Post-Symposium Vacation in Oregon, Part 3

[kenjari]

July 13, 2007

Today we went to the Portland Art Museum to see the Rembrandt and His World Exhibit, and, well, everything else. The Rembrandt was great. I especially liked the inclusion of artifacts, such as wine beakers and silver dishes, like the ones seen in Dutch paintings. The exhibit included many of Rembrandt's students and contemporaries. It also showed examples of most of the different types and genres of painting in the 17th century. Thus, rather than being all about the work of a single man, the exhibit provided a complete look at the 17th century Dutch art scene.
The museum also has an extensive collection of East Asian art. There was even a gallery of Korean art, whcih is usually under-represented at the museums I've been to. There is also an entire building dedicated to contemporary art. As usual, there was stuff I loved and stuff I hated. I'm finding that I don't particularly care for Robert Rauschenberg. Most of his stuff seems too busy and lacking in focus. His cardboard works waver between clever and stupid. I can't get into Basquiat, either. On the other hand, I'm kind of pleased that I can recognize a Sol LeWitt sculpture on sight. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Rothko. But there was a beautiful blue-green painting in his style that I liked very much. I was intrigued by an insteresting life-size scuplture/diorama depicting the corner of a run-down hotel room that looked like it could be the setting for a Tom Waits song. I wish I could remember more of the names of artists and works, but we did the contemporary building last and I was verging on visual overload at that point. After two weeks of non-stop music, having a contrasting aesthetic experience was really great.
After the museum, we met up with saladpants and T, friends from Wesleyan/Alpha Delt. We hadn't seen them in nearly ten years, so it was great to spend some tome with them. We walked around downtown and had dinner at a little Thai place.
Other Kenjari and I also did a lot of shopping today. This morning we went to Classical Millenium. All the Boston stores with significant classical sections have closed (I still miss HMV), so going to this store was a real treat. I love browsing through CDs, and this place had an absolutely amazing selection.I got both CDs I had been looking for and Cds I just happened upon. I needed two bags to carry out my purchases. I pretty much had to stop myself - I could easily have spent all day in there and bought several times as much.
After dinner, saladpants and T introduced us to Powell's, a bookstore that takes up a whole city block and has three floors. I decided to concentrate on the music section, inkeeping with today's shopping theme. I found two things I'd been looking for and several nice surprises.
Tomorrow we leave early in the morning. I've had a great time in Oregon, but it's time to go home.

Comments

*drool*

[avicado.livejournal.com]

I have yet to go to Powell's. I've been meaning to take a road trip to it for ages. Of course, that was easier when I lived in Seattle, but from what I've heard, it would still be worth it, even driving from L.A.

*waves hi to saladpants and tribacibee!*