Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super bowl

this is a piece of art by barbara kruger, which i photographed in the museum of art yesterday (on my screen the colors looked very crisp. on my screen, not so much... :( ). we have an entire book with her photo/phrases, which are really interesting. she takes her pictures from different media sources, and puts a phrase/question next to it. often, they really make you think. for example; "when i hear the word culture i take out my checkbook" "your moments of joy have the precision of military strategy", "i shope, therefore i am", are a few of them. the pictures are important too, ofcourse... (so you should really look her up!).
anyways... i realized the one above perfectly describes what i have been watching tonight; the super bowl, the annual championship of the highest level of professional american football. it was the new york giants against the new england patriots. until last week i didnt even know what the super bowl was, or that the patriots were in, or.. whatever. but i watched the entire thing. plus 4 times as much of commercials. my goodness... our host this evening told us that for every minute of playing time, there are approximately 4 minutes of commercials. i know now that guys in tight pants have to get a weird-shaped ball to one side of the field, and during this process they are most of the time lying on top of each other. i also noticed they have a towel hanging from their pants, and some have black stripes under their eyes (to prevent reflection or whatever.... well.. the sun still bothers me sometimes, even though i wear a lot of black eye-make-up too! but... i dont usually wear a helmet, perhaps it has something to do with that). more importantly, some players are really really fat, and i could sometimes see their bellies (yuck), and.. the while the patriots had shiny tight pants, the giants had matte pants, and i now know that shiny pants make your ass look more tight. (of course, this has not been scientifically tested. it could be that the patriot's pants were more tight, or their asses better trained...). 
from the numerous commercials i learned that women are objects. i saw many very pretty, barely dressed ladies recommending some product or another... (another image/text of barbara kruger would have been highly welcome).
all in all, it was interesting, and i saw a little more of american culture...

Giant head

this is one of the 2 gigantic baby heads that are flanking the back entrance of the museum of fine arts in boston. we were there today, and as it was quite sunny and not too cold, i once again tried to picture these sculptures... one has its eyes open, and the other, above, has its eyes closed. they are bronze, and weigh  just 1.6 tons at 8 feet tall.  the sculpture is titled "night and day", and made by Antonio Lopez Garcia.
about every time that we go to this museum (and thats pretty often. although we only go when we can go for free. that is, on wednesday evenings or the first weekend of the month with our bank card), i take pictures of these heads, but im usually not very successfull. they are just sooooo big, and it is such a weird piece of art... when i saw them first i thought there was something wrong with me. i passed by in a bus and wondered if i really saw what i just saw. when i really saw them, a few weeks later, i didnt like them at all. now im not so sure anymore. for sure they are interesting! perhaps one day i will like them... (probably when i am able to photograph them in a way that i am satisfied..)