So yesterday after work I picked up my four processed chromes from CSW on Damen. Attached are some lousy camera phone pics taken on the light box. Only the one in the upper right turned out well, whereas the others were either over or under exposed or just plain uninteresting. For test shots this at least confirmed that my camera and 210mm lens are functioning properly. Here are some brief notes on each:

First photo I took is in the lower right. At f5.6 and 8/sec with 12in bellows, I'd say this was underexposed by a stop. All things considered, it would've been ideal to shoot at f8 at half a second.

Second photo is the staple removers in the upper left. Not the best choice of picture, but I wanted to experiment with the technical aspects of the lens and basically knock everything except a few small details out of focus. I'd framed this in anticipation there the background would be lit by light from the window, but that didn't pan out. Shot at f5.6 at 8 pops with 12 bellows. I guess I could've shot at f8 and tried 17 pops, but even that wouldn't have been worth it for this shot. As in the earlier photo, if I'm going to shoot these tight, up close photos, then I must at least be at f8, possibly even f11. There's just too much risk of the entire picture going soft considering all these wacky plane movements at 16in.

Third photo is in the lower left. As in the first photo, this was using 100% natural light from the window, so I had to deal with shifting light intensity. Shot at one second at f8 and one-third along with 16 in bellows, I'd say this one was over exposed by a stop. Going back, I'd have simply changed the f-stop to 11 and a half, thereby widening the focal plane and letting less light into the camera for my ideal exposure.

Fourth photo is in the upper left, and out of all the pictures I think this turned out best. At F8 with 8 pops and 12 in bellows, this was a spot on exposure, and I can see just enough detail in those highlights. This shot is actually pulled back compared to the others, and I believe it would be a more suitable direction for me. As much as I love super-up close work, it doesn't allow for a lot of variation or background.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to shooting more photos again!

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Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

It was my initial intent to provide full reviews of my recent visits to the Smithsonian, the National Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum, but after putting off this momentous task for the past couple weeks I realized that such an exercise was beyond my capacity, and I just don’t have the time or energy to compose a painstakingly thorough recount of each & every work which struck my interest. I will supply a list of said works for personal reference though.

Those marked with an asterisk were my favorites.
( Cut for the sake of Brevity! )

While in Washington D.C. I paid a visit to the Corcoran Gallery. Here was my chance to see their collection of American paintings up close and personal. The first work of interest was Charles Bird King’s Poor Artist's Cupboard. King is known for his vast number of American-Indian paintings, but during his career he also produced a few still lifes. This particular still life is extremely well executed if not also merciless toward its subject, depicting the tawdry possessions of a struggling, ambitious artist, whom we are to assume is deceased. To get the complete picture you really have to stick around to absorb all the little details. Again, great still life but its message is pretty harsh. It actually reminds me of some of the more cynical chapters in W. Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage.

Also of note is Samuel Finley Breese Morse’s large scale work House of Representatives, a typically somber rendering of marshfields by Martin Johnson Heade, and a very detailed urban topographic view by Edward Lamson Henry, The Old Westover House. The Morse work has a nice architectural composition and was intended to portray the likeness of all the representatives. It’s highly ambitious though probably not as gripping as the artist envisioned it to be.

I’m purposely overlooking the popular Stuart portrait of George Washington. Just sayin’.

Pass through the first gallery and you’ll find yourself surrounded by six awesome Hudson River School works: Thomas Cole’s The Departure and The Return to your left, Frederic Edwin Church’s Tamaca Palms and the very famous Niagara to your right, and two large canvases by Albert Bierstadt—Mount Corcoran dead center and The Last of the Buffalo behind you on the opposite wall. Yeah, it’s pretty overwhelming, all these beautiful paintings in this small intimate space. I’d already seen and read about each of them oodles of times in my art books, so I’m hard pressed as to what else I could say. The Last of the Buffalo piece especially caught my interest, and none of the reproductions I’ve seen do justice to seeing it in person; there are so many subtle details that the impact is otherwise completely lost.

The next gallery contains a wider variety of paintings—portraits, still lifes and landscapes—but there are also a few ambitious works with more complex narratives, particularly John George Brown’s The Longshoremen’s Noon, Richard Norris Brooke A Pastoral Visit, and Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s Evening Party at Milton’s, Consisting of Oliver Cromwell and Family …. I was very impressed with grittiness of the Brooke piece, and later that afternoon at the Smithsonian I saw his Dog Swap, with which is shares a very similar composition and vantage point, though the setting itself is completely different. Odd.

There were a number of works from their permanent collection of American art which unfortunately were not out on display, notably William McGregor Paxton’s The House Maid, Thomas Worthington Whittredge’s Trout Brook in the Catskills, Edwin Austin Abbey’s “Who Is Sylvia? What Is She, That All the Swains Commend Her?” , Ralph Albert Blakelock’s Moonlight, and Sanford Robinson Gifford’s Ruins of the Parthenon.

Also not on view but worth looking up:

Bierstadt Buffalo Trail and the Impending Storm
De Witt Clinton Boutelle Trenton Falls near Utica, NY
Carl Christian Breener Afternoon in Earl June, a Kentucky Beach Grove
Thomas Doughty Winter Abbey
Louis Maurer Still Life, “Tilby”
Frederick Judd Waugh Wild Weather
William Trost Richards On the Coast of New Jersey and Scottish Coast

The Corcoran was has a nice collection of European art as well. At first I was drawn to the works by more familiar artists, such as those by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot as well as Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s A Difficult Line from Horace and Theodore Rousseau’s After the Rain, but after awhile I found myself enamored with the more obscure pieces. They had a number of paintings by Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli, and I was especially drawn to his somewhat tonalist Nymphs et Amours-Fete aux Fleurs. The landscapes by Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Pena were impressive as well. Others include Jean Charles Cazin’s The Great Windmill and the Rainbow, Giovanni Boldini’s After the Bath, and Jean-Jacques Henner’s Standing Woman. A simple Google on Henner shows a variety of beautiful nude studies. My favorite work from this gallery though was Jules Adolphe Aime Louis Breton’s The Colza (Harvest Rapeseed), an excellent pastoral piece with a strong narrative and tonal palette. I’ve always admired Breton’s mournful Song of the Lark at the Art Institute of Chicago. I’m glad I was able to see this one in person.

So yeah, the Corcoran has an awesome collection. Check it out if you ever find yourself in town.

(  Ok, ok, I decided to write more about NOMA. For the sake of brevity I included a cut. ;) )

So for the past couple weeks I’ve been obsessing over this early 18th century Genoese Baroque painter known as Alessandro Magnasco. His work is typically identified by rough brushwork and elongated figures, and scenes are usually set within dreary landscapes or foreboding architectural settings. The best way I can describe his overall style is Sebastiano Ricci meets Francesco Guardi, but even that doesn’t quite hit the mark. He’s probably best known for his depictions of the Inquisition and Christian martyrdoms. I’d say he was a definite precursor to Goya, at least when it comes to the representation of certain themes, and they bear similar stylistic elements, though unlike Goya his work lacks a real social conscious or agenda.

Anyway, Tuesday at the HWLC I got my hands on an old oversized book of Magnasco’s work which was published in 1949 by Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche. Yeah, all the text is in Italian, which I’m unable to read, but nevertheless it’s a handsome book which includes almost 500 plates—granted a majority of these plates are close ups of the same painting. Also, most of them are in black & white as opposed to color. This was still a cool item but its overall condition was acceptable at best. It’d definitely seen better days; I felt as if I was damaging it just my flipping pages. I spotted a copy online—same year, publisher, edition, ect.—for a reasonable price, but I don’t know if its worth all the trouble since my current office set up at home isn’t exactly ideal for shelving old, brittle books, especially since I don’t use the air conditioner in the summer and the humidity would probably contribute to further deterioration.

I know, I know, it’s such an unfair world.

This past Saturday in Milwaukee we paid a visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Our first stop was their featured exhibition, Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper. I’m not the biggest fan of Impressionism but there were a number of really interesting pieces, including some seascape charcoal drawings by Georges Seurat, a haunting work by Albert Charles Lebourg titled Algerian Landscape, and four beautiful pastel pieces by Italian impressionist painter Federico Zandomeneghi. This was my first exposure by Zandomeneghi’s work and I’ll definitely be seeking out more.

Next we moved onward to the permanent collections of European and American art. I’ll address certain pieces which aroused my interest without dwelling too much on the more popular works.

In the effort to keep things cohesive, I’ll go country by country.

Let’s start with the Italian works, of which the MAM has solid collection. There were a few pieces which immediately caught my attention; I can recognize an Alessandro Magnasco from a mile away, and they just so happened to have a work of his titled Landscape with Monks. His figures are always lanky and somewhat squiggly, and the also have a tendency to blend in with the background, especially in wilderness pieces. Here the monks almost resemble ornaments hanging from a tree. Magnasco wasn’t the most technically proficient baroque painter but he certainly had a very identifiable style. I also enjoyed The Meeting of Telemachus and Calypso, attributed to Antonio Balestra, a painter who was active during the early 18th century and shows a definite rococo influence. This particular piece was quite stunning and showcased a strong, wonderful profile of Calypso which couldn’t help remind me of the works by the great Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. There was also an excellent piece on display by Sofonisba Anguissola, Minerva Anguissola, a haunting portrait of the artist’s sister. Having since read up on the weirdness surrounding Auguissola, she appeared to have been a definite precursor to Artemisia Gentileschi.

Next we have Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione’s Noah and the Animals Entering the Ark, 1650, a huge canvas which displays over a dozen set of animals, including a pair of Guinea pigs, which I imagine would’ve been new to Europe as an import from South America. The presentation of the animals exhibits a heavy emulation of the Flemish style headed by Anthony Van Dyck. Other Italian paintings of interest included Girolamo Mengozzi’s Architectural Fantasy with Figures, which might remind one of a Hubert Robert’s capriccios, Corrado Giaquinto’s companion pieces, Triumph of Galatea and Rape of Europa, and lest we forget a forgettable set of landscape panels by Andrea Locatelli. A simple Google search on Locatelli brings up some rather interesting work outside of the Rococo genre. Perhaps these two paintings were commissioned as mere decorative pieces.

