Pumpkins at the DMA

After a quiet day yesterday, Mister are I are up and out of the house.  We have tickets to a new exhibit at the DMA today and might as well enjoy the entire day.  After a brief discussion on where to go for coffee, we opt for breakfast too and Cafe Brazil is the winner.  We haven't been here is such a long time and since we have arrived before the church crowd, there are spots at the bar with no waiting.  Score.  I order a latte (which arrives in a mug the size of a soup bowl) and Fruit Pancrepes.  Oh, yes!  This is why I go to Cafe Brazil occasionally.  If you're gonna splurge like this, do it right.



Leaving the cafe around 10:20, Mister thinks we have just enough time to make the scheduled ticket.  However, I seem to have a different memory of when we are supposed to be there.  A quick glance at the ticket show 11:45 and we know have an hour to kill downtown.  The DMA doesn't even open until 11 so what now?  Mister decides to just drive around downtown and we talk about how I feel like as much as we get out and about, I really don't know much about this part of my own city.  I want to do a sculpture tour and also want to wander these streets.  We even talk about using our fall vacation days just discovering our own city.  It may happen that way or I may start doing Discovering Dallas days.  There are sculptures, gardens, fountains, tunnels, and so much more to explore.

As we are driving around, Mister shows me the giant eyeball sculpture.  What??? Why didn't I know about this?  That solidifies my desire.  I WILL be putting together trips downtown to explore, even if I have to DART it and go alone.

Okay, it's time to get to the museum as it has opened and we have some time to check out the exhibits near the one we have tickets to.  First up is the Edward Steichen exhibit.  This is crazy cool!  It is called In Exaltation of Flowers and is comprised of seven canvases.  They were "created on the cusp of WWI, between 1910 and 1914 as a mural series to decorate the foyer of a privately owned townhouse on Park Avenue in New York City.  The owners of the residence, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Jr., commissioned the work from Steichen, who, though now known primarily as a photographer, spent his early career equally devoted to both painting and photography.  The commission was more than decorative.  It was also biographical.  The panel compositions feature individuals from the Myers' family and their close associates.  Steichen himself was a member of this friendly collective, and thus had an intimate understanding of the temperaments and interests expressed by member of the group.  Steichen commemorated individuals depicted in the mural using a language of flowers.  In each panel, he placed the botanical specimens that aligned with his sitter's dominant personality traits alongside their human counterpart.  Steichen drew inspiration  for these floral personifications from the book The Intelligence of Flowers (1907) by Symbolist poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinch.  Steichen was also familiar with other standard Victorian publications devoted to the meanings of flowers.  The individuals portrayed in the murals used floral names to address one another in correspondence and exploited this nomenclature in humorous and creative ways.  Just like and inside joke, the meanings embedded in this decorative cycle were not readily apparent to those outside the Meyers' social circle.  This exhibition seeks to broaden the number of people "in the know" by interpreting the panels in their historical context.  Now, over a century after the mural's creation, visitors can perceive the series' subtle meanings and enter into the original audience's spirit of playfulness."

I have photographed the explanation of each picture for you -- but am not going to write them out.  Enlarge if you must.

I absolutely loved this exhibit.  The additional information is that "during the summer of 2017, a team of conservators at the DAllas Museum of Art treated and performed a technical study of Steichen's mural.  The seven panels had not been exhibited for more than a century and offered a rare opportunity to investigate paintings by an artist best known for his photography.  With the exception of one panel, the large canvasses had been stored rolled for many years.  Seven new stretchers - wooden structures that give the otherwise flexible painting their shape - were constructed.  Further support is now provided by a 'loose' lining - a secondary fabric on which the canvases rest but to which they are not affixed with glue.  Prior to stretching - the art of attaching the canvas to a stretcher - conservators used a soft bristle brush and low-suction vacuum to remove dust from the backs of the paintings.  After stretching, additional cleaning eliminated residual grime from the paintings' remarkably intact surfaces.  conservators then stabilized loose areas of paint with a reversible adhesive, retouched small losses with conservation paints, and mended minute tears.  During their initial analysis, conservators identified a stamp on the reverse of each panel.  This type of discovery advances curatorial research into the mural's creation and the artist's working methods.  Additional historical information came to light through the use of various scientific equipment.  X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) informs us of Steichen's selection of pigments, while cross-sectional samples reveal the stratigraphy - or layered structure - of the material applied on the canvas.  These findings tell the story of an innovative painter experimenting with his materials and technique.  More historical insights will be gleaned through ongoing technical analysis while the mural series remains at the DMA through May 2018."

Please go see this wonderful exhibit if you get the chance.  Now, we move onto another room and there is one piece in here that draws me in.  It is by Lee Bontecou, an American born in 1931.  The piece is Untitled and from 1961.  Pretty interesting.

The next hall provides a couple of fiber exhibits that I definitely need to take a closer look at.  The first one is by Kevin Beasley, an American born in 1985.  This piece is also Untitled and is from 2016.  NEW!  This is what the plaque says:  "In his wall-mounted sculpture, Kevin Beasley uses clothing cast with epoxy resin - housedresses, hoodies, scarves, Nike shoes - to examine symbols of consumerism and their relationship to identity.  the cast objects effectively slow down time, allowing viewers to closely inspect the products and consider their social impact."

I don't know if it does all that for me, but I like it.

The second fiber piece is by Sam Gilliam, an American born in 1933.  The piece is entitled Leaf and was created in 1970.  I do like but am keeping it real here --- it reminds me of a painters dropcloth that just got picked up and hung on the wall.

And the last piece in this room is definitely something that catches my eye as a possible quilt project.  Wouldn't this just be oh so cool?  It is bu Julian Stanczak, an American who lived from 1928 - 2017.  Entitled Fractiones and created in 1969, it just draws me in.  His work is commonly associated with the Op Art Movement, however, the artist disapproved of the term "Optical Painting."  He considered it "perceptual art."  Depending on where you stand, this painting reveals a subtle linear progression of parallel green and pink lines that appear to move across the bright orange surface.  Soft shapes emerge, creating a perceptual phenomenon that transforms the passive viewer into an active participant."

And finally!!!  The reason for our trip down here today.  It is our allotted time to experience Yayoi Kusama's "All The Eternal Love I Have For The Pumpkins."  According to the plaque, it "envelops viewers in an environment of near-hallucinatory intensity.  Mirrors cover the interior walls and ceiling of a dark room.  Yellow gourds, individually lit and patterned with black dots are scattered on the floor like a psychedelic pumpkin patch.  When you enter the room, the door closes behind you, and you see yourself reflected in a seemingly endless sea of flowing pumpkins.  The effect is of limitless potential."

There are only 60 pumpkins in this mirror laden room but it feels as though there are millions of them.  The exhibit is set up so that only two people at a time can experience the room and you are limited to 45 seconds.  We are definitely going to need to go again.  It is crazy cool.  Please take the time to register for a chance to see this wonderful exhibit.