The Met / Paper #2

This past Saturday was the ???th trip to the Met and I'm still discovering things. I must say that it is a massive structure and as impressive as its size is alone, its art is equal. I've always loved it there, as a matter of fact I had always planned (as a child) to live across the street, then reality hit, and I realized that I couldn't afford to (lol). Anyhoo you walk up to the Met and you are immediately struck by the size. Its design has that Greco-Roman style facade with columned and arched entrances. If you've looked up, you'ld see the 5-6th century Greek-like busts placed in carved seashells flanked by scrolls and an intricate design. On the entrance walls there are relief sculptures that depict some of the artist in the building and always a crowd of people. Then you enter into the Great Hall.

The Great/ main hall is huge. The three domed ceiling is massive and there's an octogon patterned floor to match the size and spacing of the three domes. Also there are decorative niches that most often times house vases with flowers. Throughout the building itself is very impressive architecture that bring you back to another time. For the most part it is mainly inspired by the Greco-Roman and Rennaissance ages with its columns, busts, niches and vaulted ceilings. Also you will find in the sections that are dedicated to a particular culture, the structure of the space will follow suit. Well we've entered and you can pay your entrance fee at either the left, right or center service desks, behind each is the beginning of a gallery. Directly in front of you, as you're walking in is this "marbled" or carved stone like staircase that is flanked by columns, which naturally draws you in, and each entrance on the sides are also indicated by the massive columns. Just to give you an idea of how big they are, an average person may only be a bit taller than the base of the column. Ok, now you've made it past security and pay either the suggested price or whatever your pocket may afford you, you get your Met pin and you're off to explore. A few things you need to have, a hideable snack ( i.e. small bottle of water and a candy bar or something neat to eat), Patience, stamina and comfortable clothing because there's so much to see.

The first gallery we visited was the Egyptian gallery that my daughter was facinated by. I was also, and you can spend so much time just in that gallery alone, which we did. There were jewelry and statues, masks, wigs ( made of real hair) the coffins, gold sandals and toe coverings, everything you could and couldn't imagine. There were so many artifacts, it always amazes me at the things they were able to accomplish without modern technology, from massive monuments to the tiniest trinkets, I mean as small as a child's finigernail. It was wonderful in there. The people at the met do a wonderful job with the layout and lighting of particular pieces, its always just enough to add the drama. It's so perfect. One of my favorite pieces in this gallery is a piece of a bust. For some reason I don't feel I would have been as facinated by this piece had it been complete, something about the fraction of a face, I guess it was that air of mystery. While here we were also able to enter a temple entrance, which is housed in an open room with a wall of windows. It's placed on a higher level that the remainder of the room and surrounded by a little pool of water. It's supposed to be a place to relax and feel what it must have been like to be near this temple in Egypt.

We then made our way over to the East and Southeast Asian galleries, a place in the museum I've never been, and I LOVE Asian, especially Indian and Southeast Asian inspired art. So this was the place to be! I wish I could share all of the pictures I took. There were so many beautiful things, more sculptures than anything but they were all so interesting. Many depictions of the Buddha and other deities. Some paintings and tapestry, etc. I could really have stayed in the section of the museum for hours just studying the different pieces. At the staircase leading into the upper gallery of the Indian exhibit was this beautifully intricate carved ceiling dome and within the upper gallery red room were smaller artifacts, and other more colorful pieces encased. For some reason it was very hot up there, but wonderful to see.

We took a break for lunch which is the only complaint I had. Please eat a small lunch prior to your visit because the lunch is overpriced and luke-warm. Between my daughter and I, I spent enough to have been able to take her out to dinner. Lesson learned. From there we spent some time in the Asian wing, in which is housed this recreated open garden walkway, that ends in a wooden room. There in the room is this georgeous wardrobe and carved walkways. You can feel the tranquility and lose yourself in it. It was unfortunate because at this leg of the trip our time was running short. You really need to be able to dedicate a day to the Met in order to really appreciate all of the art that is there, and even then you'll need another trip where you'll probably say "wow I don't remember seeing that". We ended our trip in the African Textiles special exhibit, which was my favorite new exhibit. Because it was a special exhibit you weren't supposed to take pictures, which I found out after I was able to snatch a few. I really hope to be able to go back to catch this exhibit again because I wasn't able to really give it the time it needed, but what i was able to see was beautiful.
Within the exhibit were a few pieces that I loved, one of which is a tapestry constructed of aluminum bottle caps, other metal and copper wire in a loosely pieced woven style. As you approach it you see a beutiful tapestry alone, believing that its fabric. It's not until you get closer, much closer that yuo recongnize that it isn't. It's so beautiful to see, and I wish I could touch it. It's comprised of so many individual pieces that it must have taken months to create. It is entitled Between Earth and Heaven by El Anatsui of Ghana, from the Volta region. He's of the people who wove Ewe Kente cloth which is where he is inspired to create this piece. His career spans forty years and he is a graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi.He's known for creating art out of non traditional materials like broken pottery, liquor bottle caps and driftwood. It was textile exhibit but the pieces were so fitting as art in an of itself. Another of my favorites was an instillation of wax paintings on stretched Kente cloth set on a tangerine backdrop. The Artist Yinka Shonibare created blocks of art in a series entitled 100 Years . Each piece was so vivid and the tangerine color just held it all together. There were other woven pieces that were incredible also. This was a nice end to my trip.





Overall it wasn't surprising, but a very pleasant trip. I always love visiting the Met and recommend anyone to see any of its exhibits. Actually I recommend going more than one within the year so as not to miss anything, since they are always housing something new.