Let’s move on to the Dutch works. The MAM has a well rounded assortment of genre pieces which characterize the Dutch Golden Age. We have the predicable but handsome Still Life with a Crab by Pieter Claesz, and a straight forward but technically masterful architectural work by Hendrik Cornelisz Van Vliet, and an extremely detailed seascape, Ships in the Amsterdam Harbor, by Reinier Zeeman.

The Dutch collection also had some excellent examples of portraiture. Ferdinand Bol’s Portrait of an Oriental shows an obvious influence from Rembrandt, and I’m surprised to discover that this particular painter wasn’t listed as one of the many former Rembrandt pupils who latter forged works under his master’s name. Again, it’s an excellent piece. The oils don’t quite posses the texture and array of colors on might expect in an actual Rembrandt but it’s still an excellent work on its own right. I’d be interested in the artist’s intentions for portraying this particular subject. There were also two pairs of traditionally grim portraits, one by Jan Victors and the other by Govaert Flinck. I was underwhelmed at first but after studying the female portrait by Jan Victor I noticed the wonderful rendering of her hand gently holding a small ornamented book. Seriously, this was the most fascinating part of the entire painting. I’m a sucker for these esoteric details. This image alone would’ve made an exceptional still-life.

Ah yes, and now we have the French works. Well, you can’t get any more French than Rococo, that unapologetically gaudy style which was popular amongst the royalty during the years leading up to the French Revolution. Unnatural foliage, chubby flying cupids, less than subtle expressions of sensuality—it’s no wonder the Reign of Terror took place. The MAM just so happens to have a room decided to Rococo works. Dead center is what looks to be a François Boucher but it’s actually Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s The Shepherdess. It’s a lovely piece with fine attention to line and color. As with most Rococo works, the foliage is extremely artificial and serves only as a compositional tool, but this is still an excellent painting and should be considered a high point of the style. Also, for a Fragonard the subject matter is fairly tame, especially compared to the work directly to its left, Amédée van Loo’s wonderfully decadent The Satyrs, which depicts our great god Bacchus intoxicating some happy nudes with a ridiculously huge vat of wine. Just looking at this painting makes you feel in need of a shower.

Before moving on to more French paintings I must comment on A Roman Amateur by English painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema. I’ve been a huge fan of Alma-Tadema for many years but I was disappointed by the small size of this particular piece. With this being a highly narrative work I thought it would be larger, but unfortunately at its current size the details are dwarfed and the elements are not given adequate space to breathe. And I must add that the highly ostantasous gold-gilded frame is extremely distracting.

Ok, now for more French paintings, as if two weren’t enough. Most people will be drawn to the excellent William-Adolphe Bouguereau painting Homer and His Guide, a technically superb, excellent representation of the academic style championed by the Solon. This work was completed in 1874 at a time when I’m public interest for this particular style was fading in favor of Realism and Impressionism. I really do love this genre of painting and all the ideals and aesthetics it represents. It’s such a tragedy that the movement’s significance was marginalized by the likes of Courbet and Manet.

As most of you already know, I love 19th century Orientalist Art, especially those by French artists who traveled through settlements in North Africa. At the MAM we have some fairly straight forward works, such as Eugène Delacroix’s Arab Encampment, Charles Théodore Frère’s Scene Near Giza (Egypt), and Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant’s Evening on the Seashore-Tangiers. And then there is Jean-Léon Gérôme The Two Majesties, an unusually somber piece depicting a regal lion watching the sunset. It’s quaint and touching piece from an artists known primarily for depictions of Arab sentinels and Turkish bathers. Oh, and the MAM apparently has one French Orientialist work which unfortunately wasn’t on display: Eugène Fromentin’s Arabs (Cavaliers Arabs in Observations dans la Montagne), which I would’ve loved to have seen!

Moving on, there were a few French pastoral/Barbizon paintings which I must mention—Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Le Mont Ussy, Théodore Rousseau’s Sunset Landscape, and of course the gargantuan Le Père Jacques by Jules Bastien-Lepage. I admired the piece by Bastien-Lepage but it seems too large considering that it’s down at eye level with the viewer. A work like this feels like it should be positioned higher in order to dominate the gallery.

Let’s continue on to the German pieces. Perhaps the most interesting is Christian Ludwig Bokelmann’s The People’s Bank Shortly Before the Crash, 1877, which depicts a crowded street scene outside a bank. The narrative is fairly ambiguous though there are some small clues, like the smashed flower pot on the street and juxtaposition between wealthy and poorer classes, but overall the work lacks a solid focal point which gives it a more realistic quality. Another excellent German work is August Johann Holmberg’s highly detailed The Latest Acquisition, a large painting which allows the viewer to observe all treasures in the old collector’s vault. It’s a fine, handsome piece with a bounty of textures and information to absorb. I was also impressed by the highly impressionistic The Wallachian Post-Carrier by Christian Adolf Schreyer though I think it would’ve been more effective if it’d been executed on a smaller scale.

The MAM has a very respectable collection of 19th century German genre paintings, and there is in fact an entire gallery devoted to such works. Pieces of interest included Michael Carl Gregorovius’s View of Danzig, Ernest Ferdinand Oehme’s Wissen in Winter, Ludwig Knaus’s Dance Under the Linden Tree, and Ernest Bosch Far From Home--all wonderful piece with strong narratives and excellent technical skill. I especially enjoyed the Gregorovius piece for its historical significance, as well as the Oehme for its soft, luminescent qualities.

I must note my discovery of two excellent German painters, Hugo Wilhelm Kauffmann and Eduard von Grutzner. Kauffmann’s Zither Player looks innocent enough but paired with his Old Suitor it takes on a more misogynistic quality. Grutzner’s canvases are nothing short of fantastic, depicting German folk enjoying their various leisurely activities. His works here include Falstaff Mustering Recruits, Shaving Day at the Monastery, The Catastrophe, and The Card Players. Consequently, Albert Speer once said that Hitler regarded Grutzner as one of his favorite painters. Yeah, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement to people nowadays.

Also on display were five small-scale works by Carl Spitzweg—my favorites being Scholar of Natural Sciences and The Town Crier. Spitzberg is of course best known for his The Bookworm at the Museum Georg Schäfer in Germany. His work is said to be a definitive example of Biedermeier art, a European style popular in the early 19th century. I also enjoyed Karl Freidrich Lessing’s small but handsome Castle Elte, a wonderful piece of landscape with a delicate usage of light. We also have Wilhelm Riefstahl’s ostentatious Wedding Procession in Tyrol which bears in almost cinematic narrative.

And then we have the Austrian pieces. I must point out Friedrich Gauermann’s The Holdup, which I encounter earlier this year in Chicago when it was featured in the Tragedy & the Muse exhibit at the Smart Art Gallery. I also made note of artist of Austrian artist Ferdinarnd Georg Waldmuller who painted several lovely genre pieces which were on display.

On a side note, I really wanted to see Andreas Achenbach’s Fish Market at Ostend and Paul Friedrich Meyerheim’s A Darwinian Prehistoric Social Party but apparently they weren’t out for viewing. Oh well.

Again, the MAM’s collection of German and Austrian works is quite unique and represents a strong sense of heritage and tradition.

And finally we have the American pieces. I guess I should start with Benjamin West’s General Monk Receiving Charles II on the Beaches of Dover. West is primarily known as an American painter but he also as worked under George III. I assume this particular piece depicting Charles II was commissioned during his time in England. Anyway, this is a fairly straight forward historical, which is really saying something considering it’s a Benjamin West, a painter otherwise known for extremely complicated narratives.

Next we have a gallery showcasing the paintings of Robert Henri, one of my favorite American portraitists, alongside works from his fellow members of the Ashcan School. Henri’s Betalo Nude is an absolutely stunning piece that shows a mastery of color and tone. Also featured are urban scenes such as Everett Shinn’s Nightclub Scene and George Benjamin Luks’s Bleecker and Carmine Streets, New York. The whole gallery represents a visual style that was not only expressionate but also realistic and bold.

The lower level of the MAM hosts their expanded galleries of American works, spanning from colonial period to late 19th century. Two prominent paintings here were Eastman Johnson’s The Old Stagecoach and Homer Winslow Hark! The Lark. The Stagecoach depicts a large group of children playing on a defunct covered wagon. Look closely and you’ll notice the children appear to be mimicking activities they’ve observed from adults. Some the children are straining to pull the coach while others lounge in the carriage. This otherwise mundane scene could be seen as a poignant representation on the class system in America.
And then we have Hark! The Lark, a handsome pastoral scene which exhibits a strong Barbizon influence. In my opinion, it is one of Winslow’s best pieces.

Onward you’ll find plenty of excellent landscape work from Hudson River School artists, including Asher Brown Durand’s In The Catskills, Frederic Edwin Church’s A Passing Shower, John Frederick Kensett’s Lakes of Killarney, Robert S. Duncanson’s Minneopa Falls, and Thomas Cole’s Storm in the Wilderness. I’m really starting to appreciate the subtleties of Durand and Duncanson’s work. Everyone loves a dark and sublime Cole or a colorful and exotic Church, but works by the other painters tend to be a more astute and therefore demand more attention. There’s also another Thomas Moran painting of the Grand Canyon, and form what I’ve read the MAM possesses one of his Venetian views but unfortunately it was not out on display. As I’ve stated before, it says a lot about an artist’s range when his two best known series of works were those based on Venice and the Grand Canyon.

Of course right smack dab in the middle of these pieces is a landscape by German-American painter Henry Vianden titled Landscape with Mountains and River. It definitely stands out as a highly detailed and well composed though it doesn’t posses the same aesthetic of the HRS works.

There are also two Albert Bierstadt paintings, Grizzly Bears and Wind River Mountains, Nebraska Territory, though they’re not the massive canvases one might anticipate. Apart from Grizzly Bears being highly atypical of Bierstadt's work, it’s actually quite an endearing study, complete with an unfinished rendering of a bear head toward the bottom.

