camminando + exhibitions | The Metropolitan Museum

 

Framing the Sun

I was disappointed by Tomas Saraceno's roof installation; while allusive to entering to space, it is mainly perceived as an object. The interior polyhedral forms are not strong enough while they could have been used as focal structural elements. Nevertheless I enjoyed the kaleidoscopic views and of course the mirrored interactive self portraits are always enjoyable.

 Not to be missed: Schiaparelli & Prada; a masterpiece of exhibition design at the intersection between art and fashion, portraying the conversing vocabulary of the two fashion masters.

 And of course, the permanent collection, including artifact from ancient classical Greek Roman architecture and sculpture

 

Exhibitions NYC | "Savage Beauty": Trans-Human

“Savage Beauty”, the Alexander McQueen retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, is a must see.
The majority of McQueen’s designs shown at the exhibition are not wearable —as they do not perform the utilitarian function of clothes. His fabrications are often extension of the human body, which metamorphoses into snakes, trees, sea creatures; a reality which transforms nature into a fantastic world, where unicorns, butterflies, mussels and bones —among many other nature artifacts— become prosthesis of the human body in a surrealistic dark vision.
Romanticism is the recurring theme in many different versions, from the darkness of gothic to the more ethereal
McQueen’s design production was extremely prolific, often at the borderline between fashion and art. His fashion shows were real performance art experiences, including multimedia non only as enhancement of the fashion items presented, but as expression of his visionary thinking and designing. The movies shown are best representing of this thinking, as they can best communicate the itinerary taken by the designer in his creations.
The exhibition was somewhat disturbing but made me think.

And if you seek "grounding" visit the roof installation by Anthony Caro, very much down to Earth, compared to the surreal worlds of Alexander McQueen.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
Metropolitan Museum of Art
May 4, 2011–August 7, 2011

Camminando | A night at the Metropolitan Museum

Last night, another walkabout between antiquity, neoclassicism, Asian art, Egyptian history. Reminiscent of my childhood and the Vatican Museums.

Photographs and text are excerpts from the conceptual multimedia project

“Axes Mundi: Perceptions and Understanding of Places as Intersections of Space, Time and Culture”