[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: I don't know art, but I know what I like

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Posted by The Night Writer:
I don't know art, but I know what I like
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1194406846.shtml


   Business took me over to the Walker Art Center today. Afterwards,
   since we'd parked the car over by the Parade Stadium parking lot, we
   decided to take a walk through the Sculpture Garden on the way back to
   our ride.
   It wasn't the nicest day outside; gray skies, temperature around 40
   and a light but cold wind. Nevertheless, there was something very
   appealing about walking down the paved lane toward the famous [1]Spoon
   and Cherry bridge.
   On a summer day, the view from the lane toward the sculpture is like
   unto a rich oil painting:

   On a day like today the effect is very much pen and ink. In summer the
   leaves on the trees soften the lines and obscure the trunks of the
   trees. Today the trees looked like stark, straight columns converging
   on the sculpture, echoed in miniature by the parallel hand rails, as
   the red orb of the cherry became the focal point against the gray sky
   and the dull grass. The leaves were now dry, gold flakes pushed by the
   wind into a long ribbon that meandered the lane more or less in a
   diagonal.
   I know the view is no accident. Someone with vision and precision laid
   these lines with precisely this effect in mind and I sense the subtle
   harmony of balance and perspective. Behind me, inside the Walker, are
   some beautiful works -- and many that are tortured executions of an
   artist's self-absorption, intended to resonate only in some critical
   echo chamber, to be praised for bringing us face to face with some
   existential ugliness or dissonant reality or other such twaddle. In
   this moment outside, however, and in this light, there is a beauty and
   grace and a palpable, pervasive resonance, despite the bitterness of
   the day.
   Or I suppose you could just say it was pretty.

References

   Visible links
   1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_Sculpture_Garden

   Hidden links:
   2. file://localhost/files/thenightwriterblog-Spoon_and_cherry.jpg