And next we have a few tonalist works by acclaimed American painter George Inness. I get the notion that these canvases have darkened a bit with age. Other works of note are John Singer Sargent’s The Smoky Thames and two excellent still lifes, Richard LeBarre Goodwin’s Hunting Cabin Door and John Frederick Peto’s Market Basket, Hat and Umbrella. The Goodwin piece actually bears a resemblance to the work of William Harnet, though it’s missing his signature idiosyncrasies. My favorite section of this painting is where you can see all the scratches on the wood caused by the tiny hook latch. I love those little details.

I also must note that the following pieces from their American collection were not out on display:

William Merritt Chase - Still Life with Ladle
Hovsep Pushman - The Incense Burner, before
Maitland Armstrong - The Bar, Bar Harbor, Mt. Desert
Richard Lorenz - Solitude (also known as Prairie Twilight)

Anyway, that’s my overview of the American and European collections at the MAM.

Monday night we had Stef & her new boyfriend Drew over for lasagna. Since I get home from work an hour before Rani it was required that I do some prep work, namely boiling the noodles and lay them out to dry. While doing this I also managed to clean our huge build up of dirty dishes, clean the litter box, take out all the trash and vacuum throughout the apartment. It amazing all that I accomplished in the space of an hour. By the time Rani got home the noodles were dried and ready for her to prepare and cook for lasagna.

Stef & Drew stopped by at around 6pm and we had a nice little dinner. The lasagna turned out really well. I helped myself to about three pieces which is far beyond what any reasonably slim man should consume in one sitting. Lasagna was followed by a chocolate cake which Rani had also prepared for the occasion. I tell ya, in this household we pack in a lot of calories, but needless to say we try our best to burn them off. In the coming years it’s going to be a challenge for me to keep a trim figure, what with all her cooking and baking. Anyway, Stef & Drew made their way out at around 8:30pm, after which we exercised for a bit and decompressed before bedtime.

The next morning I managed to snag a piece of lasagna for breakfast. Lasagna is one of those rare dishes which is always better the day after it’s been made. Something about refrigerating it adds a firmness to the noodles and cheese which makes for a better dish. My only gripe about Rani’s lasagna is that she does not include cottage cheese. L

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Saturday afternoon I went to the Holland Museum. The museum is renowned for their collection of Dutch paintings located in their upstairs galleries. It’s a modest ensemble of works from relatively obscure artists who were active during the 17th through the 19th century. Some of earlier painters were pupils under big names like Frans Hals or Rembrandt while others came much later and created works inspired by the Dutch Golden Age which had preceded them. Many of the 19th century artists show distinct influences from the French Barbizon movement, such as Johannes Martinus Vrolijk’s Cows at Pasture and George Jan van din Linde’s Dutch Harbor with Windmill, while others obviously were flirting with Impressionism. Of the entire upstairs collection the most interesting piece to me was an excellent marine painting, Shipwreck on Stormy Sea, by George Williem Opdenhoff. There were also some finely rendered yet overwhelmingly sterile royal portraits by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt. And I must mention the large scale group portrait by Cornelis Engelsz which is apparently only half of the original painting. The other portion is probably somewhere in Amsterdam. As is the painting still shows upwards of 28 Dutch dudes, and based on what I’ve read if it was reunited with the other half it’d probably have around 35 - 55 people.

Keep in mind that in this collection you won’t find any Dutch stables like Jan Steen or Willem Kalf, and sadly I don’t recall one traditional still life. I assume the museum had to work with what had been donated to them, most of which came from a benefactor in San Francisco who very recently announced that he would be pulling most of these contributions to the collection, so I guess this was my last chance to see them before going into private storage.

Downstairs there was a temporary exhibition called Dutch Arcadia which focused on 19th century romantic landscapes from the Beekhuis Collection. I actually preferred these paintings to the ones upstairs, but then again I’m a sucker for landscapes. The standout piece is Johann Bernard Klombeck’s very tonalist Evening Summer Landscape which reminded me of George Inness’s later works. Really wonderful.

Most of the other works in the exhibit mimic the more traditional painting style of the Dutch Golden Age. These should be regarded as partly-imagined landscapes rather than actual depictions of specific places. Of these works the following caught my interest:

Mountainous Landscape with Heavy Trees and a Couple – Alexander Joseph Daiwaille
Monastery – Johannes Wernardus Bilders
Landscape in Gelderland – Lodewijk Johannes Kleijn
View of a Gorge with Figures, Barge and Cottage – Andreas Schelfhout
Wooded Landscape with Children Playing by a Pond – Willem Roelofs
Cows at the Water’s Edge – Dirk Peter van Lokhorst
Horses and Farm Animals near a Ruin – Wouterus Verschuur Sr.
Cattle and Sheep in a River Landscape – Pieter Gerardus van Os

I really enjoy this genre of work though I have to admit I have a difficult time telling one painter’s work from the other. During the 19th century there must’ve been hundreds upon hundreds of Dutch painters producing these same idealic landscapes. The works consistently showcase a high degree of talent and technical craftsmanship, but the overall vision rarely exceeds that of a simple romantic picture, give or take some livestock or human figures in the foreground, accompanied by perhaps a vast woodland area with a ruin or two in the background. Oh yeah, and then there’s the occasional windmill. This is fine for the first 20 or so paintings but then certain techniques and themes start get redundant. The many symbolisms and metaphors in this genre of Dutch painting could be described as a language in itself, but it’s mostly comprised of painters talking shop with one another. In other words, there’s not a lot for outsides to connect with aside from the pretty scenery. A majority of these works contain a certain timeless aesthetic which would make them excellent decorative pieces for anyone’s home, and that’s about the full extent of their function.

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While in Madison this past Saturday we paid a visit to the Chazen Museum of Art. All week I’d been anxious about seeing their collections. My primary interests were the American and European galleries on the second floor which feature works from 5th century B.C. to the 19th century. There was also a small but impressive exhibit called The Loaded Image: Printmaking as Persuasion on the main floor, but we’ll get to that later.

The first thing I noticed upon reaching the second floor was a beautiful painting of a woman in an elegant yellow dress. From a distance I thought it might’ve been a Sargent, but it was actually a work by Charles Sprague Pearce called The Shawl. Out of all the paintings at the Chazen I think Rani admired this one the most. The woman is in one of those pensive poses which I’ve come to identify with late-19th century painting. She’s not as distraught as one of Dewing’s ladies, but if you murked up the paint a bit and added some nondescript negative space then it’d be a serious contender. This particular gallery also features Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Orpheus Greeting the Dawn or Hymn to the Sun which reminds me of his Dante and Virgil at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Over the past year Corot has quickly become one of my favorite 19th century French painters outside of the Orientalists.

The museum featured some excellent European landscape painting, my favorite being a small work entitled Moonlight on the Coast by a Norwegian artist Johan Christian Clausen Dahl. Also of interest were Theophile de Bock’s Landscape with Sheep and Eugene-Louis Boudin’s Etretat. I must mention the dock scene painting Waals-Eilandgracht with Bridge and Moored Tjalk Barges by Piet Mondrian, which is notable simply for not being a De Stijl piece. One might also notice a work called French Landscape by American painter Gaine Ruger Donoho. It has a nice composition but the painting itself is way too large. This is one of those cases were the work would’ve been more effective it were executed in smaller, more intimate canvas.

Next up we had some American landscape works from the Hudson River School. Bierstadt’s The Boating Party and Gifford’s Mount Washington from the Saco River: A Sketch are both handsome pieces but nowhere near the caliber of their best work. By far the most impressive painting of this genre was landscape from William Louis Sonntag, a HRS artist whom I wasn’t even aware of yet. For whatever reasons I love landscaped which include little wooden dams. I’m a sucker for those little wooden dams. At any rate, I’ll be seeking out more works by Sonntag.

The Chazen also has a nice collection of Italian works. My favorites included a piece attributed to Salvator Rosa, Figures under a Cliff, Pietro Paolini’s eerie Young Man Playing a Viola, a captivating depiction of Lucrezia Romana by Giampietrino, and also an Adoration of the Shepherds painting by Giorgio Vasari. Compared to the other Vasaris I’ve seen, this one is an oil panting on wood as opposed to canvas, and with that in mind I tried to see if any of his grid lines were visible through the glaze. It’s a nice piece though like most Vasaris the figures look a bit wooden and out of proportion. For those you who don’t know Vasari, he was a 16th century Italian painter who is best known for his biographies on other painters, and part of that kind of comes through in his work.

Another work that caught my eye was Claude Joseph Vernet’s Sunrise which bears the same mood and atmosphere as his Morning at the Art Institute of Chicago. The colors and vantage points are the same but the compositions and subject matter are entirely different. Whatever I case I couldn’t help but look at Sunrise without feeling as if I’d seen it before.

On the wall to the left of Sunrise is a Venetian scene which looks like it could be a Canaletto or a Guardi but it’s actually a piece attributed Michele Giovanni Marieschi. Further right you’ll find three more paintings of what appear to be capriccios, though if you look closer you’ll notice that the two on either side are “roman ruins” works by French painter Hubert Robert while the middle canvas is actually a common harbor scene, attributed to Italian painter Francecso Simonini. Sneaky.

Other paintings of note were Christian Bell’s Meeting of the Austrian and Prussian Commanders and the playful Colonnades of Versailles by Giovanni Boldini. Again, I think the latter would’ve been more effective on the smaller scale. Outside the galleries there was also an excellent selection of early-American furniture. Especially nerdy individuals will note the reproduction of Charles Wilson Peale’s George Washington, probably based off the piece in the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts.

I must mention that on the 2nd floor there was an entire gallery sectioned off for maintenance. This particular gallery is apparently where they showcase their Russian paintings from the Joseph E Davies collection. In lieu of this I checked out the collection online when I got home, which in no way compares to seeing the works in person, but unfortunately it would have to do. I would’ve loved to see Klaudii Vaslievich’s Fall of Novrorad, Arkhip Ivanovich Luindzhia’s Night of the Dnieper, and Il"ya Yefinmovich Repin’s Zaporozhtsy's Reply to the Sultan. Oh well, maybe next time. At least I got to view the Russian icons at the other end of the floor. I was disappointed to find out that none of the Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky’s seascapes were even out on display. Such a loss, just keeping them tucked away in storage.

