Friday I went with my friend Ben to see a couple art show openings. First we went to a New Texas Talent show that was in an unairconditioned gallery. The white wine wasn't my favorite (red, please) but the art work more than made up for it.
Typically I go to these shows with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I hate it when people make "modern" looking art to mask their lack of talent. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy good modern art. Tell me you like Damien Hurst and you'll be my new best friend. My problem is just that I'm an art snob. If you don't have talent don't try to mask it by trying to appear indecipherable.
That said, the first show we went to was not like that at all. Rather there appeared to be a lot of great works of art. There was a good mix of photography (some digital), sculpture, and painting. I didn't, unfortunately, notice any ceramics. One of the more fun pieces where two very large puppets that were made with paper mache from banned books. They were characters from the banned books. The artist actually did a good job with crafting the puppets. I liked reading little parts and trying to place where it was in the book.
One of my friends had a couple of her photos. She likes to take pictures in abandoned houses with a person in them. However, the person is often very ghostlike because of a very long exposure setting.
Then we went to the gallery next door to see their opening. It was exactly what I hate about "modern" art. There really weren't any good ideas let alone good artwork. It was terrible. On the positive note is that the gallery had both air conditioning and good beer.
Disclaimer:
I used the term "modern" in quotes because I realize the preferred term for current art is "contemporary." However, I think that some of what I saw falls more into the "modern" art genre than contemporary. It simply attempted to mimic the work of better artists from the 80s and 90s.
After that we hopped onto the rail to go downtown and see what the nightlife was like this weekend. We really didn't see anything fun, so we stopped at an On the Border to get dessert. I had some sort of a sizzling apple thing that was calorie smacking goodness.
Saturday was a lot of baseball game watching during the day and hanging out with a group of friends in the evening. I went over to a law school buddies house to see his new baby. D.J. is about 1 month old! For some reason I didn't feel comfortable enough to hold him, but I did enjoy watching him get pampered by his loving parents. We ended up grilling lots of food, drinking a few beers, and talking about everything under the sun.
Anyhow, that pretty much sums up my weekend. When I wasn't having fun I was staying up most of the night to try to get the writing done. Would it not have been wise to simply forego the fun for a couple days?
