go Gauguin

 

Visited Gauguin in Polynesia yesterday.

A beautiful exhibit by an amazing artist.

Do you know how sometimes you see art by a famous artist that you adore

and it does not grab you and you actually feel like the said artist was not that good.

Well not Gauguin -

his work is gorgeous.

His skin tones were layered and stunning,

his colors which start out as pastels

change to brilliant compositions 

as he is influenced by the sun.

But no photos were allowed so here are some off the internet...

But life is not perfect at the SAM; 

 you must stand behind the line drawn on the floor in 

front of some pieces

which means you get yelled at if you lean over

to try to see up close

and at my age

the eyes need to be close - dang.

 

And we even got yelled at when we got close to the pieces protected by glass

where I may state there is no line to stay behind.

Don't you think guards should take a class

on how to engage with the public in a humorous way

to make everyone's mood a little cheerier?

It would certainly help.

and then...

outside of the exhibit we encountered 

this piece by David Hammons - pretty funny really.

It was a huge vase thing (about 8' tall)

and we walked past it and then my friend noticed

what was on top - 

a taxidermic cat.

Amazing what makes it into the SAM.

There are some museums I just adore - 

The Princeton one is amazing and never disappoints

and The Getty is stellar too,

but I just don't adore the SAM unfortunately.

This painting of St. Sebastian is one of my favorites,

but then I turned around and found this.

 "Did I fall down the rabbit hole?"

Sometimes I just don't get the placement of art at this museum.

The signage is weak

and some of the collections are too.

Whoops sorry but I just wish I loved my museum and I don't.

 Now I loved this this African quilt of metal scraps

turned into this beautiful work -

just goes to show if you are an artist 

you will find a way right?

and then we walked outside into the sun

(the most beautiful work of all)

and visited one of the smallest shops I know

 but a true exquisite gem...

 and then a couple of blocks south on First

to Watson Kennedy, another gem of a shop.

Truly see Gauguin if you are nearby.

It won't disappoint unless you get yelled at by a guard.