Speaking of which, according to their website the Chazen has a very nice George Inness and Robert Blacklock, neither of which were on view. Those two would work well cattycorner from the Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot painting. Just a suggestion. Oh, and Johannes Bathololamaus Duntze’s Alpine Landscape needs to be out as well.

As I mentioned earlier, the downstairs area had a special exhibit, The Loaded Image: Printmaking as Persuasion, a display of prints from the 16th century to present. There is a theme to this particular selection of work but to be honest I wasn’t too interested. At any rate it’s a nice selection of prints—even some of the more modern works like Raymond Louis Gloechler’s Return of Earth stood out as very strong. I also enjoyed Honore Daumier’s Repos de la France, Albrecht Durer’s Ill-Assorted Couple, and the excellent Battle of St. James at Clavijo by Martin Schongauer. On either side of the Schongauer piece there are prints from Goya and Callot which are meant to depict the horrors of war, which immediately brought to mind the Belligerent Encounters exhibit that is currently showing at the Art Institute of Chicago. My favorite piece of the exhibit was without a doubt the little copper engraving by Albrecht Altdorfer, Horatius Cocles Leaping into the Tiber River. Now that is an incredible work of craftsmanship.

So there you have it. That’s many Eurocentric review of the Chazen Museum of Art. Next time I’ll make it a point to see more of the other collections. Great museum. If you ever find yourself in Madison I highly recommend checking it out. Oh yeah, and it's free!

Sunday morning we got up at a leisurely pace and had breakfast, finishing off the two remaining polish sausages as well as leftovers from Saturday. Afterward we did a through cleaning of the kitchen. The floor especially needed some attention. We finished the kitchen in about an hour. It was fairly cool inside so we kept the backdoor open to let in the breeze.

Afterward I headed down to the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago. I’m a little burnt out with their permanent collection but they had a few special exhibits which peaked my interest: Souvenirs of the Barbizon: Photographs, Paintings, and Works on Paper, Belligerent Encounters: Graphic Chronicles of War and Revolution, 1500–1945, and Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad, 1941–1945. These three exhibits took up the entirety of my visit but they were well worth it.

My first stop was Windows of the War which was located in the Regenstein Hall. Here I spent about two hours absorbing old Soviet propaganda posters from WWII. The vast amount of information available was incredible. Context and translations were provided for each of the 150+ posters on display. The exhibition literally told the story of the war by way of these powerful images, a majority of which demonstrate a mastery of studio craftsmanship given the tools available. I especially enjoyed the series of posters which showcased Russian victories over the Germans throughout the ages. One poster even featured a Nazi solider drowning after a confrontation with the Soviets only to discover the remains of a Teutonic Knight from the Battle of the Ice (1242), another notable Russian victory, sitting at the bottom of the ocean floor. Woah.

Yes, these works were propaganda, all executed with the specific political objective to demonize the Hitler and the Nazis, a feat which might not seem difficult to us. You have to consider though the limited means of communication and that these posters were essential tools for teaching the Russian people about Nazi atrocities. This was art used as a weapon against a country ruled by a madman. Of course the Soviet Union also terrorized their own citizens by incarcerating them on bogus charges so they could throw them in the Gulags to work as free-labor for infrastructure projects, but that’s a different side of the coin. Anyway, I highly recommend checking out this exhibit while it’s still at the Art Institute. I’m actually considering picking up the accompanying book as well.

Afterward I headed over the Belligerent Encounters exhibit, a showcase of anti-war themed work in early modern-Europe. The more memorable works include prints by Goya and Otto Dix, which most people are already familiar with. I personally didn’t care much for the Max Beckmann prints but I’ve never been particularly fond of his style. The series on the Thirty Years War by Jacques Callot was interesting though I found it difficult to absorb. There’s a wide selection of work from various points in history, including pieces by Manet, Albrecht Dürer, Gericault and Egon Schiele. In all honestly seeing this exhibit immediately after Windows of the War left me a wee bit burnt out on this sort of imagery. I’ll make an effort of see it again in the coming months.

The last exhibit I saw that afternoon was Souvenirs of the Barbizon. Around 1849 the Barbizon and its Forest of Fontainebleau became assessable to Parisians by way of railway line. Painters and photographers from the city would flock to this small rural community to use the people and natural sites as subjects for their work. The most renowned painter of this movement was Jean-François Millet, who on account of his use of light is regarded as a precursor to Impressionism. This past November at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts I stumbled upon an excellent exhibit called Millet and Rural France which showcased his landscape paintings as well as various sketches, pastels, ect.

Souvenirs of the Barbizon features a couple paintings by Millet but to a greater extent focuses on the lesser known artists and opportunists who documented the area’s many rural sites. Certain trees and rock formations became increasingly popular, and of course they were the subject for photographers and sketch artists who would sell their product to painters as visual aids. To give this movement some perspective, Barbizon was a getaway from the developing industrial city of Paris and it gave artists access to scenes which—relatively speaking—were still undisturbed by big industry. The theme of retreating back to nature was practiced amongst American artists as well; In fact, Barbizon painting had a major influence on William Morris Hunt, Homer Winslow and Thomas Eakins. Anyway, it’s a nice little exhibit and I recommend checking this one out as well, you know, if such a thing would appeal to you.

And that’s about it for my visit to the Art Institute. From there I went home and called it a night. END.

Saturday morning I took the train down to Philly to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I hadn’t been to the former before so I decided on visiting it first.

My only interest at the PAFA was their permanent collection of American paintings in the Furness-Hewitt Building. A grand staircase leads you up to the upstairs hall whereby you enter a number of large exhibition galleries. It’s an awesome set up. The first thing you notice after making your way up the staircase are two huge Benjamin West paintings, Death on a Pale Horse and The Rejection of Christ, on either side of the floor. There both extremely busy works with a lot of heavy religious and literary allusions, so much that when the latter was first exhibited patrons were given a 3 page guide for explanation. Now that’s ambitious. They definitely make a solid first impression.

The best place to start seemed to be the Peale room. The academy was founded in 1805 by painter Charles Willson Peale. Following his lead his children, most notably the aptly named Raphaelle and Rembrandt, became established painters as well, primarily in portrait and still life genres. Included are in this collection is Charles Wilson Peale’s portrait of Washington and depiction of Noah’s Ark where the animals are presented in an almost scientific fashion. Along with West and Thomas Cole it’s fascinating to see the work of American painters who produced historical and landscape works as well as pieces directly referencing Christianity. Apparently it was more of a late 18th and early 19th century thing. I guess you had to be there.

Ok, I admit that before going to the PAFA I’d studied a cook on the collection I made note of all the pieces I was interested in seeing, thus I was already familiar with certain paintings. Then again, there was quite a bit of work from art I’d never heard of but yet enjoyed, such as a historical painter named Peter Rothermal who produced two bad-ass works, De Sato Raising the Cross on the Mississippi and Last Sign of the Moor. The latter depicts the moors leaving Granada after it was conquered by the Spanish. I really enjoyed this nineteenth century artist’s work and I’m disappointed more of his pieces aren’t featured in other American collections—and on that note he’s not even mentioned in my book on the PAFA collection even those he was a faculty member. Other painters new to me included the Vermeer-esqe William McGregor Paxton with Girl Sweeping, Christian Schussele’s King Solomon and the Iron Worker, Anna Elizabeth Klumpke’s In the Wash House, Evening by tonalist-and-possibly-Inness-copycat Dwight W. Tryon, and two massive Civil War themed pieces, Final Assault upon Fort Fisher, North Carolina by Xanthus Smith and Battery of Light Artillery en Route by William Trego.

Some neat albeit smaller landscape work from the Hudson River School were on display, such as Asher Durand’s Landscape with Creek and Rocks and Thomas Doughty’s Landscape with Curving River. This genre of painting was also represented abroad by American artists in works such as Jasper Cropsey’s Landscape Figures of Rome, Thomas Moran’s Turner-inspired Venice and Sanford Robinson Gifford’s small but stunning St. Peter’s from Pincian Hill. Other landscapes of note were Edmund Darch Lewis’s Lake Willoughby and George Innes’s Woodland Scene, but my attention was arrested by an almost cinematic painting by William Trost Richards called February. It’s stuck as a very somber, moody piece of work.

Speaking of somber, there were a few pieces by Henry Ossawa Tanner, including a religious work Nicodemus. Ever since seeing Tanner’s Annunciation at the Philly Museum of Art I’ve been fascinated by this painter’s method and approach.

Two works which I was really taken aback by were Alexander Harrison’s The Wave and Daniel Ridgeway Knight’s Hailing the Ferry. I’d seen both in my collection book but in order to really appreciate them you really must see them in person. Both are just so beautiful and engage your attention from everything else on the wall. In terms of subject matter they both qualify as Romantic but they're executed with the utmost realism. Again, really incredible paintings.

Along with some outstanding still life pieces by the Peales there are some excellent works of the genre by latter artists as well, such as Still Life by William Michael Harnet, a couple dead bird pictures by Alexander Pope, John Fredrick Peto’s Fish House Door, and a really simple and simple yet clever piece by George Cope, Spectacles. The focal point of the painting is literally the shadow of the spectacles spanning over the side of a page, quite possibly the sort of work only another still life artist could appreciate.

There are also some intimate interior paintings such as Edmund Tarbell’s The Breakfast Room. I was hoping to catch William Henry Lippincott’s Childish Thoughts but it wasn’t on display though I did get to see his Infantry in Arms which is executed in more or less the same vein.

One of the galleries included a large portrait piece, Pat Lyon at the Forge by John Neagle. The work was made more interesting to me after discovering that the Boston Museum of Fine Arts also has a canvas of this painting by the same artist. The look the same at first glance but the one at the BMFA has a few objects taken out of the middle to lower right-hand side. Strange. Also featured are a number of Cecilia Beaux portraits, an Ivan Albright which is immediately identifiable, and a very characteristic Robert Henri piece.

