We arrive in Madrid on schedule (7AM) despite American Airlines best attempt to throw us off by not balancing the baggage at the outset. Jackass (JA) jokes about designating his own smoking zone, since he barely had time to power-puff down a cigarette between connections at JFK. I kinda hope he does so I can put the recent fire-safety training I had into action by squirting him with the Class ABC fire extinguisher I see hanging on the wall. As it was, we dutifully trudged through customs (“Why do we have to get costumes in Spain?” I overheard a child ask.) and onto the Metro. We arrive at our hotel around 9AM hoping to drop off some luggage. We’re informed that we can occupy the room at that time, if we so desire. This sounds like a good thing, but in situations like this it is far too easy to lose the day to what is supposed to be a quick nap. Hoping to prevent jet lag by synchronizing to local time, we drop off the bags and immediately head back to the Metro and try to stay awake until evening.
On Sundays in Madrid, most of the museums are free. We head to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, as it’s the one with the earliest opening time. The Reina Sofia focuses on 20th and 21st century art, having a large collection of early Cubist and Surrealist works, as well as some more modern Avant-garde. I’m surprised both JA and I agree that some of the more interesting paintings are done by Jose Gutierrez Solona. His work is dark, both in nature and in practice, many of the paintings seemingly devoid of any thing brighter than brown.
Of course Dali’s Little Cinders fascinates me for a good five minutes. In my mind, very few surrealists stand anywhere near Dali. Mostly because their paintings aren’t REALISTIC as their genre name would imply. (Miro: WTF?) That rear-end near the bottom central of the painting looks like it would be warm to the touch when you see the painting in person.
On Sundays in Madrid, most of the museums are free. We head to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, as it’s the one with the earliest opening time. The Reina Sofia focuses on 20th and 21st century art, having a large collection of early Cubist and Surrealist works, as well as some more modern Avant-garde. I’m surprised both JA and I agree that some of the more interesting paintings are done by Jose Gutierrez Solona. His work is dark, both in nature and in practice, many of the paintings seemingly devoid of any thing brighter than brown.
Of course Dali’s Little Cinders fascinates me for a good five minutes. In my mind, very few surrealists stand anywhere near Dali. Mostly because their paintings aren’t REALISTIC as their genre name would imply. (Miro: WTF?) That rear-end near the bottom central of the painting looks like it would be warm to the touch when you see the painting in person.
The powerhouse piece of the MNCARS is Picasso’s Guernica, a very large nearly twin-tone painting done in response to the air-raids upon the town of the same name in the early part of the 20th century.
I actually found a kindred spirit there in the exhibition that focused n Paul Thek. Described as an artist’s artist, he seemed rather close to a merry prankster to me. I wished I could have flipped through his notebooks to see more of his random thoughts (ex: “If you are philosophically unable to raise to action, drop your pants for Jesus!”). His art jumped all over the place over his career span, from really beautiful “Feather Paintings” and word-filled animals, humorous and colorful paintings to his recreation of his Pharoaic burial. This also ended up inspiring some of his somewhat sickening Meat Pieces. (Unfortunately I can't find a good link to the majority of his material, so you'll have to poke around on your own dear reader.)
In the end, his prankster prodding and poking at the establishment seemed to weigh him down: “I don’t enjoy doing ‘bad art’ but people still don’t get it, they don’t get what evils society has. So I keep dong it….but it makes me feel bad as well.” I feel you Paul, that same sadness hit me after every penis drawing I did in high school. They just didn’t get it then either.
Unfortunately, for lunch we had Mr. Surly European as our waiter. We didn’t get olives, like the other folks. We didn’t get the check when we asked. Heck, we didn’t even get napkins with our food. Mr. Surly didn’t get much of a tip. This really made me question why we bothered coming to Europe, when South and Central America are much closer, the folks much friendlier and the cultural art etc. more interesting (at least to me). Nothing like some snobby nob like to put a damper on your day. We brushed through the Standard Issue Archeological Museum and caught the Metro back near the hotel, pretty exhausted and a little disappointed.
The day was saved by some Young Turks, who made the best dang Doner Kabob’s south of Alemania. It’s amazing how much good food and beer can lift your spirits. I expect to return there often before leaving Madrid.
I actually found a kindred spirit there in the exhibition that focused n Paul Thek. Described as an artist’s artist, he seemed rather close to a merry prankster to me. I wished I could have flipped through his notebooks to see more of his random thoughts (ex: “If you are philosophically unable to raise to action, drop your pants for Jesus!”). His art jumped all over the place over his career span, from really beautiful “Feather Paintings” and word-filled animals, humorous and colorful paintings to his recreation of his Pharoaic burial. This also ended up inspiring some of his somewhat sickening Meat Pieces. (Unfortunately I can't find a good link to the majority of his material, so you'll have to poke around on your own dear reader.)
In the end, his prankster prodding and poking at the establishment seemed to weigh him down: “I don’t enjoy doing ‘bad art’ but people still don’t get it, they don’t get what evils society has. So I keep dong it….but it makes me feel bad as well.” I feel you Paul, that same sadness hit me after every penis drawing I did in high school. They just didn’t get it then either.
Unfortunately, for lunch we had Mr. Surly European as our waiter. We didn’t get olives, like the other folks. We didn’t get the check when we asked. Heck, we didn’t even get napkins with our food. Mr. Surly didn’t get much of a tip. This really made me question why we bothered coming to Europe, when South and Central America are much closer, the folks much friendlier and the cultural art etc. more interesting (at least to me). Nothing like some snobby nob like to put a damper on your day. We brushed through the Standard Issue Archeological Museum and caught the Metro back near the hotel, pretty exhausted and a little disappointed.
The day was saved by some Young Turks, who made the best dang Doner Kabob’s south of Alemania. It’s amazing how much good food and beer can lift your spirits. I expect to return there often before leaving Madrid.
Posts
2 comments:
Good, blogging again!! You need to put Lynn's personal ad in your "About Me" space. Thx for the vicarious traveling.
I knew that Amy would get here first... Glad you're back to blogging.
Post a Comment