in situ:

Post-church Sunday morning, we took the fam down to the new Seattle Art Museum. They were open all hours this past weekend for free. It was a pretty curious experience to be apart of...joining the masses to partake in some art perusing. SAM had all their best trading cards on display and much more. We did lunch in the swanky SAM cafe TASTE to the likings of pea soup and chicken salad on handsome tableware. Ezra enjoyed a 'mini-burger and fries' for a mere $5 and boy was it mini, but real cute. I was feeling the tension of being in an antique store with kids. The place is set up to be a cultural center and family friendly, yet I sensed that 'you brought your kids here?' vibe even though there were swamps of little ones running about.
The hightlight of the new SAM for Ezra was the Cai Guo-Qiang piece made of 9 Ford Taurus cars, "Inopportune: Stage One". The word car got thrown around a lot. (photo Richard Barnes)


The overall experience was okay for the adult side of our crew. Gala saw an Anselm Kiefer painting that made her cry a bit which reminded us that the power of art can supercede its collectability. I happened up on this Leon Golub painting from '82 entitled 'White Squad II". Let me start by saying that I have a long list of things that I once stood in strong opposition too....knowing that one day I would cross-over, join the team and become an advocate. The list includes, Bob Dylan, crossword puzzles, black licquorice, Christianity, euchre...to name a few. I like to apply a phrase I picked up from Michael Kaufmann, 'unpacking an extreme' to this behavior which I live in as one fond of pondering dualities. So Leon Golub...I despised his paintings. To me he was just one of the dudes who did some obtuse political paintings, got a hot gallery, and then became an art museum furnisher all the while hitting the big time...Art History books! And just as I was having my 'not another Leon Golub ...' thought, my mind shifted and I located the piece culturally, saw its relevance, and then admired its textural beauty, minimalism, and sheer magnitude (10'x13'). So there you have it nothing like switching stances to imbed humility and increase capacity for change.