Oh yeah, and also on display was Thomas Eakins’s The Gross Clinic. I honestly didn’t expect that it’d be out, but there it was. Nice surprise.

So yeah, the PAFA ruled, to put it bluntly. I spent about an hour and a half there though one could easily walk through the galleries in the span of 10 minutes. I was really impressed with the building and the exhibition spaces, and it’s very likely that someday I’ll visit again.

Afterward I headed up the Benjamin Franklin parkway to the Philadelphia Museum at Art. I’ve already written an excessively long and boring entry about this place but I’ll go over some works of interest anyway. This time I started off in the American Wing where there was only one change since last fall—they had Eakin’s Agnew Clinic out on display. Wow. Two unexpected Eakins Clinics in one day. Anyway, Agnew Clinic was painted 14 years after the Gross and also features a horizontal composition. The angle is a bit more detached and there more emphasis on the background. There both fine pieces of work with strong qualities but I’m going to have to Gross Clinic has a much more sudden emotional impact whereas Agnew takes longer to sink in. I don’t prefer one over the other though, and they are indeed two entirely different works of art.

Other works of interest in the American Wing included two Peaceful Kingdoms and two historical works by the Folk Art Puritan oddball Edward Hicks, Frank Benson’s The Artist’s Daughters, Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Boy and Sheep under a Tree, and two works both called A Coming Storm, one by Sanford Gifford and the other by William Bradford. Since seeing these pieces last Fall I’ve learned so much about these two particular artists as well as the other painters of the Hudson River School.

From there I went to the European Art and Sculpture galleries. Pieces of note included Jean-Francois Millet’s Solitude, Jules Bastien-Lepage’s The Thames, London, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Goatherd of Terni. The same Alma–Tadema painting was up as before but this time I noticed the woman’s sensual feet in the lower left end. One could almost describe them as erotic but they’re anything but profane. I also really enjoyed this one particular piece called Solitude by an unfamiliar artist named Jean-Charles Cazin. Oh yeah, and there was actually a Monet I liked, Waterloo Bridge, London: Morning Fog, though it has more to do with the city scenery than the impressionistic play on light. I’ve never been terribly interested in impressionism whether it'd be European or American, and when I see work in usually continue on my way. Lastly in this section I must mention to seascapes of Gustave Courbet. Man, I love his marine works. He painted the ocean as if it were a nasty, wild animal. Awesome.

Afterward I walked though the early European art galleries, making my way clockwise from the Netherlandish, German, and finally the Italian works. I noticed Josse Lieferinxe’s four panel framepiece on the life of St. Sebastian which was missing two panels on account of them being on loan for the Kings Queens and Courtiers exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. I also took the backway through the galleries of Asian Art where there were some truly incredible statues as well as massive works on installation. Very cool.

From there I continued on through the Europeans galleries. Only major difference since last fall was the small room showcasing the reproductive print works of David Teniers II was replaced with a collection of anonymous paintings from Cologne of which were purchased avidly by John G. Johnson. I also took another look at the gallery display Mexican artists. I’d purchased a huge book called The Arts in Latin American 1492 – 1820 but I still have yet to thoroughly study it and put everything in it’s appropriate, if you know what I mean. I do find it interesting and quite logical that a lot of the smaller works where painted on copper instead of regular canvas. One Mexican painters of note, whose work is displayed alongside the likes of Ribera, Murrillo, and Zurbaran, is Fray Miguel de Herrera. The noticeable difference from the other artists is that de Herrera’s paintings are devoid of any baroque influence.

One last item of note was a flower and fruit still life by Eugene Delacroix. Yeah, I’d never seen a still life by him either, as he’s typically known for ambitious literally and historical works.

So yeah, that was my visit to the PAFA and the Philly Museum of Art. Afterward I made a stop at the Pearlman Building but was not interested in any of the exhibits or other works on display, though it should be noted at that point I was pretty burnt out and hungry. I guess I’ll leave it at that.

Wow. I had such a blast Friday night. The Wax Trax show was so much fun and by the stroke of midnight I was thoroughly wiped out! Here’s a low down on the entire day:

After work I stopped off at Flanagan’s to sell him my ticket for Saturday night’s show. As you might recall I initially purchased tickets for both Friday and Saturday, at which point it hadn’t been announced which bands would be playing which nights. Once I got word that both the KMFDM set and Front 242 were on Friday and RevCo and TKK were on Saturday I decided that I’d much rather only go to the first night and bow out the second. The prospect of going to the same place two nights in a row was terribly appealing; I’d much rather have a good night of dancing at the club rather than spending another evening at the crowded Metro. I can only put up with so much. Yeah, it would’ve been cool to see the RevCo set, and I’m sure it’ll be a really fun show, but I think keeping it to one night is best for me.

Anyway, Flanagan just so happened to be looking for a Saturday night ticket so I sold him mine. We chatted for a bit and hung out with the cats. The ever-so-precious little Killer is getting plump, and boy does she look disgruntled—even moreso than usual. I made it a point to stay away from her. Vera and Severian were as sweet as ever. Sarah didn’t come out but I got to see her on my way out. It was good to see all the cats again!

Afterward I hopped on the Brown Line and went all the way up to the first car where I ran into Rani on her way home. That evening she was having dinner and a movie with Marie. I on the other hand was going to be making a stop at Lincoln Square for dinner. Rani and I chatted briefly before I got off at my stop and from there I walked down to the Bad Apple. I wanted to keep my dinner meatless if at all possible since the next morning we would be having a skirt steak for breakfast. I don’t know about you but having beef two days in a row is just too much. That said I’ve had almost everything on their burger menu anyway. I decided to get their Earthly sandwich, which had portabella mushrooms and goat cheese. Very good! Along with dinner I had a pint of Lost Abbey's Carnevale, a saison / farmhouse style ale. I’m more of a dark beer guy but this was actually really good. Recommended!

From there I went home where I got ready for the show. I should probably note that I had a bottle of another Lost Abbey, the Inferno, a strong Belgian ale that is more or less just another Duvel clone—granted it’s a really good one. As you would expect there was a lot of carbonation. Arg. Otherwise it was quite an enjoyable ale.

I actually haven’t had a Duvel in probably almost two years if you can believe that.

Yeah, I might sound like a total lush but this was the last drink I had for the remainder of the night. Yes, I drank before going to the show, mainly because I had no idea what the beer situation would be like at the Metro. As I discovered later their selection is pretty god awful so it was best I indulged beforehand.

Before going out I had to sort out the shoe situation. I really wanted to wear my dance sneakers but carrying them to the show in my little bag with intentions of changing them there would’ve really overcomplicated things so I just wore them out the door. I normally don’t take to the streets with them but I’m sure one night out wouldn’t damage them too much. I got to the show at around 7pm. There were a lot of familiar faces but honestly not a whole lot of people I know personally aside from Dennis, Liz, Therese and Bones. It was really crowded which isn’t surprising given the show was completely sold out. The opening act came on at 8pm. I hadn’t heard them before given they were an old punk band from back in the day and I’m just a wee youngin’. I played a really fun set though.

Next was Watts and En Esch playing all old school KMFDM material. The set included Don’t You Blow Your Top, A Drug Against War, Jute Joint Jezebel, Flesh, Brute, Godlike and Go To Hell as well as Pig’s Hot Hole. I managed to get pretty close to the front and rocked out the entire set. A couple rows behind us a pit started up but I managed to steer clear of them aside from a few instances. By the end of the set I’d completely blown out my voice and as I write this I’m still a bit hoarse.

After that was Front 242 who played a friggin’ hour and a half long set which included Punish Your Machine, Commando Remix, Tragedy For You, Religion, Welcome to Paradise, Headhunter, Circling Overland, In Rhythmus Bleiben, Lovely Day, No Shuffle, Quite Unusual and Body to Body. No Master Hit though! I was so disappointed! I was dancing and banging my head the entire set to the point where I had a bit of a headache afterward. Arg. So my voice was shot and my head was in pain. It was so worth it though. I had an awesome time!

Afterward Dennis was gracious enough to give me a ride home. Thanks Dennis!

Allow me to be a little self-indulgent and post the playlist I made for my 30th birthday party. Since I only had control of the music for a three hour period, and since there were so many I wanted to include, this meant I had to edit some of them down to reasonable lengths. Actually, very few were left fully intact. I had a lot of fun with this.

I have to say, this is a pretty awesome playlist:

3:52 Public Image Ltd. - Swan Lake
3:45 Fluke - Kitten Moon
3:37 Final Cut - Broken
3:19 The Smiths - Barbarism Begins At Home
3:52 Juno Reactor - Ice Cube
3:26 Machines Of Loving Grace - Lilith/Eve
3:29 Underworld - Dirty Epic
3:44 Ministry - All Day Remix
3:13 Prince - D.M.S.R.
3:49 Android Lust - Refuse
3:29 Nitzer Ebb - Lightning Man
3:07 Pulp - This Is Hardcore
4:08 The Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit)
3:12 Die Warzau - Belly
3:02 Recoil - Strange Hours
3:35 Front Line Assembly - Synthetic Forms
2:59 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - Soundtrack - The Pink Room (Album Version)
3:46 PTP - Favorite Things (12” Version)
3:51 Psykosonik - Alone
4:02 Siouxsie & The Banshees - Forever
2:56 Armageddon Dildos - East West
3:52 Test Dept. - Timebomb
4:08 Kraftwerk - Radioactivity
4:24 Front 242 - Masterhit
4:01 Skinny Puppy - Addiction
4:05 Die Warzau - Liberated
3:10 Pop Will Eat Itself - Axe Of Men
3:15 KMFDM - Vogue
3:45 Revolting Cocks - Crackin' Up
3:38 The Jesus & Mary Chain - Who Do You Love
3:23 Meat Beat Manifesto - Your Mind Belongs To The State
3:40 Leaether Strip - Strap Me Down
2:47 Haujobb - Nature's Interface
3:08 Depeche Mode - Stripped
3:44 Front 242 - Circling Overland
4:06 Numb - Eugene (Pickaxe Mix)
4:04 Lush - Last Night
3:47 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Nervous Xians
3:27 Spahn Ranch - Syndrome Exhibit
3:50 Umo Detic - Carpe Diem
3:33 Die Form - The Hidden Cage
3:35 Front 242 - Serial Killers Don't Kill Their Girlfriend
2:09 Konami Kukeiha Club - Heart of Fire (Dracula Castle Main Building BGM)
3:42 Revolting Cocks - Attack Ships (from 12")
3:56 Velvet Acid Christ - Lysergia
4:04 Front Line Assembly - The Blade
3:36 A Split Second - Rigor Mortis (Transient Straight Mix)
3:16 Leaether Strip - Fit For Flogging
3:57 Spahn Ranch - Breath And Taxes (Deductable Mix)
3:55 Haujobb - Centuries In Me

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to go up to the grocery store and pick up some necessities for the week. We made out way via public transit. We were anxious about loosing our parking spot on the street, otherwise we would’ve driven. Yes, the streets were clear of snow but people still had dibs out to mark their spots and we feared not being able to find anything open when we got back. Anyway, taking the bus to and from the store worked out really well, granted we had only a small amount of groceries to transport home.

