New fangled art

During my many years in NYC, I was lucky enough to be able to visit numerous art exhibitions. Some of them featured classic works, while some were cutting edge and modern. It naturally led to the question: what is art? Does a pile of computer wires dangling from the ceiling suffice? What about an installation of 20 TV screens in one room, each blaring out a segment of a haunting song?

I've always struggled a bit to answer that question. Even the technically perfect paintings at the Met sometimes struck me as soulless. And so in that regard, I decided that for my own personal definition, art makes me FEEL something. Happiness, sadness, confusion... sure, I can roll with that. All this is to preface that I went to a rather interesting exhibition recently.

TeamLab Taipei is a creative group that strives to meld together the combinations of art, science, and technology. To this end, they put together an... experience, so to speak, that is quite interesting and unique. Visitors wander through a dark maze, to be deposited into various rooms filled with projected light. As each person walks through the rooms and along the walls, the light patterns get projected onto them as well, so that they too, become part of the 'art'. There was also a room filled with large bouncy balls, each lit up in a brilliant color. It was simultaneously beautiful and playful. The whole experience resulted in a feeling that I don't feel like pops up a lot when I go to art exhibitions... that of childlike wonder.

Wait, what? My expression doesn't convey childlike wonder??

Big colored balls... everywhere!

Of course, as I spend these few paragraphs putting an artful spin on this place, the rest of Taipei's young population was busy taking as many selfies as possible. Every single person had their cell phone out, sometimes spending many minutes trying to get the perfect shot. I admit, I took quite a few pictures myself, but I thought this became an interesting piece of social commentary. So many visitors were so busy taking pictures, that they didn't quite get a chance to just look around the room and absorb its beauty. Is that life today then, and what are we missing as we glue our eyes to our electronic devices?

Taipei's youth, just hanging around

Okay, fine. You caught me... I was on my phone too!

My favorite room was of course, the shortest one that the organizers hustled visitors through. You walked through heavy black drapes to come into a brilliant land of brightness and mirrors. It's a little dazzling as your eyes adjust, and then you feel like you're being literally bathed in a shower of ever-changing lights. It's all at once beautiful and overwhelming.

Loitering visitors, taking snapshots

Closeup of the brilliant lights

Okay, this made for pretty stunning photo ops too

It's interesting, this crossroads of art-meets-social media-meets-vanity. It's definitely not highbrow, but definitely pleasing to the masses. Which, in essence, may define modern art at its finest.

(caveat: the pictures posted here really don't do the exhibition justice; I wore black so the projections don't show up as well. I am just wary about posting pictures of my friends without their knowledge)

Snapshots

Life has been really busy and eventful so far in Taiwan, but I never seem to have enough pictures for a full fledged entry. So here are a few random shots taken on various outings over the past few weeks.

This large temple is located near my apartment. It's interesting how in Asia, modern life can be interrupted at regular
intervals by these imposing buildings.

A pretty view of a river running through Beitou. The area is best
known for its hot springs.

Beitou's Thermal Valley, an expanse of water that is so hot that
it is literally steaming. 

Steaming!

A really interesting piece of art from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
It looks like a messy splatter of paint, but is actually
embroidery. Spot the 'imagine' in the middle...?

Another interesting piece. The caption reads: 'between a
rock and a hard place'.

With the weather finally cooling down in Taiwan, it's definitely time to get outdoors and see more great sites. Hopefully more entries soon, with pretty pictures!

Does art have to make sense?

Another holiday in Taiwan, another long weekend filled with rainy weather. So while my dreams of exploring the beautiful outdoors of the Taipei area have to be postponed, I still was able to see some interesting things. And of course, the best thing to do when it's raining outside is to appreciate some art inside!

Arriving at the Museum of Contemporary Art, visitors are greeted by cheerfully colored loops. This is the work of Ronald Ventura, an artist from the Philippines whose work is on exhibit at the museum now.

