September, 2021 – April, 2022
“Art in the Desert” is a sorta kinda misnomer. The Phoenix Art Museum is avant guard and definitely worth a visit. And there are any number of galleries and small exhibitions and street art that can keep individuals all along the vast continuum of personal artistic preference well interested.
We had an opportunity to attend 3 terrific shows that opened in Phoenix this winter season.
During late summer 2021 the announcement for an “Immersive Van Gogh” exhibition came to our awareness. It read: “Imagine stepping inside a Vincent Van Gogh painting, being completely enveloped in his brushstrokes and colors. What if you could experience his masterpieces in a very three-dimensional way, not only visually, but also with stirring classical and contemporary music? This epic celebration of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh features 40 of his masterpieces, including Starry Night and Sunflowers, that are animated and brought to life. The exhibit is a dance of art, light, music and imagination.” The reviews from around the world (!) were extraordinary. Who wouldn’t want to go?
We were going and sent out information about the show to our closest Valle del Oro friends – “how about an outing?”…one couple resounded with a “let’s go!” and tickets were purchased. The experience was certainly unique and particularly astonishing.
Brian really didn’t take enough pictures…
Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist best known for “moving the field of blown glass into the realm of large-scale sculpture.” Chihuly in the Desert showcased stunning, large-scale installations nestled among the Desert Botanical Garden’s world-class collection of desert plants. Featuring sculptures on the Garden’s trails and complemented by a major indoor gallery, the glass installations are quite simply spectacular. These masterpieces are even more striking once the sun goes down.
Heading indoors there was a whole other world of blown glass, media (other than glass?) and reflected mirror images to experience…
Awestruck by the indoor display we ventured back outside to find twilight – installations we hadn’t seen in full daylight..
A second immersive art show, focused on the work of Gustav Klimt, arrived in Phoenix a month or so before we broke camp in April. We tried to schedule a time with our neighbors Tom and Karen to see the show. The timing was just not right for a double date so we had dinner with them and went to the show on our own.
Who but a select few know the work of Gustav Klimt. Maybe, just maybe more than a few know his work “The Kiss,” but what other works of art that represent his life’s work?
“Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist (?) painter, and leader of the Vienna Successionist Movement that was created as a reaction to artistic conservatism. Influenced by Japanese art and its methods Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objects d’art in which the primary subjects were the female body, allegories and portraits, and landscapes.”
Check it out…
Brian took plenty of photographs this time. No?
The immersive exhibitions are the first time outside of a classroom or symposium that the general public have the opportunity to view so many works over the lifetime of a master artist. The experience would be overstimulating for concrete thinkers and serial learners – those that can’t just sit back and allow themselves to let the swirling ever changing landscape of the artist’s work surround them. It is a visceral experience that was stimulating – had us asking questions of docents onsite and lead to our own in-depth discussions. Ask us sometime why Van Gogh wore a broad-brimmed straw hat with several candles held in the brim…
As a contemporary artist working with blown glass Chihuly has no peer – he is the master, bar none. In the light the detail of each installation is evident, Chihuly’s mind’s eye is ever so slightly exposed, and the skill of he and his crew shine brightly. Placement of the installations enhance and compliment the surrounding desert plants. But after dark the installations simply took our breath away – a 10,000-watt display of color, shape and composition set against shadows of those very same desert plants. Whew!
In this case don’t take our word for any of it – go and see for yourself. Be open to the experience!
Barbara and Brian
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.“ – Henry David Thoreau
Aimless Wanderings 
The glass blower is phenomenal!
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Chihuly is the bomb…he did a spectacular almost 50 yards in length glass sculpture in the lobby of the Bellagio in Las Vegas (check it out on google).
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Wow! The immersive art experiences really are something, aren’t they?! I loooooove VanGogh, so that one is definitely right up my alley. Klimt isn’t really my cup of tea, but my sister-in-law really likes Klimt, and I can see the appeal of the immersive art experience there, too. The Glass Sculptures / paintings are so intriguing, too. Light, color, glass … it makes me think of Sunday in the Park With George – and George talking to himself about color, light, order, design, composition, form, symmetry, balance and so on.
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Gloria, As always your feedback is soooooo appreciated. I see that the blog is reviewed by many folks, but only a few make comments. For us, Chihuly is the bomb. Not to diminish the immersive Van Gogh and Klimt shows though – they were indeed spectacular and the media storm was an new and exciting way to experience the artists. The next immersive show that is just around the corner is Impressionist with Monet as the cornerstone – impressionists are my personal fav. I’m sure the show come to Philly, and hopefully once the thrill (!) of your move and settling into new surrounds has quieted down you’ll have a chance to attend.
.
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Holy Cow – I have a real soft spot for Monet! That could be super interesting, too. My favorite collection (though I haven’t been since, you know, 2020) in Philadelphia is at The Barnes, which includes a fascinating array of artists, but which also affords the opportunity to sit and observe art by the likes Van Gogh and Matisse (among others) in close proximity at whatever length of time suits. I might feel daring enough to head out to the museums in the summer (I know Rik is itching to make use of our ongoing annual memberships), but community transmission of covid is still so high that I’m not sure I feel comfortable taking the risk.
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