The first was very engaging, though a bit rocky at first as there was an old man with a staring problem nearby, for almost 5 minutes, probably due to my pink hair and one bloodshot eye from all the crying i'd done during the lovely fight Nat and i'd had on the walk through the park (stupid shit, as usual). Fan-fucking-tastic! i wasn't the only sad one there that day, though– on the bench outside the museum, we were inhaling some almonds and a banana and i noticed a lady sitting all slumped on the bench across from us. She looked so forlorn, with her chin in her hands and her eyes dolefully tracking over the gum stains on the concrete, with no thoughts to anchor them. i really really wanted to offer her some almonds, in a vain attempt to "save the day", but turns out i am way too cowardly to do that (although offering junior mints to an elderly man on the plane next to me this christmas is not too brazen, apparently. Wtf?)
Anyway, they'd managed to actually build a bunch of machines based on DaVinci's sketches. This definitely was not a show based on his paintings, which frankly is what made it mighty interesting. Mechanics and engineering ingenuity were rampant: he designed 'cars' (i would call them 'convoluted conveyances', myself), hang gliders, helicopter blades, and so on and so forth. He was definitely intrigued by the idea of harnessing geometry and gravity to make labor easier for humankind. Pulleys, ball bearings, winches, gears, chains. . . Super cool stuff, and quite a few of them were interactive. There were also (and i never would have guessed this) a number of 'war machines': spine-chilling apparatuses with scythe blades and lots of spikes. Some were designed to disable quadrupeds (read: kill horses), and others were meant to topple incoming armies from their ladders opposite your defensive wall. Of course there were the famous 'water shoes', and lots of things with wings. What a nutter.
Running out of time, we booked it up to the Calder exhibit, where we were told that we only had 24 minutes before museum closing time. Thankfully the exhibit was small (2 rooms), but it was absolutely beautiful. Wire creations, some with found pieces of glass or crockery ensconced within, sat in their boxes and shone for us. Lots of spirals, loops and whorls. Imposing necklaces, intricate cuff bracelets, and large, elegant brooches. . . i was totally in love. You could see all the little remnants of hammering the wire, and the love put into each piece was evident. Nat was upset that there were exactly zero mobiles, so with our last 4 minutes we ran to the adjoining Picasso/Miro/Calder exhibit. We found some quite nice paintings, but only one Calder mobile, which was unfortunately housed under glass and therefore not moving even a whit. Blowing through the glass did nothing, i tried. A nice addition to the jewelry exhibit was this photo of Angelica Houston, wearing "The Jealous Husband" necklace, for the New York Times Magazine in 1979:
. . .Words cannot express!!
TTFN, folks. Time to try and salvage the day.
(things i meant to do today: take a bike ride. mend some clothes. wash the blankets. pay bills. looks like these will all have to wait until after work tomorrow. what? i haven't had a day alone with the internet since before christmas. (sad, ain't i?))
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