My Discovery that Chivalry has died on my way to BAMPFA

Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive
2155 Center Street, 
Berkeley, Ca. 
Hours
Wed-Sun, 11 AM-9 PM
Films nightly, Wed-Sun


I decided to go and see the new Berkeley Art Museum-Pacific Film Archive and experience the exhibition they have going on until May 29, 2016, called the Architecture of Life. The purpose for my choosing this museum was I wanted to go to a museum that I had never been to before. My drive down there from Winters, Ca. was interesting to say the least. Just as I got on the first bridge westbound on I-80 I heard a noise. At first I thought it was nothing but road noise from the different pavement I was driving on. As most of you that will be reading this post are aware of when driving to the Bay Area one must pay attention to all the others vehicles around you especially in heavy traffic. Also, there is no shoulder off the highway to pull on to in the event one may need to. This day the traffic was heavy and the closer I got to the Bay area the slower the vehicles were moving and impatient drivers were darting through the lanes.

I was so relieved when I saw the exit for the Berkeley Museum. As I pulled up to the second red light in the right hand lane in Berkeley and came to a stop, a man on the sidewalk yelled, "Hey," then pointed to the rear of my pick-up truck. I looked at how my truck was sitting and thought it was level and slowly continued driving straight ahead looking all the while for a full service gas station. All of a sudden I see two police officers in uniform parked next to each and standing there talking to one another with a vacant lot and driveway entrance to my delight on the right hand right of the road. I pulled in and parked and immediately got out and looked at my rear tire. Sure enough I had a concrete screw in my tire.

This is when I discovered that chivalry has died. I walked over to the officers and asked them if they could help me. They asked what the problem was as we walked toward my truck. One of them knelt down and said, “Do you hear that? You have about ten minutes before your tire goes completely flat.” So, I asked them again if they could help me. The reply was, “If you drive about six blocks maybe seven and make a right about two blocks up on the left is a tire center.”

I drove the distance found the tire center and walked to the museum thinking to myself that I was going to have a good time at the museum and not sweat the small stuff.

The museum was flat gorgeous from the outside and I wish I had taken picture. However, I did take plenty of pictures on the inside to share with everyone. Upon entering the main entrance to the museum the viewer is greeted by a huge wall Mural which covers an entire wall as shown below.

Titled, "The World Garden," by Qui Zhijie. Ink on wall, 2016.

This artwork is a visual and textual compilation of various gardens and garden motifs from around the world. Its references range from Classical Chinese literi gardens to the terraced gardens of the Italian Renaissance to the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The design of the museum layout is very open and the way the art works are displayed allows the viewer full enjoyment of art a piece of art without a neighboring piece of art crowding it. Here is an example of what I mean.

One of the Docent's and visitors at the museum.

This image above is of one of the docents’ and a few of the visitors which were there the same day I was. What the picture I took reveals is the open space and partial length of one the rooms. The image also allows one to see the distance between some of the wall hangings.

I was quite surprised to see this painting from the Crocker Museum here at the BAMPFA at first until I thought about the theme of the exhibition the Architecture of Life at which time it made perfect sense to me for it to have been included in this exhibition. 

Titled, "Portrait of My Father," 1972-79. Acrylic on canvas.

I immediately was drawn into this drawing below, I am not sure why but I stared at the image for quite some time. I thought possibly that it reminded me of my grandmother because the woman has such a friendly face.

Samantha absorbed in her favorite art work here.

After a spell I went and walked through the entire museum looking at other artworks and taking pictures.

Titled, "The Goodbye Ranch," by Jay Nelson. 2007-09, Graphite on paper, diptych.

When I had all the pictures I wanted I came back and this time read the didactic next to the image and ended up taking a picture of it too because what was written moved me.  

This didactic for the above image is worth reading.

Here are some more art works I enjoyed while here at the museum.

Titled, "Cityscape with House & Gray Energy," by Chris Johnson, 2003. Acrylic on wood.

This one was quite interesting to me and is another one that I decided to take a picture of the didactic which is shown below.

This is for the image shown above.

This picture below is just to show that I was not the only one in the museum that day.

Visitors at the museum.

The image on the left that the people are looking at is pictured below. I liked the contrast in the painting between the light and the dark.

Titled, "4 Brushstrokes over Figure," by Hyun-Sook Song, 2012, Egg tempura on canvas.

The artist Hyun-Sook Song I discovered from being at the museum was born in Korea but now lives in Germany and speaks the language. Here is a video where he demonstrates his minimalist style of painting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5evChfXrStM

These next few images of contemporary art were the collaboration of man and insect. What I learned about the insects specially spiders is that in nature some spiders share the responsibilities of feeding the community's young, while others live apart but join together to build a shared web. That is where the artist comes in here. Tomas Sacaceno an Argentine artist whom has a fascination by the designs of spider webs came up with the idea of encasing various spiders into containers and allowed them to create various web designs. 

The room was dark and I was not the only one taking pictures.

There was a person in the room at all times and they only allowed six people in the room at a time.

A little bit of glare on this image.

However, I do have some images that show what the artist created.

Spider web creation.

Here is one last image of a web creation that I took.

Remember to click on the picture for a close up of this web art.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this museum was the diversity in the types of contemporary art they had on display. I can honestly say that I did not know or had heard of ninety nine percent of these artists. I have researched some of the artists because I have enjoyed their works of art and wanted to learn more about them. So, I am very happy that I chose to come here.

Here is an image from an artist that I thought was stimulating. 

Titled, "Within, S.W.S.," by Avery Preesman. 2008, Sable cement and pigment on wood.

The artist describes this wall relief which has the character of abstract architecture, as "a mental dwelling/space." I think at times my mind may feel how this appears. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. But I do like this piece of art work. 

Here is a final image to share with everyone.

"Untitled," by, Laeh Glenn, 2013. Oil on panel with wood.

As much as I love color I do not believe that was my mindset this day when I came to the museum. I say this because as I look at the pieces I have chosen to share with everyone they are for the most part devoid of color. However, they each share a unique beauty in their own right. 

Overall, I had a wonderful time at this museum and encourage everyone to see this exhibition before it is gone.