Afterward I decided to venture all the way down to Hyde park to visit the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago. Believe it or not I’d never been. Getting there was fairly easy and took only about half the time I’d expected; I took the Redline down to Garfield and then the Garfield bus east through Washington Park and to Ellis Ave. Not a bad trip at all.

The number of works out on display at the Smart is relatively small compared to that of other museums but nonetheless they have a respectable collection of paintings and sculptures. There were galleries showcasing European Art, Contemporary Art, Modern Art and Design, and Asian Art, as well as a main gallery for a special exhibit, The Tragic Muse: Art and Emotion, 1700 – 1900. The Contemporary gallery was of little interest to me. The Asian segment was interesting though moreso from an archeological perspective. The Modern Art and Design gallery was neat, especially these two paintings, Homer by Emile-Rene Menard and Four Arts Ball by Guy Pene Du Bois. There was also an excellent display of still life photographs by Walter Peterhans, whose work I’d never seen before, and some cool furniture by Frank Lloyd Wright, including a very handsome dining table set.

The two galleries of interest were the European and one hosting the Tragic Muse exhibit. In the European I immediately noticed a small painting by Jean Leon Gerome, one of my favorite orientalist painters, of Pygalion and Galatea. Note that the painter made a much larger version of this piece which now resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other paintings of interest included Angelica and Ruggiero by Cecco Bravo, Still Life with Flowers by Michel Simons, Skitties Game by Jan Steen, and Graces Unveiling Nature by Benjamin West. There was also a statue titled African Woman by Jean Baptiste Carpenux, which I recognized from my days at Design Toscano. I must’ve sold about four resin reproductions of this piece during my tenure at the shop. I guess I should mention that it was titled Slave Girl. Arg. Also on display was a 16th century Italian reliquary which featured a small plaque of the Virgin and Child that was surrounded by lapis lazuli. Again, I’m a sucker for those rare earthstones.

The Tragic Muse exhibit was very nice as well. The overall concept of the exhibit wasn’t of much interest to me but I can see how each work related to the theme. Paintings that struck my interest included The Hold Up Friedrich Gauermann, Ophelia by Anne Lea Merritt, Child’s Grave by Joshua Hargrave Sams Mann, and Emigrant’s Last Sight of Home by Richard Redgrave.

After the museum I headed back home and relaxed for a bit. That evening Rani and I settled down for drinks, during which I broke open a bottle of Great Divide’s Grand Cru, one of their new Belgian style ales. It had a fruity finish that reminded me of a quadruple. I was quite impressed and very happy with this ale. Great Divide continues to put out some amazing products and is by far one of my favorite domestic breweries.

Anyway, we decided to stay in that night. Some zombie themed event was going on at the club which I can’t say really appealed to us. It was a good night to catch up on some sleep.

( WARNING: Lots of Museum Talk )

This past weekend we finally got to visit Boston. We figured we were due for one last non-family trip before the end of the year. During our three-day stay we enjoyed as much history, art, and food as we could endure. We would’ve done the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science but those would’ve taken up a considerable portion of our trip. What’s the use of going to Boston if your too busy visiting museums to actually get to see the city? Might I add that the weather worked out well for us considering it’s November. Yes, it was a bit nippy at times, but at least we didn’t have to deal with rain or snow. Anyway, we explored as much of the city as we could and had ourselves a great time. Below is a long-winded review of our trip.

( Boston! )

Saturday morning I woke up fairly early, enjoyed a simple breakfast of French toast, and headed downtown for a day at the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago. I hadn’t been to the Art Institute in over two years, and in addition to adding their new Modern Wing the museum had also done quite a bit of rearranging.

As always I first went up the grand staircase to enter visit the European art galleries on the second floor. I typically enter in thought the west end which I recall being their Spanish gallery where you’re first greeted by Francisco de Zurbaran’s Crucifixion and El Greco’s Assumption of the Virgin. Well, it’s no longer the Spanish gallery and instead now hosts their Venetian paintings, including the four piece Tasso cycle by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, which I’ve always admired. From there I explored the floor clockwise. The following paintings struck my interest; Morning by Claude-Joseph Vernet, White Tablecloth by Chardin, Portrait of a Sculptor by Jean Baptiste Santerre, Still Life with Monkey by Jean Baptiste, Oudry, Panther, Cyrus, and Arapes by Laurent de La Hyre, Destruction of Pharaoh’s Army by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, Palm House Interior by Carl Blechen, Circassian Cavalry Awaiting their Commanding Officer at the Door of a Byzantine Monument; Memory of the Orient by Alberto Pasini, Battle of Zama by Cornelis Cort, and another truly awesome still life by Pieter Claesz. It was interesting to see how the museum rearranged their galleries in different rooms. Everything seems to flow together much more smoothly than the previous set up.

Once again I took another look at Constable’s Stoke-by-Nayland, which is and always will be an ugly piece of landscape work. I also stumbled upon a work titled Kitchen Scene by Diego Velazquez which looked very familiar. The info description for this painting noted that a similar version is at the National Gallery of Ireland, the main difference being that National Gallery version depicts the Supper at Emmaus to the left of the subject while the Art Institute version shows only the negative space of a wall in its place. Pretty neat, huh? Well, I think it’s cool at least.

Again, the Art Institute has a wonderful collection of European art. My only qualm is they don’t have more Orientalist paintings by Jean Léon Gérôme.

From there I proceeded to their galleries of American art. Works of interest included Lights of other Days by John Peto, Coast of Labrador by William Bradford, Toning the Bell by Walter Shirlaw, Praire on Fire of Alvan Fisher, Puff of Smoke by Gifford Beal, Industructibles by Phillip Evergood, Coffee House by Alson Skinner Clark, and Rainy Day by Frank Weston Benson. Paintings by George Inness, Sandra Robinson Gifford, and Thomas Dorghty also caught my eye and I’ll definitely be looking into more of these artist’s works. The Albright paintings were as gruesome and hideous as ever, and I’m saying that as a compliment. His Portrait of Dorian Grey was on display. Yes, he painted an actual portrait of Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Grey, and it was actually commissioned for the 1945 film. If you haven’t seen it before you should definitely look it up. It’s a pretty disturbing interpretation of the painting as described in the book.

Might I add that over the past few months I’ve developed more of an appreciation for American art. For whatever reason I’d always found Europeans work more attractive, but as of late I’ve taken a new perspective toward work from this side of the Atlantic and how it depicts the our westward expansion of North America. Of course these paintings are far from solid historical documents, but they do offer some insight how people envisioned this strange new continent. The landscapes by Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt are give a more optimist picture which stands in sharp contrast to works by Thomas Hart Benton, John Rogers Cox, and other notable Regionalists.

As I’ve mentioned before the gallery includes works from the now defunct Terra Museum of American Art which was located on Michigan Ave. It’s nice to still be able to see some of them on public display.

Afterward I made a brief visit to the Modern Wing where I went to the third floor to see the European gallery. Contemporary art really isn’t my thing but it was still interesting to see the paintings in their new home. Their old location adjunct to the Impressionist gallery always seemed a bit cluttered. I also stopped by the photography gallery downstairs where they had an exhibit of architectural photographs by Richard Nickel who made extensive documentation of the works of Louis Sullivan up until the year 1972 when he was killed after the stairwell of the Old Stock Exchange building collapsed on him. He was at the site photographing the architectural details in the effort to save the building from destruction. It’s always struck me as a really, really story. In the 90’s there was a play released about him called They All Fall Down.

At around 4pm I left the museum and made my way home while I relaxed for a couple hours. Rani baked another batch of Strongbow cupcakes which she served at the club later that night. We went separately, as she wanted to get there a bit later when things were more active. I on the other hand prefer to go earlier so I can get some dancing in before the crowds. It was your typical night; good music, lots of dancing, ect. There was some sort of episode at the door where this drunken guy tried to rush in and pick a fight. The police were called and he was arrested. When I saw everyone crowded at the door I thought someone was having a medical emergency or something. Good to know it was just some belligerent fellow whom I presume had a lot to drink beforehand. As the police dragged him away he kept saying over and over, “God forbid I ever come back.” It was a strange situation.

I’d enjoyed a few really good ales that evening, them being Avery Redpoint, Dark Horse Amber and Boulder’s Mojo IPA. There not much more I can say except for that each stood as adequate representations of their respective styles. At this point I must have already remarked on over two hundred or so beers and it’s starting to feel redundant. Still, seeing as how this is a personal journal, a document of all the arbitrary detail in my odd little world, I’ll at least continue to make note of them—you know, for education purposes. Yeah, right.

This past weekend we flew out to Denver for a few days. A couple weeks ago we found this awesome flight deal to DEN which we couldn't pass up, the only catch being that we couldn’t fly out that Friday night. We were able to schedule a flight for Saturday morning though, and with that in mind we took Monday off and arranged for our return late that night. It was an abbreviated trip but we still managed get in a lot of sightseeing, not to mention we stopped in at several notable taverns and brewpubs. Yes, much beer was consumed on my part. I think sooner or later I’ll be in need of a good detox.

