My Los Angeles art experience

Today was an interesting day indeed.
 Sorry to the other classmates who I was going to go up with, I got last minute plans to meet an oooold friend out in Venice, but then she didn't show. But anyways, I still had a great time today. Venice Beach and I are old friends, I used to come out here alot in my early 20's (but would you believe I never knew about the Art Walls?!). I arrived early so there wasn't much bustle. There was one "performer" who was walking around singing "Jingle bells, jingle bells, time to get drunk!" I chuckled each time he belted that out. There was also this family, a mother, father and son walking around, and this rasta who sings childrens songs to reggae was singing to them. The parents were all enthralled, trying to get thier son to enjoy this culture, and I look down at him and he looked mortified. I could'nt help laughing out loud. I guess you had to be there! Anyways! Lets get down to business. I took some pictures around Venice of art I found interesting, and also added my trip to Norton Simon Museum. So here are my pics!

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                                                                    Venice Beach, Ca

 First piece I saw after getting out of my truck. I found it rather thought provoking, which of the two forms of art (graffiti, or the movie posters) are more aesthetically appealing? I choose the paint.

 The second piece I came across. pretty damn cool!

 I like what she is thinking! (If you can't read it, she's thinking "History is Myth"). Think about that one!

 This was my spot, before i got to play on it. I liked this bomb too, it was a shame to cover it up.

 Now this piece is awesome. I would love to be able to do work like this.

This was found on an abandoned house on the boardwalk.

                                                                                      My final result. Not bad, but gaudy and.. totally amateur. But, I can't complain. It was the experience that was fun. People watching you, taking pictures, its really kind of therapeudic, or even meditative. I just went with an idea, and this is what came out. Now to work on skill! One of the guys selling stuff said he was watching me work, and next time to hit him up and he would work with me. Fuckin awesome.

I saw this piece going into Santa Monica.. Nice writing style, good message! 

Abbot Kinney!

Your humble narrator and writer.

You've got to love Venice..

This one was pretty cool too. Eventually it would be nice to work with 3 people do to a mural like this.

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Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena CA

Now I wish I had more time to really put myself into all of the work here, but I was getting tired, was freaking out about if I left the coffee maker on, I was down to my last 6 bux, and in Pasadena. I don't like to be far from home without money. Anyways, I was still very impressed by alot of the work here. I was really interested in the 14-17ce. art. There were alot that I enjoyed, and took many pictures, but I will only post on the ones that really drew me in.



Theresa, Countess Kinsky - 1793 by Marie-Louise-
Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun

This picture entranced me the second I saw it. Its flawless. It's pretty big too, so you get a good concept of what people looked like back in the 18th century. Plus I find her very beautiful!

                                                                 This one wasn't as large as Theresa's portrait, but it was just as immaculate. It's amazing to just stare into these paintings, its like looking into the past. Plus she's very beautiful too!


Marie-Genevieve Bouliar - Self Portrait, 1792 





St. Ignacius of Loyola - Peter Paul Reubens, 1620-22.

This one was huge. I think the painting itself was like 6-7 feet tall. So its already got a dominating effect on you. I guess I have a thing for religious, spiritual or even supernatural undertones, for some reason it's interesting to me.

When I turned around to this sculpture, its eyes immediately demanded respect from me. And respect, I did give. I spent quite some time examining this one. 

Hindu Deity - Thailand 20ce.



And on to Picasso. I liked this one, well because ive never seen a picasso, and its actually very interesting in person. Very abstract. Not that Picasso is "better" than Pollock, but I can understand why Jackson was furious with Picasso. This painting is abstract, but flows better than Jackson's work, in my eyes.



The Ram's Head - Pablo Picasso, 1925



Compare and Contrast



Theresa, Countess Kinsky - Marie-Louise-
Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun, 1793





Uncle Dominique - Paul Cezanne 1865-67



I chose these paintings due to the obvious difference in style, plus they are pretty far apart date wise. It seems that Marie-Louise-Elisabeth utilized a more true to life portrait when it came to painting. Her painting of Theresa was immaculate. Everything was perfect, flawless. Truely amazing to see this, and boggles the mind to know people were making such amazing things way back in the 1700's. Then I look over to the portrait of good ol Uncle Dominique by Paul Cezanne. If you look at it closely, the paint style is very smeared and thick. Not much attention to detail when putting the paint down. But if you just look at the portrait, its actually a very well detailed portrait. I would definately have to say that Theresa is way more aesthetically pleasing than Uncle Dominique, but they are both amazing for what they are. They are both artist portrayals of thier subjects, and are both amazing works.

Goodbye Los Angeles, for now....

Music