MONDAY ART: THE MET

Let's go to the Met.
Beyond a solid permanent collection, they show equally powerful revolving exhibitions as evidenced by the current lineup that includes Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument, Anglo Mania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion, Girodet: Romantic Rebel.

Museum suggestions:
- "Cai Guo-Qiang's exhibition". The three pieces that make up this roof garden show are much more than mere art objects occupying open space. "Transparent Monument" is a reflection of power and ideologies in much deeper political terms, "Nothing here, keep moving along" represents international paranoia and fear. The third piece, "Clear Sky Black Cloud," is a daily noon-piece (weather permitting) involving heavy smoke, a semi-loud explosion, a vertical black cloud, and a video document that ties together all his pieces.
- "Klimt and Schiele": fine and bold, round and sharp faces, beauty and sexuality. In this show, we are presented with each artist's own version of "A Reclining Nude", "Two Women Embracing", among other copies that Schiele did out of his adoration of Klimt. We wonder what Klimt really thought and felt about Schiele.
- "Tribute to Susan Sontag". This by far is our favorite exhibition of the week. A well-currated exhibition, depicting a super sharp photographic narration with Sontag's views offered through excerpts of analytical photo critiques and essays (Introduction to Belloca, Regarding the Pain of Others). Sensible even to those who have not read her essays. This show challenges viewer's perception and interpretation of the photographic image. Was the Spanish soldier really taking a bullet when the picture was taken or was it a training exercise? Is it a ploy or truth?
Next to each photograph or group of photographs in the exhibition, we are offered a relevant passage from Sontag's writings on the photographic image; for example the one on Robert Mapplethorpe: "... he (Mapplethorpe) wants to photograph everything that can be made to pose... What he looks for, which could be called form, is the quiddity or isness of something. Not the truth about something, but the strongest version of it."
- Modern Art. Adore these modern pieces in the Met: Donald Judd, Cy Twombly, and more.

Also on the Met this week (ONLY till this Friday): Secret Inventory Sale in the back room. Just pass the left entrance (ask the guards for the Secret Sale, not the regular sale on the Met bookstore). 50% off art books and merchandise. New items every day. Attack!!