Chishmuly

Last night consisted of heading to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the Chihuly exhibit. Wednesday evenings are free admission from 4 until 9 p.m. and we got there around 7. It's not until I am being crushed by people that I remember how much I hate them. It's not so much the people themselves as it's what they do when in large groups. I especially enjoy me the crowding around main egresses to create this weird funnel where only one tight line can fit through. Big fan. It's astounding how clueless and rude people can be. Unless I am purposefully engulfed in a crowd stock full of drunk folk (St. Patrick's Day, NYE, etc.) I find it hard to deal with.

I went to this because there is a piece from him in the botanical gardens in Atlanta (GA) that I loved. In fact, I have pictures of it somewhere...




That thing is huge. Maybe 15'? I don't know. What I do know is how much I loved it when I saw it so when this exhibit came along I was pretty pumped about it. Now that I have seen it, I can't decide if I am super cynical and jaded to a point where I need to work on my perception. It's very possible.

I like going to exhibits for the experience so I purposefully didn't bring my camera. I personally feel there's something very unsettling about taking pictures of other people's art when it's part of a show or exhibit. I like to just kick around and take it all in for the time I am there.

I made the mistake of reading the details on each exhibit and it was pretty much over in my mind. Every exhibit has a quote from the big Chihuly himself, and I'll tell you, he sounds like the biggest arrogant prick ever. Every single quote reeks of self importance.

I'll give you an example: The Ikebana boat. Oh the fucking boat display. It's this small wooden row boat, venice style, with all these pretty glass pieces in it. I wish it had been saved for last, or I at the very least hadn't read about it, so my loathing hadn't infected my mind for the rest of the tour. I see the awesomeness and after looking up the ones actually floating about, I get it.

So basically the write up goes something like this: Chihuly decides he wants to throw his fantastic glass pieces off a bridge, into the (disgusting?) Venice water (isn't Venice known for it's disgusting water?), to see what will happen. Will they break? Will they float? What will they do?? Then he has his teenage apprentices row out to retrieve the glass pieces and bring them back to him. While he is watching one of these suckers row the pieces back he realizes just how incredible the pieces look in the boat against the wood. I'm sorry. I'm trying to see the point here, I really am. Because how many times have I been in the middle of something stupid just to be all "oooooh, that's a great idea!"? To often is the answer, but I still can't get past the ridiculousness of it all. And believe me, I'm trying.

I get it, I get it, he's famous... but seriously... he's been working on blowing glass for the past 40 fucking years and he has the best glass blowers in the world working for him. At this point, were he not creating awesome pieces, his entire life's work would be an epic fail. So to see everything placed before me was just kind of eh. It was basically beautiful pieces of glass presented in a way that you couldn't hate. At one point my mother turns to me and says, "Huh, presentation is everything" and I couldn't have said it better myself.

There was the Persian ceiling. That was kind of cool. Don't get me wrong, really spectacular colors but again, just pretty glass pieces placed all mishmash on top of a glass ceiling. It was a no fail when regarding eye-appeal. Same with the Neodymium Reeds. Really neat without the anticipated awe inspiring feel to it.

I don't know exactly what my issue was with this exhibit. I am a huge fan of glass blowing and an even bigger fan of artists that create awesome stuff. So I don't know what happened. I think the exhibit would have been so much better outside. It's like they were trying to stuff all this outdoor stuff inside and make it as impressive as they could without the actual outdoors involved. And it was striking! The textures and colors were amazing and totally worth looking at, I just wasn't moved by it like I thought I would be.

Here's what I am impressed with: The fact that they are dragging these massive glass exhibits all over the place. I would love to know how many are broken in the process. I mean, some of them must break right? They had a little video of the set up and watching the people for 3 minutes exhausted me. But they all looked psyched and it must be so incredible working for the best of the best of the best. Imagine how that looks on your resume?

The other thing I am a little impressed with is that Chihuly lost an eye or some shit. There are a bunch of different stories behind this but the MFA went with the car accident one. After reading his quotes I wouldn't be surprised if someone attempted to stab his eyes out to just make him stop now. But the whole I create awesome pieces of work while having limited vision can't be overlooked.

See what I did there?