The Wallace Collection

When I was five, I had a Chicago Bulls jersey with the number 23 on the back, but Michael Jordan’s last name was absent. When I was eight, I got another Bulls jersey, this time with Jordan’s name sewn on above his number. It was a much cooler, classier jersey. The Wallace Collection epitomizes high class. The rooms are elaborately decorated, the exterior of the museum mansion is beautiful and Victorian, so it is only fitting that the paintings have the names and titles of paintings engraved on the frames. While I usually think the painting should stand alone with text panels on the side (or like in the Saatchi Gallery far away from the paintings), for this collection it seemed rather fitting. The more expensive, ornate, and high-on-the-social-ladder this museum could look, it fulfilled that ideal. Engraved paintings made the whole work of art, from the painting to the frame to the wall to the entire room, a work of art.

I'll go with the famous one. The Swing is a fascinating painting which has this beautiful nature exterior and a Victorian feel to it, but the man in the bushes waiting for the woman to swing to him gives it a sensual and forbidden feel. It is almost reminescent of the Garden of Eden, with the temptation and the female as the one being pushed around. It is a painting that makes me smirk. 

Guns should not be this pretty. It makes little kids want them. In that regard, it's disgusting. However, it's cool and lavish. I wouldn't want to fire it because I'm very pro gun control, but I would love to hold it just to intimidate someone.

My favorite museum experience is split between the Design Museum and the Saatchi Galleries. The former had the incredible design awards exhibit which was incredibly fun to mull around. Also, it allowed me to understand the art of design more deeply. I have always had the thought of art being paint on canvas, but that museum most vividly changed my opinion. Automobile design, iPad app design, sex surface design: these are all works of art in varying degrees, and it was fascinating to appreciate these works on par with Van Gough’s sunflowers and Monet’s Lilly pads as they are all art. I loved my visit to the Saatchi gallery because the art challenged me more than any art I had seen in my life. I appreciate and love looking at Monet’s painting, loving being encapsulated in their beauty, but they have never made me think or philosophize about their message. Almost every piece in the Saatchi Gallery achieved this feat. The works were raw and unforgiving; the museum felt like an equivalent to a black comedy. Further, I loved the locations of both museums. After my visits, walking through Chelsea or along the river among the many wharfs was a perfect way to ponder the art I had seen and appreciate the art of the city.

My family has always been a museum family, so I was well versed in museums and art before this trip, but this class has made me think about not just the small components of the museum as art, but the entire museum as one piece of art. If a museum has a lack of focus when presenting itself, I am now critical. This extends from the gallery presentation to the façade of the buildings to the literature they pass out. If a museum cannot present itself well, what’s the point of going inside? And even further, museums must create a unique image for themselves. There are hundreds, if not thousands of art museums in the world, so why is this one special? When I was in Madrid, I think the Thessin museum answered this question but the Prado, the more famous one, did not. Unfortunately, the collection can speak for itself only to an extent, the museum must work to enhance the collection and itself. At the end of this class, I have become proudly critical of museums, but I think it will improve all my museum experiences from here on out.

Had I not been in this class, I would have gone into the National Gallery and the Tate Modern. That’s it. It’s not that I disliked museums, but I know I would have found excuses to avoid London’s wonderful museum scene. This class made me explore the other big museums as well as some smaller ones I would have never thought to go to (Design, Saatchi, Wallace). I am so happy I took this class because it would have been a waste if I hadn’t spent significant time exploring the museums in London.

Design Museum

Best Architecture Design: 

Balancing Barn

I would hang out under my house every single day. I would have bbqs, keggers, maybe throw a pool. Anything. Its so incredible to look at, I would love to live in this place. 

Best Furniture Design:

Intimate Rider

This is for people with little or no lower body mobility to have sex more effectively. While it is technically a product, I would put this in my living room; two people on the bench, one on the chair. Maximum seating. It serves as furniture and a great product.

Best Transport Design:

EN-V Transport

We're close. We're real close.

Best Graphic Design:

Homemade is Best App

I thought the app was incredibly clear and simply. It was user-friendly which is the most important thing to do when designing an app. It made me want to buy it and learn how to cook.

I was fairly underwhelmed in the Wim Crouwel exhibit. I understand he is a very famous designer, and looking at certain posters I can tell he was a big influence on the way things are designed today. The phonebook sticks out to me as an important part of his collection and vision. It's a simple decision to make the phonebook lowercase, but it allows for more names on one page. It is a financially and environmentally effective design. However, I was bored looking at posters. I didn't see traces of other artists, but I accept the fact that I dont know enough about poster design to grasp the full effect. 

Saatchi Galleries

This museum certainly has a different feel than others, and part of that is the possibility for different sight lines of pieces. For example, some rooms have sculptures and paintings. Obviously sculptures are three dimensional and can be seen from many ways, but taking in the entire room as a piece of art, as a design, is very interesting with this hybrid setup. The piece that comes to mind is the Latin American burial wall. It took up the entire wall, about 20 feet high and at least 40 feet long. It was a massive piece. Looking at one specific grave is one sightline, looking at an area is another, and looking at the entire piece is another. And it took effort to see all the graves. There were ones at my feet and way above my head. A similar feeling was with the spam ads wall. It taught me to look at a piece both in a detailed way and in a large picture manner. 

I feel like it is an interesting approach to have small text templates away from the paintings. The tour guide spoke of it like it was ridding the painting of a predetermined message. While it may not be that extreme, I do realize that when I approach a piece, I immediately look at the artist, the date, and I read the description. Here, because I am lazy, I did not go all the way  to the other side of the room and I just studied the painting. To the tour guide's credit, I think she is right. I took much more away from the pieces making my own judgements before I found out the truth. Honestly, not knowing the name of the piece enhanced my experience with the paintings. 

I thought the material in the Saatchi Galleries was challenging, and I had never felt that way in a museum before (besides being challenged not to cry when in the Baseball Hall of Fame). I truly thought of the pieces as puzzles to understand. At times it was vulgar or maybe even juvenile, but I was attracted to these pieces. The oil room was incredible. I smelled it from down the hall, making it almost defy its own location as a piece of art. The spam ads were great. It was funny and a bit terrifying at the same time. I would have bought that one. But above all, the weirdest and funniest was... Penis Face:

Street Art In London

I wanted to find really great street art, but in very posh areas like West Kensington and Notting Hill, it's nearly impossible. But here we go.

I think this is more vandalism than street art. I found it on the side of a restaurant on Kensington Church Street. Things like this don't give street art a good reputation. It just looks ugly and draws poor attention to the wall.

This was in front of Abbey Road Studios. Yea. On a wall filled with people signing their names and writing Beatles lyrics, this wonderful piece of work ruins everything. It's like Yoko. I was not happy when I saw this.

The sticker looking thing on the left is actually painted on, even though it looks like a sticker. I thought this was kind of cool. It has some profanity in it, but it is somewhat "defacing" an important city object. It was small but symbolic, especially being in a posh area.

On the wall next to a book store in Notting Hill. It is simple and fantastic. It doesnt even need to mean much, but its incredibly cool.