was a large, shiny, black crow figure. It sits with it's wings behind it, and it's long beak outstretched. On the other side o...
Read more

Laurie Anderson - Context and Body of Work

Image
Laurie Anderson - Context and Body of Work Body of Work Laurie Anderson, born in June 5th, 1947, is a Grammy Award winner, artist, and musician, is certainly best known for her bold drive to create, and her ability to combine art, pop culture, world matters, and avantgarde within her work. Normally performing theatrics, her works combine several types of media; performative art, poetry, music, linguistics, anthropology, and much more in order to illicit strong emotional reactions from her viewers and those that see her exhibits. Her artwork is well-known across the world, being exhibited in places such as the Guggenheim and SoHo. Laurie is one of the most renowned, creative, and artistically daring pioneers of the art world. She's toured the United States numerous times, and has published six books. As a composer, she's contributed music to films from Wim Wenders, and Johnathan Demme, and interpretive dance pieces by Trisha Brown, Bill T. Jones, Molissa Fenley, and many more. R...
Read more