Might I add that we spent all our time in Denver, so there we did not venture out west out toward the Rockies, though we caught some very nice views of them from the city. If we visit the area again we’ll plan on renting a car and exploring around, perhaps up to Fort Collins, Boulder, or maybe when the mountains. Nonetheless I’m definitely interested in seeing more of the state.

This was my first visit to Colorado and the climate was somewhat of a shock to my system. For one I was completely dehydrated, partly on account of too much beer and not enough water. And then there was high altitude, which by Sunday night finally started to take its toll on my system. I never experienced this sort of pressure before and it sometimes made breathing a bit rough. By Monday was feeling very lightheaded—yes, even more so than usual—and at one point was concerned about possibly passing out. During future visits I’m sure I’ll have an easier time adjusting to the altitude.

Anyway, here’s my self-indulgent write up on our trip on Denver.

Saturday - Snooze, Molly Brown House, Wax Trax!, Denver Art Museum, Great Divide, Marco's

We touched down at DEN at around 9:20am, a good twenty minutes early. Our mission was to catch the 9:45am bus into the city because if we missed that bus we would then have to wait another hour for the next one, which would seriously hamper our day. We’d managed to fit everything into our backpacks and brought them onto the plane as our carry ons, so at least we didn’t have to mess about with luggage pick up, but we were seated in the back area of the plane and unfortunately everyone ahead of us was taking their sweet time gathering their items. It was agonizing, and more anxious while waiting the slower they’d move. Eventually we got off the plane and from there located the transport center, bought our tickets, and caught our bus—all with only 5 minutes to spare. If our plane had landed on time at 9:40am I’m certain we would’ve have gotten into town until noon.

And why were we in such a hurry? Snooze of course! I’d heard of this awesome breakfast & brunch diner which I had to check out, and like all awesome breakfast & brunch diners Snooze closes at around 2:30pm. We managed to get there at around 10:45am with an hour wait ahead of us to be seated. It was well worth it though. Snooze even provides complimentary coffee and orange juice for those on the wait list. After finally getting seated we placed our orders. I ordered the corned beef hash while Rani had the blueberry pancakes. Everything was delicious. Great place. Highly recommended—though you’re best to come early.

After Snooze we made our way downtown and checked in at our hotel, the Curtis. Official check in wasn’t until 4pm but they let us in early. Not a bad place. It had a tacky 50’s theme which we found somewhat endearing. If anything their mattresses were very comfy. Anyway, from there we went out for some sightseeing, and what better place to start off than the Molly Brown House? Ok, ok … I admit, seeing the house was Rani’s idea, and as many of you already know she’s enamored by all things Titanic—minus Jack & Rose of course. We went one the tour which guided us through the house, starting at the entry way and then the living room, the dining room, the bedrooms upstairs, and then back down through the kitchen. Surprisingly enough I found it quite interesting. The house was built in 1898 and a few years later was purchased by the Brown’s. Upon moving to Denver Molly wanted to be part of the city’s high-society but they gave her the cold shoulder—that is until the little Titanic incident, after which she gained notoriety as “the Unsinkable Molly Brown”. She was then was accepted by the elite and used her newfound notoriety as a springboard into politics for a number of women and childrens causes. Anyway, she lived in the house for about 35 years until her death, after which it slowly fell into disrepair. Eventually the City of Denver realized the significance of the house and not only renovated it but used old photographs to furnish it just as it had been when she lived there. Very cool. One item of note is that Mrs. Brown did not allow any smoking inside whatsoever, and as a result the house very smells clean despite its age.

Oh yeah, and at the end of the tour I noticed a corkboard accompanied by a sign which read “Please share one thing you learned today.” The board was covered with little pieces of paper, each relaying tidbits people had picked up from the tour. To my amusement some smartass wrote in spooky writing, “I’m still alive. – Molly.”

Funny.

After Molly Brown we headed down to 13th Ave to check out the original Wax Trax store. Oddly enough the building has the shop divided into two separate storefronts—one exclusively for records & tapes and the other carrying CDs. Strange idea but it makes perfect sense if you think about it. The shop was just as you’d imagine; packed with loaded and loads of underground music. I picked up a couple discs, Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman’s Minarets & Memories single and Split Second’s Flesh & Fire Remixes. I’m glad we stopped in for a visit, if only for the novelty’s sake.

On that note we headed over to the Denver Museum of Art. As luck would have it general exhibits are free the first Saturday of the month so we did not have to pay admission. I admit we bypassed a lot of their contemporary work in favor of the old American and European galleries. Let’s start off with the Western American gallery. They had a nice collection of Remington sculptures. His work possesses a certain grittiness which has always appealed to me. The Art Institute of Chicago has an impressive collection of his sculptures as well. His sculptures demonstrate a style of movement and flow which immediately fills one with intrigue.

I have to admit I was a bit underwelmned by the illustrative paintings in this particular gallery though. The artist’s all seemed to be working with palettes inferior to their European counterparts—that and every other scene is either too simple, too moralistic, or a drab combination of the two. Of course there is the renowned Norman Rockwell, whose Stagecoach is featured on display. Content aside, from a graphics standpoint it’s very engaging image, and the use of color and line is draws the viewer into the scene.

Though I’m not the biggest fan of American figurative painting, I absolutely love the landscape work of Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt, and the museum had a few of their more prominent paintings. Their work showcases a particular play of light and an adherence to the forces of nature which obviously inspired landscape photographers like Ansel Adams. Awesome. Speaking of Adams, on this floor we also stopped by one of their special exhibits, Exposure: Photos from the Vault, which highlighted selected pieces from their collection.

One floor down was their gallery of European art. They had a number of great paintings on exhibit, most of which I presume are from the Berger Collection. I would’ve never thought to have seen one of Giuseppe Archimboldo’s vegetable portraits at the Denver Museum of Art, but there they were, Summer and Autumn, though if I’m not mistaken the originals are located in the Louvre. Another notable findings was a work called Vision by ‘followers of Bosch’, which in the great tradition of Bosch was weird as all hell. Suitably enough, this painting was juxtaposed beside The Peaceful Kingdom by Edward Hicks.

What really got my attention though was their still life collection, which included Bouquet Flowers in Vase by Maria Oosterwyck, Still Life with Telegraph by William Harnett, and Still Life with Fish by William Case. Also on display was Still Life with Fruit, which is attributed to the famous Italian painter Caravaggio. It’s a fine baroque still life, but I can see how one who is familiar with the bulk of Caravaggio’s work his might view this one with suspicion.

We got out of the museum at around 4pm and from there headed up Great Divide’s Brewery/Tap Room. I was actually excited to stop in for a few pints, as this is one of my favorite domestic breweries. The tap room itself has seating for only about 30 people, most of which are located up at the bar. Still, the place wasn’t packed elbow-to-elbow as I’d expected it to be; On the contrary, there were only about ten people and we managed to procure a couple seats at the bar. I think we chose wisely visiting during the afternoon, as I’m sure evenings get very crowded. Anyway, I had their Hibernation and Claymore Scotch for the first time. Like all Great Divides, these two were awesome and tasted all the more better on tap.

Rani isn’t a beer drinker but given her taste for sweet I recommended the Wild Raspberry Ale, which she found tolerable enough to finish half a pint of. She took the brewery tour while I stayed at the bar, during which this one fellow and I struck up a conversation about various topics. He recommended a couple places to visit in town, one being the Falling Rock Tap House, which he described as the ultimate beer snob joint. Seriously, he informed me that people have literally been thrown out for walking in and ordering a Bud Light. I don’t find that particularly cool or amusing. People are people, and beer isn’t something to develop a major superiority complex about. Anyone that judgmental is obviously overcompensating for some inadequacy. Anyway, Rani’s tour eventually let out and after wishing farwell to our friend, who during the course of our talk became increasingly sloshed, Rani and I made our exit and set out for dinner.

We decided on Marco’s Coal Fired Pizza in spite of us having had pizza the night before. I was honestly a bit tipsy at this point and therefore wasn’t too picky as to what I’d like to eat. We ended up splitting a small pizza, and Rani suggested I get sausage on my half, which I thought was an awesome idea at the time. Unfortunately this sausage did not agree well with me, perhaps because my system was out of whack due to the change in climate, and for the remainder of the trip I felt out of sorts. I’m sure if the sausage hadn’t thrown me off then something else would’ve. Again, it was good pizza, but after the few drinks I had at Great Divide I was in no condition to fully enjoy it. I also think the altitude contributed to me getting drunk quicker, as one could see from my strained red eyes. Either way I clearly hadn’t been drinking enough water to keep myself hydrated. I’m sure I was a messed up sight.

After Marco’s we went back to the hotel and take what was intended to be a two hour nap, since later onI was intending to stop by a club called Milk. Well, we overslept a bit and woke up at around midnight, and since clubs in Denver typically close at 2:30am this shot down any prospect of going out and enjoying a full night. On that note we decided to just stay in and go back to bed. I was a bit cranky at the time, but the extra sleep actually worked out in our favor because Sunday turned out to be a very busy day for us.

Sunday - City Park, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Irish Snug, Sin Sunday @ Church

With plenty of sleep under our belts we were out door bright and early at 7am. We started things off with an acceptable breakfast at the diner downstairs (It just didn’t compare to Snooze—Sorry) and from there headed west to City Park, making note of several shops and restaurants along the way. In total it was about three mile walk—Not bad if you’re looking to work off a full breakfast. City Park was huge, so huge that we got lost a couple times. Once we found the lake though we gathered our bearings and located our primary objective, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Regarding the Museum there was good news and bad news. The good news was that it turned out to be a free day for all general exhibits. The bad news was that on account of it being a free day certain exhibits started to get packed at around noon, and you can be sure that there were plenty of screaming babies and kids banging on all the interactive crap. Even some of the adults were obnoxious. I’d have rather it have not been a free day so I could’ve just paid my 11 dollars and enjoyed the exhibits without people yelling and crawling around everywhere.

