Should I read this book?
When I go to art exhibits, I am capable of looking the “part” of the art intelligentsia, if you will. I’m pretty sure I don’t look like the kind of art intelligentsia person that The Commander taught me to be but I do fit in. The problem is that, although I like going to art exhibits, I usually do not have a clue in hell. As much as I LOVED our trek over to the Cranbrook Art Museum last Sunday and as much as I wanted to spend a day in DayTwa with my daughter, I struggled because I also wanted to go out and hike somewhere in the woods. Nick Cave’s exhibit (and Lizard Breath (and the Green Dot)) won and, of course, I loved the exhibit.
It was a bit difficult for me when we went down to book exhibit in the basement. I LOVED the exhibits down there but the young docent on duty down there kept trying to explain things to me. He was wonderful and he was just doing his job but I was kinda like mumble mumble. I think he thought I might be an art-type person. Little did he know I didn’t really understand a word he was saying. For one thing, there were a few handmade books that we were encouraged to actually touch (except that they were fragile). I was confused. There’s a rule but there’s a contradictory rule (touch but don’t touch). And then, there is Titanium Pinky. She is doing REALLY REALLY WELL! but somehow in some way that I cannot put into words, I was afraid to touch the touchable books with TP. Since I could not in any way put this feeling into words, I chose not to share it with the young docent. My pinky does not LOOK broken any more and I didn’t figure he would understand my reticence about touching touchable books. Or maybe I should’ve said something…
I have never been to Cranbrook before. I loved our trip over there and I loved the campus and the museum and I will go back there. If you can get me outta the dern woods.
September 23rd, 2015 at 10:34 pm
No, do not read that book; it’s way too long. 🙂 I often get mistaken for someone who knows a lot about art, which I do, and who knows a lot about sports, where it depends on the sport. I know absolutely nothing about soccer. However, I do very well with football, baseball and basketball–all sports that my 3 brothers played.
September 24th, 2015 at 6:37 am
I second Margaret, do not read that book. It’s not just the length that put me off, but the footnotes that went on for pages, with sub footnotes embedded. Although I see that the two pictured have been flagged in many colors, maybe to keep the multiple plot lines separate. I began to feel that “The Infinite Jest” was that I, the reader, had been sucked into reading it. (And you know I love to read, voraciously!)
September 24th, 2015 at 8:21 am
I should’ve explained the little colored flags. The artist stuck a flag on each page that contained a color name. Something like that – I wish I had read the explanation more thoroughly. Being a “color” person, the project intrigued me. Why she flagged two copies of the same book (and is working on a third copy is lost to me). Isa, did you read more carefully?
September 25th, 2015 at 8:57 am
The flagging reminds me of my portfolio, the capstone of my semester of student teaching. A different color for every section of the Missouri teaching standards. Fills a three-inch binder, and was a Royal PITA!