They look like remarkably cheerful tracks for Sonic the Hedgehog to run through

Interestingly, the rest of Ventura's work wasn't nearly as happy. The name of the exhibit was called "Finding Home", and although the museum blurb spoke about themes of travel and what a home meant in a physical, mental and sociological sense... I didn't really get that.

Lots of neon-lit displays in darkened rooms.

I found the exhibit to be macabre, dark, and slightly uncomfortable. I don't know if this was the artist's intention, but if there was any home to be found, I would definitely think it was haunted! A lot of the exhibit was in dark rooms, unfortunately, so many of my pictures didn't turn out. My favorite (not pictured) was a large, life-sized wooden carving of a man whose lower body was a boat. A projector above the room projected images and sounds of waves crashing onto the boat, and the effect was quite haunting.

Creepy little girl

A mixed media work. The artist applies some graffiti-style techniques, adding details in layers

This surreal carousel featured two horses that slowly creaked
(audibly!) back and forth. It's hard to tell from this picture,
but one horse has two heads, and the other has two tails.

After winding through the maze-like proportions of this exhibit, I was ready for a change. Luckily, the second featured artist had a very different style. Leigh Wen is a Taiwanese artist currently living in the United States. She uses the same technique in all her art, but features it on different mediums. The results were very interesting and beautiful.

Here are a dozen ceramic bowls, decorated in her signature pattern
of wavy lines. A small hose above each bowl would slowly drip
water down. A light on the ceiling would then reflect the ripples,
causing an interesting visual effect.

These small paintings are done on deconstructed wine crates

I loved this collage piece; it was both beautiful and soothing

Stretched canvases in the shape of orchids. She also used the same technique to print on fabric, and then created
fancy ballgowns. I forgot to take a picture of those though.

This piece was GIGANTIC, easily spanning the length of the room. My guess would be that this is 30 feet wide

A closeup of her painting technique. The small spidery lines canvas all her artwork. In the paintings, this created a sense of movement that worked really well.

I loved this one as well. It was also huge, maybe over 25 feet wide and 10 feet tall

Maybe because my expectations for this museum was low, I was very pleasantly surprised. Modern art is sometimes difficult to grasp, but both these exhibits made me feel something (even if it maybe isn't the exact feeling the artist intended). And with the low admission price of 50 NT (less than $2 US), this was a fantastic break from the dreary weather outside!

Absorbing culture

... or better phrased as: "getting out of the damn heat"!

It's hot in Taipei. Terribly terribly hot. And humid. Walking a mere 5 minutes outside in the shade means that you're already drenched in sweat. So in hopes of escaping this weather while doing something interesting, I headed off today to one of Taipei's many museums.

The National Museum of History is not one of the larger museums in the city, but its frugal price tag of 30 NTD  ($1 USD) and its proximity to an errand I had to run made it the destination of the day. I had no idea what was being displayed, and was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few exhibitions available.

But because of my errand, I had to detour through the Taipei Botanical Gardens on the way. While this wasn't particularly pleasant temperature-wise, all was forgiven when a view of the museum's rear came into view, flanked by a giant lotus pond.

Giant expanse of lotus plants

Alas, it was a cloudy day today and therefore I had terrible lighting for the pictures. But it was really very pretty!

A picturesque pavilion amidst a jungle of lotus plants

Gorgeous lotus bloom

Unsurprisingly, there were more than several artists set up along the pond

Finally, I circled around to the entrance of the museum. About time too; I felt like I was about to melt! And after paying my dollar entry, I slipped into the soothing air conditioned halls and appreciated myself some art.

Front of museum. I had luckily JUST missed a load full of schoolkids, apparently.

There were four main exhibitions on display in addition to its permanent art. The first featured porcelain dolls painted by chiu zhou artists, depicting Chinese opera performers.

It's like... a fancy diorama

Another exhibition featured some modern jade works by an artist named Tu Kuo Wei. I have to admit, I didn't understand most of it, which featured jade carved into small cubes or rods. Frankly, I thought they totally looked like something else.......

