Marc, Maly and I spent the day at MOMA. Started at the top and worked our way down. On the top floor were several works by Picasso. Until recently I never gave his works much thought. Then I read (kicking myself that I can't remember where) an enlightening approach to thinking about his paintings. Most painters, realists anyways, work to condense the three dimensions of reality into the two dimenions of a canvas. This writer suggested that Picasso went a step further and condensed four dimensions into two. That fourth dimension being time.
Imagining painting a moving object. An animated speaker telling you a story perhaps. Every time you look up to record some detail in your mind, the subject is in a different position. Transferring that to canvas then is difficult because it doesn't mesh with what you've already painted. You put it down anyways. The result is a fragmented depiction with each fragment representing the subject at a different instant in time.
Gives me an idea for a photography project -- record a few dozen exposures of a subject, animated as I've described. Then, cut up each exposure into geometric puzzle pieces. Finally, reassemble a new photo using pieces from random exposures. Stay tuned... I may just try this.
Back to MOMA. We also took the time to have a late lunch at the Terrace 5 cafe on the 5th floor. The best part were the martinis and the 'Sleepy Hollow' in particular made with a house infused pumpkin vodka and amaretto.
One last thought -- what does the art you find yourself attracted to say about you? Because, the piece that had Maly captivated was subtly covered in soft folds of pink flesh and not so subtly with naked woman riding scissors...
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