We’d actually arrived at around 9:30am, so we at least got a couple hours in before the crowds showed up. For our first stop we went all the way up to the top floor to check out the observation desk, which was facing westward toward the mountains. Here we got a wonderful sight of the Rockies over Denver. Off in the distance we caught a view of Mount Elbert, the highest peak in North America. Truly awesome. While on the deck we were greeted by a friendly astrologist who had set up a solar telescope and provided us a view of the Sun. Very cool. We had a nice conversation about solar flares, though some of his terminology was way over our heads.

From the roof we proceeded to visit each floor of the museum from the top down. The wildlife exhibits on the upper levels were incredible, and the Explore Colorado area was especially well done, providing a throughout model the entire state and all its different habitats. During our wanderings we stumbled upon an exhibit showcasing the work of Vasily Konovalenko, a Russian artist who specialized in making small figurative work out of gemstones. Incredible work, especially for those who consider themselves mineral nerds. Speaking of which, the museum also hosted an extensive exhibit on gemstones and minerals. It was fascinating but a bit overwhelming at the same time. There was a fantastic collection of ores found in Colorado as well as other gemstones from all around the world, though I’m sure a majority of the latter were reproductions. The prehistoric exhibit was neat as well and featured a number of dinosaur skeletons. It was a lot of take in for a Sunday morning, but I managed to absorb a good chunk of what I saw. I’d definitely be up for another visit it we ever make it to Denver again!

At around 1:30pm we exited the museum and from there walked back up to Great Divide where I enjoyed a pint of Oak Aged Yeti and took the brewery tour. Mind you this particular tour was doubled up with people from the Denver Brewery Tour so it was a little crowded, not to mention there were some amateur brewers in attendance who not only insisted on asking some rather inappropriate questions, and then followed up the guide’s answer with even more condescending inquiries. It though their behavior was a very rude, but nonetheless the guide handled them well. The tour itself was very informative, albeit somewhat short. I’m glad I took advantage of it though.

Afterward we went back down to Colfax and had dinner at The Irish Snug. As far as Irish bars are concerned this place is well on par with the Grafton in Chicago. It had a great décor with an awesome custom bar. The walls showcased a few prints of paintings I recognized from our visit to the National Gallery of Ireland. The only odd thing of note was they served Strongbow but no Magners, which is really unusual for an Irish bar. Anyway, I kept dinner simple and ordered their swiss and mushroom burger. Nice burger. Whatever negative presumptions I had about the place were blown away by the great food.

From there we headed over to Uptown Brothers for an after dinner pint. I’d best describe this place as a classy sportsbar. It’d initially caught my eye earlier that the day when we walked by and saw they served Alaskan Amber. Alaskan Brewing beers are only distributed to a select number of states, and unfortunately Illinois is not one of them. Well, I just had to have myself a pint. The verdict? Good amber, but if it were more attainable I don’t think it’d be held up on such a high pedestal. I tried a sample of something called Green Bullet but it was much too hoppy for my tastes. Even I have my limits.

Afterward we went up to our hotel where we rested for a bit before dressing up and heading over to the Church for Sin Sunday. The event itself is held in the church basement and there are two separate rooms with their own DJs. Upstairs there is a lounge as well as the main church portion, complete with a big stained glass window, all of which is unfortunately reserved only for special events, and since this wasn’t a special event … well, we didn’t get to check it out. Bummer. It was back to the basement for us I guess.

Note that neither room has a proper dancefloor so you better get used to dancing on concrete. My dance sneakers actually took to the floor fairly well but Rani had a harder time dancing in her flats. The floor space and general layouts in both rooms were fine, and the music selection was decent with standard synthpop/EBM in the main room and more old school stuff in the other. The latter had an atrocious sound system though; Even songs I know by heart were unrecognizable through their tinny speakers. Seriously, I’d recommend the club not using this room with the speakers in that condition, especially since the two rooms are so close to one another. Awkward. Might I add that for such events I’m partial to there being one dance area instead of two. Also, certain regulars seem oblivious to their surroundings while dancing—except for this one sleazy little fellow who was trying to dance with people all night. What he was doing was boarderline harassment, as he would force himself on people until they left the floor to avoid him. I’m disappointed the guy wasn’t bounced out after the first … oh, I dunno, three times. Rude.

I have to admit that due to the climate I was not in the best of moods. Throughout the course of the night I’d worked up a modest sweat, and this is when the high altitude finally started to take its toll. I’d go out for a few songs and eventually have to take a break due to exhaustion. At one point my upper chest area was aching and I couldn’t even make it through one song; I’d pucker out only a couple minutes into it, completely defeated. As a result I felt old and inadequate. I was also coping with some terrible gas build up, but I’ll refrain from sharing any details on.

Anyway, despite all these qualms we actually had a good time at the Church. Let’s be honest, it’s not our club back home. You just can’t compare it to Neo. We left the club at around 1:30am and retired back at the hotel.

Monday - House of Commons, Wynkoop, Falling Rock Tap House, Blue Mustang

Ah yes, Monday, our last day in Denver. At around 8am we got up and leisurely made our way downstairs for breakfast. We had the same waiter as the day before and this time we actually got around to chatting with him. After breakfast we got the spontaneous idea to visit the Denver U.S. Mint facility, conveniently located right down the street. Tours are hourly and the requirements were pretty strict, but we figured we could swing it if we took the 10pm, which afterward would give us a whole hour to check out of our room. We got to the mint at 9:45am but were informed that the 10am was full and the next available tour was at 11am. There was no way we could do the tour after checking out of room because then we’d have our backpacks with us and such items are not allowed. Oh well. It would’ve been cool to see the mint, but you can’t always have it your way.

On that note we retreated back to our room to gather up our things, after which we checked out of the hotel and headed up to Highland to visit a tea house called House of Commons. Rani had her precious tea while I settled for a cup of coffee. I was feeling a bit peckish too so I had a slice of quiche w/ onions. I’d like to add that on Monday the altitude had really gotten to my head, and that my system was still feeling the effects of dehydration. I made sure to drink as much water as possible during breakfast and that managed help a bit.

After House of Commons we decided on a whim to visit a little-known brewpub named Wynkoop. Having never heard them before I thought they’d be just your standard run-of-the-mill brewery, but this place turned out totally awesome. I had their Smoked Silverback Porter and a sample of their—brace yourself—Patty’s Chili Beer. The porter was fine, but the chili beer … omg—Not only did it open my sinuses but it had potent aftertaste of chili that lingered about the back of my nose. Apparently its made with roasted chilies and smoked peppers. I’d never experienced a beer like this before. For the rest of our stay in Denver the yeasty taste of this beer kept coming back to memory. Great drink, though I don’t think I could’ve handled a full pint.

Since it was close up we decided to stop by Falling Rock Tap House. We were immediately taken back by the thousand or so beer bottled lined up along walls and up to the ceiling. This place was the beer Mecca with over 70 beers on tap. I was awestruck. We took a couple seats at the bar and I checked out their menu. They had a respectable number of Belgian beers but I was more interested in their domestic offerings, mainly the Colorado beers. I had pints of the Tommyknocker Oaked Butthead Bock and the Bruery Autumn Maple, as well as samples of the New Holland Mutinous Battle Chai and Deschutes Black Butte Porter. I don’t normally say this but all the beers were amazing, even the Battle Chai, though one might attribute my glowing review to my experience at the Falling Rock. We had an awesome time. I’m glad we stopped by for a visit.

From there we headed down to the 16th Street Mall where we caught our bus back to the airport, and during this ride is when we caught a glimpse of the Blue Mustang. Yeah, that’s right, we just so happened to be looking out the window when the sight of a gigantic blue horse with glowing red eyes caught our attention. Our waiter back at the hotel had told us about this beast, along with the backstory that its artist, Luis Jiménez, was crushed and killed by a piece of it during its construction. During our trip to the airport I’d forgotten to keep an eye out for it, but then there is was, this huge, cobalt blue, terrifying horse just standing there all alone of the side of the road. Personally I found it really cool, but apparently since its erection in 2008 Blue Mustang been the source of much controversy, so much that people have gone so far as to protest that it be removed. It’s quite a spectacle and I’m happy we saw it on our way out of Denver.

Ok, I’ll spare you our check in at DEN and our flight home.

You’re welcome.

While at the National Gallery of Ireland there were a number of paintings which caught my eye that I failed to write down. Later on at home I went to the National Gallery's website in the hopes of obtaining a listing of their works on display. No such listing was available so I picked myself up a used copy of a book detailing all the major works in the National Gallery of Ireland. Using this guide I was able to identify most of the pieces I was seeking out. Here's a run down of what I found:

Fra Angelico – Sts Cosmas and Damian and their Brothers surviving the Stake
Florentine Master – Battle of Anghiari and Taking of Pisa
Ludovico Mazzolino – Crossing of the Red Sea
Lavinia Fontana – Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon
Rutilio Manetti – Victorious Love
Luca Giordano – Venus, Mars and the Forge of Vulcan
Salvator Rosa – Landscape with the Baptism of Christ
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – Allegory of the Immaculate Conception
Jusepe De Ribera – St. Onuphrius
Thomas Couture – La Peinture Realiste
Jean-Leon Gerome – Guards at the Door of a Tomb
Adam De Coster – A Man Singing by Candlelight
Gerrit Van Honthorst – A Musical Party
William Claesz Heda – A Banquet-piece
Anthonie De Lorme – Interior of the St. Laurenskerk, Rotterdam
Jan Steen – Marriage Feast at Cana
Domenicus Van Wijnen – Temptation of St. Anthony
Jacob Xavery – Garland of Flowers hanging from a Bough
George Barret – Powerscout Waterfall, Co. Wicklow
James Arthur O’Conner – A Thunderstorm: The Frightened Warrior
Bartholonew Colles Watkins – Murlough Bay and Fair Head, Coast of Antrim
Harry Jones Thaddeus – Market Day, Finistere and Wounded Poacher
Richard Moynan – Military Manoevres
Francis Dandy – Opening the Sixth Seal
Daniel Maclise - Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife
Aloysius O’Kelly - Mass in Connemara Cabin
Claesz Hede - Still Life with Silver Tazza, Roemer and Tankard