Happy Birthday to me

Thanks to social networking I can't play it off like I'm celebrating because it's Eddie Mathews' or Margaret Thatcher's birthday anymore so I'll fess up. It's my birthday. I'm as old as Jack Benny now, so this is officially my last birthday until I'm old enough that it's advantageous to skew my age up instead of down. For a last official birthday, this has been a pretty damn good one so far.

The kids were disgusted about going to school so they didn't wake me up 3 hours early and jump on my face when I'm half asleep as is their custom. I got to wake up at a decent hour and nom on some french toast that was made for my daughter's teacher appreciation day. After dropping off the kids at school and grabbing a large coffee at the Dunks it was off to this:

The exhibit officially opens this Saturday but I'm a member of the High, so I get to drool over the goodies before the unwashed masses. The advertisement says 12 Modern Masters, but I think there were actually 14 artists on display. I guess the extra two are so you can take your two least favorite artists of the bunch, chuck them into your own personal "talentless hack" bin and still say you got to see 12 masters. I personally am but an overgrown monkey scribbling away with #2 pencils on printer paper, so I have no right to talk smack about anyone in any museum so I'm gonna go with 14 masters on display. Maybe 13 or 15.  I wrote 'em all down, but I forgot to bring my cheat sheet with me into my office to type up the post so you'll just have to go see it for yourself, or demand that I do a post with all the artists. Yes, this is now a baseball card+ponies+art blog whether you like it or not.

The exhibit is fantastic. Picasso is just Picasso. That man did shit with lines that is mindbending. I'm going back again sometime just to stare at his sketches for an hour to try to figure out what the hell he was doing. I also got a new appreciation for Matisse, I have never been a fan because his stuff (especially the later cutout work) seemed kinda simplistic. When you see the paintings in person, it's actually quite amazing what he does with those simple forms and paint strokes (and also the strokes he doesn't make). They had some of Jackson Pollack's work there too. I have never understood Pollack, and I still don't get Pollack, but actually seeing the work in person shows just how talented the guy was. It may look like a bunch of splotches when you see it in a book or in an image online, but when you can see the details and textures - holy crap the textures are amazing - you get a better appreciation of the art. It's also more apparent that there's quite a lot more going on behind all those drips and splatters that you just can't quite see when looking at a squished photo in a book. I've always looked at Warhol as more of a Brand than an Artist, but getting to see all 32 paintings of Campbell's Soup cans - one for each flavor - all side by side probably made me a fan. More like I'm a fan of Coke or Nintendo, but still a fan.

I had no idea Joan Miro's work was going to be there but when I saw this:

I very nearly cried just a little bit. Not big burly manly tears like I get when I watch My Little Pony and Twilight Sparkle finally learns the true power of friendship, but real emotional socially unacceptable tears cried by someone in love with a canvas sploshed with pigments of varying color. Person Throwing a Stone at a Bird was one of the first modern art paintings I remember seeing as a kid and the sheer insanity of it all burned itself in my mind and has never left. I just cannot get over that FOOT. The bird is pretty fucked up too. And ohmygod DAT EYE. And is that blood?? Seeing that thing live and in person completely unexpectedly was one of the best things to happen to me all year. No, I'm not kidding, I really do love this painting.

After the museum my wife and I went to Fellini's. I got a spinach calzone and a Yuengling on draft. Our table card was also awesome:

The description on the back is "George Who??"

After lunch we got the kids and went to the store to pick up dinner. Stuffed salmon, roasted red potatoes with onions and garlic and a salad, key lime pie for dessert and we got a huge bottle of chardonnay so I might even get lucky tonight.

Best. Day. EVER.

And to top it all off, ponies.


Happy Birthday, Summer Sanders!