I did like this one piece though, carved out of jade

Meandering upstairs, I ended up spending quite some time looking at the prolific works by Tsai Mao Sung, who primarily did ink paintings and calligraphy. His works were numerous, filling up several rooms. I ended up snapping way too many photos to post here, so here are just some of my favorites.

This one suggests a serene mountain scene, the mist gently dissipating as the sun rises 

Bummer, this one was framed behind glass so there's a glare. But this may have been my favorite piece! The
brooding mountains, the red trees... it's all so moody!

I found this one quite romantic, with the two small figures in the foreground, holding
hands. :)

As a huge contrast, the museum also housed some oil paintings by Chiang Long Fang, whose bold and colorful work reminded me of... an artist who I can't remember at the moment. :P I can't pretend to be an art connoisseur! He does seem to have a thing for chickens though...

Chicken! Names of pieces, left to right: Messenger of Fortune, Moving Forward No. 1, and Pride

This large piece (at least 6 feet tall) gives off a very American vibe to me!

All in all, this was a pleasant and cool way to spend a few hours. It's nice that Taipei has quite a few museums to choose from, and I'll try to go to another one before the week is out and I am back on the grind.

Grenoble, France

Taking advantage of a free ride to a new city, I headed to the foothills of the Alps on a cool winter weekend. Grenoble is located north of Cannes, about a 4 hour drive away (due to either windy mountain roads, or a flatter circuitous route). And although the weather was uncooperative and rainy, the city was beautiful and utterly charming, exactly what you picture a French mountain town to be.

The cloudy, damp streets of Grenoble. A street tram
runs along the perimeter of the city center; you can see
the tracks here.

Since the weather was rainy, I had no choice but to pursue artistic endeavors and visited some museums. Luckily, there are quite a few to choose from, and I spent some time perusing portraits of dead French kings and saw an interesting exhibition about rural life in the Alps.

An old French King, Louis XIV

The Eglise Saint Louis, a pretty church located right in front of my hotel.

One of the highlights of Grenoble is the Bastille, a fortress located on a large hill overlooking the city. Unfortunately, the cable cars that service the ride from Grenoble city center to the top was out of service for winter maintenance, so my only option was to walk.

And... I didn't quite make it all the way up. I walked up a whole lot of stairs for about 20 minutes, and then decided to stop when I reached the Musée Dauphinois. The view was still very pretty, so it wasn't a total loss!

Those are snow-capped mountains waaaaay in the distance

The museum itself was quite interesting. In addition to a few exhibits, the building itself used to be a monastery in the 1600s. The original chapel is still on display, featuring an elaborate French Baroque ceiling.

Faaaaancy!

Grenoble is the perfect city to meander around in, with its beautiful architecture, modern conveniences, and lovely views!

The rest of San Francisco

I have already reached the last city of my trip (Portland, Oregon), but I wanted to put up a few more pictures from my San Francisco visit. I was pretty lucky in that the week was mostly unseasonably warm, so it was comfortable to be outside.

I forgot if I put this picture up already. It's the pier where dozens and
dozens of sea lions have taken up residence. They sun themselves
and frolic on these docks all day long.

One of the many many colorful murals in the Mission District

I had to try some Mission District Mexican food!

Passing through Japantown

The Academy of Science was a really fun place to visit. It's a
planetarium, aquarium, and natural science museum all in one! This is
the rainforest dome, where you can see many types of vegetation, birds,
and butterflies that would live in this habitat.

The aquarium portion of the Academy had a huge coral reef tank that you
can also look at from above. The multiple views made it very interesting.

My favorite little critter from the Academy! It's a tiny cuttlefish. Adorable!

Piece of art from deYoung Museum. Called "The Spine
and Tooth of Santo Guerro", it is constructed out of
gun parts, bullets, and pellets as a statement about
religion and violence.

The San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge on a clear day.