SPRING HAS ARRIVED
And not a day too soon. It's been a long cold winter, but last week the sun began to shine. Which meant the first Central Park picnic of 2004. Sam discovered the thrill of finding and holding pine cones. And once he latches on to something it can be difficult for him to give it up. It becomes a friend. In this case, it encouraged serious contemplation of the world around him. A world that he explores with passion. Once he decided he was hungry it was time to find a picnic spot, and he insisted on selecting it himself, searching for the right spot while dragging his supplies behind him. After much hauling, his hunger got the best of him and he plopped down and started to eat. I think it would be not incorrect to simply say that he began to stuff his face.
After lunch it was time for a repeat visit to the Whitney Biennial. As a fan of contemporary art, Youngsamwise fans know that Grandpa loves to drag Sam along. It never takes much dragging, and I think he enjoys it as much as I. His taste is impeccable. If he likes a work of art he will smile in contemplation. If he doesn't, he either points or says "go now." If we go into a room to view an installation piece, or a video piece, and he doesn't want to stay he says "no, no" and points to the door. But there are many times he will stop me and force me to contemplate a work of art he particularly likes. One (that did not impress me) was an upright thin slab of mirror-like bronze. He liked it so much he grabbed it and pulled, causing the whole thing to start to tip, and some horrified art patrons to gasp. We got out of there quick, before the guards could catch us.
In a large darkened room with a floor to 20 ft. ceiling movie screen, the artist Eve Sussman has done a "twelve-minute-long high-definition video, '89 Seconds at Alcazar', [that] takes on nothing less than Velazquez's Las Meninas. With actors in full costume on a set that reproduces the room in the painting, Sussman imagines the activity bristling with the tensions of the royal household, which seem to affect even the long-suffering pet dog, that might have preceded and followed the split-second arrangement of Velazquez's virtual photograph." So sayeth Peter Schjeldahl, the New Yorker art critic, in his excellent review of the show. Well, Sam goes in, walks right up to the screen and, looking at the princess (whose back is to the camera) says, very loudly: "Mama", then a pause, and "BIGGGGGGG." And when the dog came on the screen he announced "Dog" to all the assembled viewers. He stayed through the entire video, quite happy. I don't know what the other people in the room (it was quite dark of course) thought of Sam's commentary, but I did hear a few laughs.
His favorite installation was a pink shag-carpeted room, done up to look like a teenage girl's bedroom, with the largest stuffed animals we'd ever seen. He particularly liked the different textures, the different kinds of softness, that you can make out in this picture. In the photo Sam is looking at two large video screens showing images of disaffected teenagers. Picture-taking is rather frowned upon in museums, but we had arrived so early that this room was practically empty, the guards were busy trying to find the small boy who was reported to be pulling over art works, and we were able to sneak in a few shots.
And to complete our day, we met Mom at the Central Park Zoo. There Sam was awed by something or other. Perhaps his favorite, was this handsome creature.
All in all, another perfect and happy day.
