Louisville December 2008

This weekend spouse and I took a trip to Louisville and stayed at the 21C. A really unique contemporary art museum / hotel. You can just barely see that spouse is standing below the chandelier outside the 21C in the picture above. Red Penquin sculptures are interspersed throughout the building and appear in new locations often. One of the current shows now is All's Fair in Art and War: Envisioning Conflict.

One of the quotes from the pamphlet for this exhibit explains, "We might not always like the message, but it is the artists that distill the essence of an era."- Robert Flynn Johnson The next couple of pictures are from our room.

Below is a picture from the men's lobby bathroom urinal. According to a sign outside the lobby bathrooms ... these are"site specific commission for 21C Museum titles In the absencse of Voyerurism # 6 & #7"

In both bathrooms the mirror behind the sink has life size LCD videos embedded of 7 blind people's eyes darting around. That is kinda strange, but also two way mirrors so you can see outside the bathroom into lobby.

The picture with Ronald McDonald is titled McSurgency and is an acryllic on canvas by Louisville native Nick Owens. The artist is making a comment on private contract firms such aas Blackwater who "operate with diplomatic immunity and whose military engagements perhaps work to the detriment of enlisted United State military personnel to sponser corporations to further it's own agenda."

The bears (same artist) title is Phasers on Stun. Here the artist is commenting on how odd it is that society represents the Teddy Bear as cute and cuddly but in reality this animal is a dangerous predator. "The artist compares their role to that of soldiers in our socity, how we flaunt words such as 'bravery' and 'sacrifice' ... separated from the very visceral tasks soldiers undertake to earn such respect killing people."

Barack Obama and John McCain were prominently displayed in the lobby too. Also on the floor in front of the check in desk was a video of two people sleeping. There was lots more, in fact they have over 9,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Saturday morning we toured the Louisville Slugger and Muhammid Ali Museums before our 3Pm apppointment at Glassworks to blow a glass ornament.