The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Cont.)

Picking back up where I left off on the pictures from our visit to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden a week ago when life intervened:

This is a "Mobile" by Alexander Calder from 1942. This one was created from painted wire, wood, and string.

This piece, also by Calder, is titled "Fish." It was made from an assortment of materials including painted metal rod, wire, metal, glass, plastic, wood and ceramic. It was finished in 1944.

Another product of Calder's imagination titled "Red Cascade" is from the year 1954. It was created out of painted steel and wire.

The last Calder I came across while at the Hirshhorn: a piece called "Reef Fringe" from 1953. According to the placard, it is Gouache on paper.

This is a 1915 piece by Alexander Archipenko titled "In the Cafe." Roger really liked the colors in this so here it is for all the world to see.

This exhibit is by artist David Hammons, it is with out a title from 1989. It was made from glass wine bottles and silicone glue. Andrew, Roger, and I really enjoyed looking at this piece.

Kneeling in front of this piece is Roger, despirately trying to find "Where's Waldo." Seriously, the placard states that this is: "photomechanical reproductions and jigsaw puzzle parts mounted on paperboard mounted on foam core" by someone simply known as Jess in 1988.

Roger never located Waldo, but he did see a few other things buried in the artwork, such as this humorous Deed And sign. Unfortunately, the other pictures I took of Roger's finds didn't come out so well. Another sign read elevation sea level. There was also a rubber stamp that read upside and backwards the word guaranteed.

I really enjoyed discussing this piece titled "Dream house XXXII" by Louise Nevelson from 1972. It is made from painted wood and metal hinges. You can see me in the background chatting it up with an unseen security guard. Hey Desmond!! it was nice meeting you and good luck with your writing career!

The back bottom of the above piece. Andrew took a snapshot of this because of something I said that Roger called "profound." What I said was you only (immediately) notice the doors that are open to you. This of course was coming from a person who had just realized upon seeing the only open door that they had filtered out all of the closed doors that this piece is almost entirely made up of.

This has to be my favorite of all the non-Calder pieces available for viewing at the Hirshhorn. It was called "Venus of the Rags" by artist and creator Michelangelo Pistoletto in 1967. It was made from plaster and fabric.

We also encountered a wall artfully covered in silk flowers titled "This Way in" by a man named Jim Hodges from 1999. The materials used to achieve the effect include silk, plastic, wire, and pins.

Andrew made the comment upon seeing this exhibit that he felt the sudden, but controllable urge to lay down on top of the sheets of paper scattered all over the floor and make paper angels. I told him I didn't a problem with doing that as long as there were no prohibitions against entering the room and disturbing the contents of it (in other words do not touch signs). We didn't see anything of that nature. Roger did find a written invitation to take some of the fallen paper, if anyone so desired to. That was the assuarance I needed that I wouldn't be kicked out by my new pal Desmond or some other museum guard.

Me, looking up, slightly embarassed by my own impromptu performance art. When I got up the thin paper kept sticking to the bottom of my feet. Even though I didn't seem to offend anyone, I wouldn't be tempted to ever make a repeat performance.

I almost neglected to mention that the exhibit is called "At hand" by Ann hamilton from 2001. We had to look that up online since all of my NiMH batteries had dried up and that left me with no way of capturing the placard.

-- CrystalShiloh @ 10:57 AM