Picasso to Warhol Exhibit... Trip to the High Museum in Atlanta // Apr 11, 2012
written by: Kevin
So this was it: I've lived just outside of ATL for just over three years now, and I was finally getting a chance to go into the city...and to the
High Museum, no less. I've called myself an artist for two decades, but this was going to be the first time (aside from breezing through the Art section fo the Smithsonian on a Boyscout trip full of people who just wanted to see the dinosaurs and airplanes -- an 11 year old me included) that I was going to have the opportunity to see art like this firsthand.
Now, don't get me wrong. I've seen PLENTY of prints, photographs, pictures in textbooks and magazines. You name it. But the only art i've been exposed to firsthand has mostly been either student pieces or at art festivals, etc. I'm not knocking
anyone working the festival circuit. Heck, I'll probably see you there, eventually. But in that setting, it's usually not easy to take in the full impact of a piece. Crowds bustling, the dull buzz of all the voices and vehicles filling my ears. Artists trying to make a dollar so they can keep pouring their souls out on canvas, wood, clay, and wire and not on the grill at McDonalds. And I don't blame them one bit.
The museum, however, was in my mind this place of... reverent awe of these past masters, most of who have passed on, leaving pieces of their souls to tell us of who they were on certain days. I felt giddy and excited at the prospect, but a little silly at the same time.
The drive into the city and to the museum was fine. Nice and fun, actually. We were all excited. Jess n me conversing in anticipation squeesed in between Mini-me's stream of chatter from the backseat. We found the parking building and started driving down. And Down. and down. And we finally found a parking spot 1 level from the very bottom of the building, just above the 1st level of hell.... Found the elevators and ascended back towards the light.
We came out into the central plaza just over from the main entrance to the museum. The first thing we saw wasn't part of the exhibit we had come to see, but was pretty cool nonetheless: a 20' (guessing) statue by the artist
Kaws of "The Companion".
Now, the first thought is that it looks like a twisted Mickey Mouse. Read the plaque at it's feet, explaining what it was to Kaws... perhaps even an alter ego. Its body is basically Mickey with no tail. It's head is a cartoony skull and crossbones (Mini-me said it looked like a white octopus for a head--- why not Zoidberg--- I digress). Regardless of the level of intention regarding the resemblance to a cartoon mouse witchdoctor, I found the overall design very impressive. And huge. Oppostie it was an optical illusion house designed by Roy Lichtenstein.
Now we ease on inside. Revolving doors. I barely fit. The following panel was smacking me in the butt as I walked. Yup. Biggest Loser Challenge starts this weekend, and I'm not backing out. We hit the bathrooms first. Normal toilets, thank God. I didn't want to have to pee in a sideways loop or something.
Anyway, Me n Mini-me were sitting on the bench outside and it took almost a minute before the next Kaws piece jumped out and bit me on the nose. That whole wall up there. about 16' high.
So we paid in, got our audio tour headsets (you may feel weird, but trust me, worth every penny) took the elevator up and stepped out to start with picasso. I don't have a ton of pictures from the exhibit, because quite frankly, I was so enraptured/ caught up in it, I forgot to take but a couple of mini-me looking at the art.
