art museum hauls + ur mom

This one goes out to the veggies and veeegs...i love you. stay strong. remember why you do what you do. 

Dear veggie straws, 

Ever been to an art museum? I recommend all the free ones. Ever seen some art and been like, woah, wtf, my world twisted on its axis and I now look at life with renewed pleasure? Or, alternatively, woah, wtf, this is intense and I'm not sure how to feel. Those are all excellent responses. You are valid. Congratulations. 

So here I was minding my own business at the Missoula Art Museum when I saw a whole room full of trauma and I said, ouch. And the woman with clacky shoes next to me said, "Ukraine," and the man next to her said, "that's what I see too." Now, folx, I have conflicting feelings because Russia's belligerent war in Ukraine is awful and everyone stopped talking about it. AND conflict zones are pretty much a constant in our universe, just not in Europe. Notice anyone/place being overlooked? Notice anything wrong here? So, this man 

decided to dedicate his career to documenting it. And, at first, I said to myself, HOW FUCKING ORIGINAL; WHITE MAN GETS OFF ON OTHER PEOPLES' TRAUMA. And then I noticed this blurb straight from the museum website:
Brian Maguire: In the Light of Conscience is an overview of Maguire's human rights-focused paintings and includes important loans from the Tia Collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Fergus McCaffrey Gallery in New York City, the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, the Kerlin Gallery in Dublin, and collectors Christian Groenke and Gulia Bruckmann. Exhibition support comes from Culture Ireland and the Fergus McCaffrey Gallery, with community support from the Williams family of Missoula, Residence Inn Missoula Downtown, Flanagan Motors Mazda, Chris Comer, and Linda Gazzola.
13 people/foundations/organizations were like, "yeah this is what we need." Who am I to question it? A lowly blogger, that's who. Good for Brian for bringing wealthy foundations, most of which are probably run by upper-class white people, into the fold. People with money should know about the striking numbers of missing and murdered women in Mexico. They should know about human rights abuses in South Sudan. They should know the condition Syria is in following The War. They should know that the state of Arizona's medical examiner started a database for the number of bodies located around the U.S.-Mexico border. 

And what do I want them to do about it? Fund art projects? Yes, sure, why not. Fund art projects by underrepresented artists from countries experiencing conflict who may or may not choose to make art about their trauma? Definitely. Fund art projects by people affected by these global atrocities, of which they play a role given their financial status, citizenship status, and voting status, that may or may not address their lived experiences? Definitely. Fund an old, white humanitarian from Ireland? No. Try harder. 

enough of that aggression, time for some love

Here's some of the art I've seen that twisted my world on its axis. Enjoy, inspire, drive, cry, laugh, hmm, do you. 

...because few things are as comical as an 18th c. man catching an 18th c. bird with a stick

18th C., Japan

...because when trees hug their own roots

Cypress at Jade Mountain, Luo Jianwu, 2010

...the human body learns to accept its asymmetry

2400-2600 BCE, Greece

...its oblong shape and cruel fixtures, made and perfect as they are, red as they seem

Bagno a Rioli (Firenze), Mimi Gross, 1961

...a product of pressing, pressure, presages

Fabrication (Inclusion), Amano Kazumi, 1966

 ...because he tried to care for someone so little, tried being the precipice of the phrase

Sleepers, Georges Jeanclos, 1979


...togetherness becomes a hidden word, in which hidden together is the full verb

Prayer on Park Avenue, Marsden Hartley, 1942

...because I want power without hands

The Two Sailors, Pavel Tchelitchew, 1937

...to picture it like a fleshless, green, divine abstraction

Green-Gray Abstraction, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1931

...or a striking soul field

Picturing Power, Yee I-Lee, 2022



Well, that's all for now. Thanks for taking a bite out of the sandwich with me. 

xoxo BLT





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