Toledo Art Museum Visit
This weekend I went to visit my parents who live in Toledo. I grew up there, and had to find time to go to the TAM. I haven't been since highschool, and wanted to see some of my favorite pieces in the space and kind of do some studying of the pieces that I admired. Afterall, that was the first place where I fell in love with art. I remember being in front of Monet's and Cézanne's paintings when I was young, and being so enamored by the color and the way the paint appeared to pop out of the canvas. To me, it was like being in front of history, I couldn't believe that great artists touched these very pieces so long ago.
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I recently was told that I need to find a de Kooning and stand in front of it. To my surprise, there was a gem of his that I was lucky enough to see. One of the things I found really beautiful about this piece is the way the canvas was assembled. It almost looked like copper nails were used on the sides, and not necessarily something you would notice if you weren't looking
A few of other favorites I enjoyed were this Diebenkorn. I loved the quote of his they had on the wall text. "I'm very old-fashioned...[P]ainting remains for me a very physical thing, an involvement with a tangivle feeling of sensation." That resonated with me and the way I work and think about the materiality of paint.
This painting done by R.B. Kitaj, drew me in when I entered the gallery in which it was hung. I enjoyed the energy and color in this piece, as much as the composition itself. He said, issues of meaning are far less clear even in simple, abstract art.
Finally, this painting done Andre Derain. The color is so expressive, as well as his use of lines and thick brushstrokes. He says, "I believe that lines and colors are intimately related and enjoy a parallel existence from the very start, and allow us to emark on a great independent existence.
