Some Notes on Paintings at the Prado

I don't make it to Europe all that often. I was in Geneva and Barcelona to present at the International AIDS Conferences in 1998 and 2002. Before that was my backpacker trip in 1979. I always go with the idea that I can't see everything, and I can always return.

This summer would be my first art-specific trip, and in that vein I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Goya and Manet by walking the halls of the Prado specifically to see the paintings of Velazquez. I relied more on my Moleskine than on my camera, and I thought it might offer a little insight to transcribe here what caught my eye.

Fra Angelico's Annunciation

The exterior has Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden. the 3/4 of the image to the right is about redemption. Oddly enough, if the annunciation is about a new deal from god, you can't have the subject of the painting be about the new unless you're reminded what the old deal was. It almost seems odd after looking at this painting that it would not be found in other annunciations.

The floor swirls with marbled yellow, green, and light blue, reproducing the colors in the undercoat of the angel and the lining of Mary's robe. All these visual cues that point to interiors, makes me think about how important interiors are to the subject matter of the painting, because the really important thing--what's happening inside Mary's uterus--can't be depicted.

A back room is seen between Mary and the angel, lit from a back window that peeks out to the garden that's seen on the left. The back room's austerity contrasts nicely with the gilt used on the paintings subjects. Very nice.

Dirk Bouts' Annunciation

It shows the same subject as the Bouts at the Getty. In both paintings the angel admonishes. This one at the Prado is much more decorated, with the angel wings made of peacock feathers.

Brueghel the Elder's Triumph of Death

A king in the left corner is cradled by death, who holds an empty hourglass. There's a cast of hundred, both living and dead. Juxtaposed nicely with Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, on the opposite wall.

Goya's Milkmaid of Burdeos

Painted the year before his death, it was a gift to the woman pictured. I saw this painting at the show at the Frick of Goya's work painted in his final years in France. There is something to be said for running across a familiar work in a new setting. Like stumbling upon a long-lost friend.

Goya's Black Paintings

Taken from the walls of his home and transferred to canvas. Some of the more horizontal pictures are incredibly cinematic, but it really makes me wonder what was cropped out. I try to imagine sitting down to eat in a dining room, chewing on a lamb chop and washing it down with a glass of red wine while having Saturn devour his child over my shoulder. With something so decontextualized, much is lost.

Some notes on museum cruising.

There are the occasional cute boys that wander through, accompanied by a friend or with an audio guide pressed to their ear. Some with bodies to rival the semi-naked St. John the Baptist, decked out in tight-fitting T-shirts and jeans instead of a fur loincloth. They hardly make eye contact here, unlike the stares I remember in the museums in Latin America. Their eyes flit about the room, from painting to wall text and then they wander away.

Is it because I'm older, having reached the age of invisibility? Is it because I don't appear to be an exotic other, instead blending in with the Iberian-Caucasoid masses? Perhaps the language barrier is too much to overcome. Perhaps they already came.

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Jet-Lagged Visions of Mexican Gay Porn Stars

When a dear friend Gary Dowd passed away and bequeathed me his porn collection, it included a dubbed VHS tape of Viva Macho, a Jim Moss and Bob Ackerly production filmed in Mexico. Shot 23 years ago, the film included six solo J.O. scenes, including one with Pablo (AKA Jose) shown above. Several years later I bought another Ackerly/Moss production with Pablo called The Boys of the Rio Grande, shot in 1990. The last film of Pablo/Jose I came across was Tom Cat Beach, released in 1991.

One of my infrequent FBs saw Boys of the Rio Grande on his visit and noticing that it was a "pre-condom classic" made the off hand remark that they (the actors) must all be dead now. It was a disconcerting remark and not part of my Pablo/Jose fantasies.

When I arrived in Madrid it was a tad too early for my hotel room to be ready, so I headed over to Chueca. I saw a face that seemed vaguely familiar, and followed him into a small cafe where I ordered breakfast. From my seat, I could see his reflection in the mirror behind the bar.

His eyes looked familiar, as did the way he held his mouth. It took a while for my synapses to connect this Madrid cafe and some dusty, seldom-viewed Mexican VHS tapes. I think in my fantasy I pictured him older, chubby, and more wrinkled, living on a farm outside of Puerto Vallarta, or subconsciously that AIDS had passed through Moss' entourage, and due to the scarcity of effective drug treatments, they all became part of the loam. Still, I hoped that my wacking off functioned like novenas, and had kept them all alive.

After he finished his coffee I saw him do his neck-cracking trick I'd seen him do in his movies when he was tired and wanted to be someplace else. It was then I was sure it was him. Still quite handsome, and a bit shorter than I'd imagined.

I wondered if he still worked in the sex industry, that saw-tooth roofed factory with a billowing smokestack that turns pornstars into prostitutes and addicts into hustlers. He slipped out the door with a brief glance in my direction. Did he recognize my recognition?

I returned to the hotel to check in, feeling regret for not approaching him.

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A Visit to the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia

Update:
The new number for the audio guides below is 215-525-1671;
please make a note of it.

Years ago, The Museum of Jurassic Technology had a temporary exhibit, so there was a bit of nostalgia--like running into a long-lost friend--when I saw the bone crushing forceps for late-term abortions on my visit to the Mütter. Sorry for the poor quality of the surreptitious camera phone pictures.

