The vital aspect of seeing paintings IRL
I’m back home in Seattle after a jam packed four days of art viewing in New York City. I spent two full days absorbing all I could at the Met, gallery hopping in Chelsea, walking the highline, eating at Chelsea Market, wandering charming shops in and around West Village, with a finish at the MoMA. Somehow I even fit in lots of palette cleansing walks in Central Park, which was filled with beautiful bird songs, musicians and all the Spring flowers in bloom.
I’m still processing all of the paintings I got to see, and I imagine it will take a while to incorporate my impressions in the studio. My biggest gratitude goes to my friend Julie, a friend of mine who is also a collector of my work and a true patron of the arts. When I had mentioned I was planning on going to the MET this spring, she invited me to stay at her midtown hotel while she was on one of her many work trips. I’m so glad it worked out this way, because it was wonderful to finish each day with her sharp wit and sage advice over fancy Manhattan dinners. My nickname for the week was “indulgey” - for the feast I had with my eyes and my belly.
These art viewing trips are always such good reminders of why I do what I do for many reasons. After a few years of the pandemic, I have felt more committed to making sure I don’t wait for anything. Maybe a lot of us have learned to become less passive in many ways, and for the most part it does feel like we all understand a little more than we did before that time really is of the essence and we never know how much of it we get to have.
I never know what the take away will be after going to these major museum trips, there’s so much to digest once I get home. I’ve read a lot of interviews with artists who say they don’t feel they need to go anywhere anymore - because they can view any work of art online. While that is of course a wonderful aspect of our digital age and an amazing tool (especially if you are like me/most and cannot afford to be traveling all the world’s museums and shows) you just can’t compete with the real thing. It’s vital to do both if there is the opportunity. I often pull up work that I am studying on my phone and screenshot, crop, collect, zoom in, see every iteration, post, and photograph I possibly can of what I am drawn to. It’s incredible to have grown up before this was an option, but for the art that I am drawn to - seeing these works in real life are life changing for me as a painter.
My last afternoon at the Met, I was alone with John Singer Sargent’s The Hermit in the American wing. I was switching between two different cameras, moving in and out and stepping back and moving in up close with my eyes in what I’m guessing looked like a goofy and maybe slightly forensic manner. I hadn’t realized that anyone else was around, but after a little while I turned around to meet eyes with a guard who had been watching me. Grinning he said, are you a painter more as a statement than a question as if he already knew the answer. He also happened to be an artist and so he recognized how we look at art - we swapped studio info and he shared that he had been a part of a group show the previous year featuring artists who worked at the Met. He had moved from Egypt with only a few hundred dollars to his name, without knowing a single soul and leaving all his family and friends just so he could be closer to the art.
I’m still beaming that I was able to see so many of my favorite paintings that I have spent hours of my life staring at in print (and now screens) for the very first time. IRL did not disappoint! To see what the world considers the greatest works of art and recognize my same loose colors, built up paint and brushwork by the masters and peers alike reminded me that my style deserves more of my own confidence.
More on highlights and studio take aways from my trip to come…
