Night at the Museum

Last Friday night, Flavio and I decided to get our culture on at the Walker Art Center, attending an event part of the After Hours series, self-dubbed by the Walker as "the hippest place to be in the Twin Cities."  Unfortunately, unlike the film staring Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson, this "night at the museum" was not one of dioramas come to life, cameos by Oscar the Grouch or hijinks ensuing.   And though it lacked in muppets and PG family fun, the event had an abundance of modern art, hipsters and Wolfgang Puck catered tuna hot dish. (not even joking)


Before going further down this path of snark, I just want to remind everyone that I used to live in New York City, home to three world class art museums, the Met, MoMA and the Guggenheim and a number of cool smaller museums like, Museo del Barrio in Spanish Harlem and the Brooklyn Museum, all of which I actually used to visit on a somewhat regular basis.  So, while I'm by no means an art or art history expert, I've probably seen more art than the average joe.  Also, while I like some modern art, I tend to prefer the older stuff.

And how did the Walker stand up?  Some of the pieces were actually pretty cool.  I particularly liked this silk screen of Jackie Kennedy by Andy Warhol.



And this piece - a commentary on the Civil War and slavery which placed shadow tracings of a slave pushing a plow, etc. over illustrations of civil war battles that accompanied newspaper articles during the 1860's.



I also liked this piece, in the amateur gallery, which I think is a portrait of everybody's favorite Bolshevik, Leon Trotsky. (or it could be a portrait of the artist's Uncle Morty, whatev...)



There was also a very cool multimedia piece (not pictured) which was basically a large dark room with a series of projection films of an old man sitting alone in a room taken at different angles.

On the other hand, there were quite a few doozies that really had no business being called "art."

Some highlights (or lowlights) were:

Billiard Table:



Umm, Okaayyy.....















Pile of Newspapers:



Seriously??!!














Green Umbrella:



You've gotta be f-ing kidding me....
















And, best of all, a room completely filled with squares and rectangles painted blue. I wasn't able to take a picture of the exhibit, but I've recreated one of the pieces below:

Dramatization - May Not Actually Be Art

Flavio, who has little tolerance for modern art as it is, was not impressed with these more questionable works of "art."




Really? You made me walk outside for this?
















He was so irritated, in fact, he began breaking museum rules left and right.

Hey!!! I am soo telling!!!

And what about the event?  Well, let me break it down for you.  Flav and I found out about the Walker After Hours event at an alumni cocktail hour earlier in the week.  The way it was pitched, it sounded similar to the after hours events I'd been to at MoMA and the Guggenheim - a $30 ticket got you admission to the museum and two drinks.  Not a bad deal, right?   Not so.  The only things included with in the $30 price tag were admission, a cup of watery swiss miss hot chocolate and tuna hot dish ala Wolfgang Puck.  Oh, and regular admission is only $10.  Needless to say, I would have been happier keeping my $20, and going to the museum during regular business hours.

Also, Flav and I were a bit square for the predominantly hipster crowd.  Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against hipsters, per se.  Flav and I even had a brief stint as quasi-hipsters in 2009 - living in a neighborhood in the midst of gentrification; wife working as a nonprofit immigration lawyer; unemployed husband staying home w/ our mixed breed rescue.  The thing is, these were the irritating kind of hipsters who try too hard to be ironic.  Case in point - the event had an Ugly Sweater contest. Need I say more?

Thanfully there was a cash bar with booze to keep old lame-o's like us happy.

Nectar of the Gods

Bottom line - check out the Walker for $10 during the day; skip the $30 After Hours events at night.