Some Notes on a Visit to the Mütter Museum

[WARNING: Clicking on links in this post may result in gruesome images]

• Enema Syringe, Early 19th Century (pictured above)
• Chains used to restrain lunatics at Pennsylvania Hospital, 18th Century

• Portions of the Brain of Charles Guiteau, Assassin of President Garfield (pictured above) [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 22# to hear the audio guide]
• Seven classifications of conjoined twins (not including parasitic or fetus in fetu)
• Human horn, wax model [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 11# to hear the audio guide]
• Eight skulls with evidence of syphilitic caries or necrosic decay
• Cadaver with Adipocere (Soap Lady)

The Hyrtl Skull Collection (some examples)

• Girocamo Zini, age 20; Rope Walker. Died of Atlanto-Axial Dislocation (broken neck).
• Ercolle Pisane, age 42; Tailor. Died of Dysentery.
• No Name, no age; Cretin. Died of Thyroid Deficiency.

Some occupations listed:

Gypsy, Hussar, Sailor, Calvinist, Prostitute, Maid Servant, Brewer,
Embroiderer in Silk.

Some ages:

60, 13, 28, 48, 16, 62

Some other causes of death:

Suicide, Tuberculosis, Gunshot, Fever, Died of a Dagger Thrust

-x-

• Urinary Calculi representing 55 years of urinary surgery by Dr. G.N.J. Sommer of Trenton, New Jersey
• Baby with Open Brain Case and Closed Eyes (photo from the Kunstkammer of Peter the Great)
• Fetus diagnosed with Acephalus Acardius (without head or heart) in the Teratology Collection
  

• Chang and Eng's Conjoined Livers (photo above)
• The Chevalier Jackson Collection of Objects Swallowed and Removed (numbering 2,374)
• Skeleton of a 39-year-old male with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
• The Muniz Collection (consists of 19 trephined skulls from Peru)
• Wax models showing diseases and injuries of the eye (e.g. row 4, #18: penetration of the eyeball by a splinter of wood)
• Cross section of the head [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 15# to hear the audio guide]
• The Mutter American Giant [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 7# to hear the audio guide]
• Shrunken head Ortsantsa, created by the Jibaro Tribe (sic), c.1900 [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 9# to hear the audio guide]
• Conjoined Twins [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 19# to hear the audio guide]
• Ball of hip joint showing Avascular Necrosis [Call (408) 794-2228, then press 21# to hear the audio guide]

I thought this last specimen was interesting because it was taken quite recently from an HIV-positive man during hip replacement surgery. I imagine there's some gay guy wandering around Philadelphia who can claim to be the only living person able to visit himself at the Mütter Museum.

And lastly, there was the wax model of the tongue with Hairy Leukoplakia I saw at the MJT exhibition mentioned at the beginning of this post. At this point I realized that I was the only one left in the Museum as it had closed.

Sic Transit.

Several hours of contemplating (mostly) deformed flesh in formaldehyde worked up an appetite. Dinner was at the lovely Vintage on 13th:

• Prosecco
• House salad with shallots, pine nuts and haricot verts
• Viognier
• Sweetbread satay with hazelnut sauces, sweet potato chips and parsley oil (Yum!)
• Port
• Cheese plate

Overall, it was better than sex.

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Love Brother Monument Proposal

With everything I would need for the next five weeks packed in to a 21" rolling suitcase, Robert dropped me off at LAX. My first stop was Philadelphia.

At the newsstands, eating places and boarding area I see two types of travelers; it's noticeable in their faces. There are people waiting for their flight because of their job, and those who are traveling for pleasure. Because I'm on my way to view various art fairs, I thought of this trip as being "(art-)work related," but I realize that I am more like those on vacation.

The difference is that between intention and experience. The business traveler is like the driver of a car: she moves with intention. Those of us who are traveling for the experience are like a passenger in the same car: our eyes move about, our senses fill our memory.

My first stop is in Philadelphia. The entry to the right side of the picture above is the entry to the Liberty Bell Center. The bricked area in the foreground was the site of the slave quarters behind the first presidential residence where George Washington lived and carried out the affairs of state.

This photo shows the excavations taking place on the site of the main presidential house. In the 1830's the house was torn down and replaced by a row of shop houses. The little blue flags in the picture mark the basement-level foundations of the presidential home. The red flags mark the foundation walls of the shop houses that came later. In the lower right corner you can see the curved foundation wall supporting the bow window of the State Room. The man in the white helmet stands at the excavation of the original well for the property. I spoke with Jay Levin, Archaeologist on-site with the National Park Service, and he said that Washington ordered a new well to be dug to the left of the picture (not seen) because this well could be seen from the front, and those drawing water would have been Washington's slaves brought from Mount Vernon to Pennsylvania, a free state.

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My Grand Tour, 2007

Here I am, attempting to counter sultry Venice by dipping my shirt in FGT's Untitled (Perfect Lovers) in front of the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. (Photo Credit: Diane Calder)

I'm now back in Los Angeles, magnets on my fridge, and clothes run through a proper washing machine, rather the once-over in a hotel sink.

I thought I'd take a bit of my free time over the next month to post some photos, thoughts, and experiences acquired over five weeks and eight cities.

For those who may not know, earlier this Summer was a once-every-ten-year alignment of the Venice Biennale, Art Basel, Documenta, and Sculpture Project. The art fair in Basel was a short-lived affair, but one can still visit Venice, Italy and Kassel and Muenster in Germany, as those surveys of contemporary art will be open for months.

Besides hitting these four cities, I also did some recon work in Philadelphia for a project I'm putting together this Fall, and paid visits to Madrid, Rome, and a brief stop in Frankfurt before returning home.

It's been 28 years since I dropped out of high school and lugged a backpack around the hostels of Europe for the Summer. One extended art education later I've returned to place a slightly different foot in a slightly different river.

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Frank Gehry in the Simpsons

Like curvilinear forms much?

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