Starling Travel

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is hosting an exhibit of Edvard Munch’s artwork from February 19 to May 8, 2006.

• MoMA.org | Exhibitions | 2006 | Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul

Best known for his work, “The Scream”, Edvard Munch was accused of creating “degenerate art” by the Nazi party. He has later become known as an Existential Superstar. I think I drew a copy of this painting more than a hundred times during my teenaged angst years. The image just resonated with me and based on its popularity, it resonates with all humans at some point in their lives.

The universal feeling of grief was something that Edvard was aptly able to portray. Take this painting, “Death in a Sickroom”, which portrays the death of his sister. I have always been haunted by this painting because of the man leaning on the wall on the left side. The whole family is grieving and he is using the wall to support himself. He has to hold it in for the family, but the sadness is overtaking his body. It’s that figure, shoddily painted in the background that brings the utter despair to the room.

If you happen to be traveling to New York, you can see the 87 paintings on display at the Museum of Modern Art. If you are stuck at home, you can see their online exhibit here:

• MoMA.org | Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul | Click On The Audio Tour Full Program

Via: Happy News – Edvard Munch retrospective opens at MoMA – by Deepti Hajela with Associated Press

In 1916, the Dada Manifesto was written and its concepts burst into flames from the sparks of the first World War. Dada is considered an avant-garde revolutionary movement in art that concentrated on anti-art. Rather than beauty, Dada gave it no regard. Rather than meaning, Dada meant nothing.

I have a hard time with the Dada Art Movement. It just seems like a bunch of posers got together and decided that they would devise the one answer to the question they always get:

“What does it mean?”

“Nothing.”

Still, my skepticism doesn’t change the fact that a lot of art was created under this movement and it spawned the Surrealism Movement, which meant so much more than the eye could see. There is a huge Dada art exhibit touring the world right now.

• National Gallery of Art – Upcoming Exhibitions – Dada

The appearances for the exhibit are as follows:

• Musée national d’art Moderne Centre Pompidou, Paris, October 5, 2005–January 9, 2006
• National Gallery of Art, Maryland, February 19–May 14, 2006
• The Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 8–September 11, 2006

If you find yourself traveling to any of these cities, this is an exhibit to see over 450 works from the Dada Movement. You can also take an online tour of the exhibit here:

• National Gallery of Art -Dada – Introduction

Via: Happy News – Dada gets first U.S. international exhibit – by Carl Hartman with Associated Press

Mike and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium when we visited San Francisco for the first time back in 1997. We took our friends south of the city to Monterey Bay in our VW Golf. It was a drive of about two hours, but it was worth it to see the Kelp Forest and Sea Otters.

Back then, we didn’t have a digital camera, so there are no pictures of our trip, but the visit stays so clear in my memory. I loved watching the sea otters being fed and squirmed around the crowds to watch them eat. Now, they have a live sea otter cam where you can watch them all day long.

• Monterey Bay Aquarium: Live Sea Otter Cam

The aquarium has a wide array of online exhibits if you are unable to travel to California to see them. Take an hour or so and view their website. You’ll come back feeling like you’ve taken a quick vacation from your life.

• Monterey Bay Aquarium: Aquarium Exhibits, Live Web Cams and Information About Life in the Oceans

Enjoy your virtual trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and plan a real one soon

Via: Monterey Bay Aquarium works to conserve oceans

Where: 886 Cannery Row Monterey, California 93940 Google Map Phone: (831) 648-4888

The Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada was a relatively new resort and casino in August 2000. Mike and I were on our tenth anniversary trip and we paid the money to see the sharks. If I remember correctly, I was appalled because it was $30 to get us into the aquarium, which was more than the Monterey Bay Aquarium cost and I was sure that there was no way Mandalay could beat it. Back then, $30 was a lot to pay for us, so we were uneasy. We decided that we were on a fun trip and it was one of the few things we wanted to do, so we shelled out the money for it.

If you look closely, you can see Mike and me in the reflections of almost every one of these photos. It makes me smile to see us there, enjoying the aquarium in these inadvertent self-portraits. I remember really enjoying the aquarium but thinking that they had played up the shark thing a little too much since all their sharks were under three feet long.

It’s almost six years later and Mandalay Bay is still playing up the shark theme, although now, maybe their sharks have grown older and larger. Now, the cost is $15.95 for adults and $9.95 for children. There is a guided tour, which there wasn’t before, so I’m sure the event is much more educational than our visit. We are fish enthusiasts, so we were able to identify all the different varieties, but a guided tour would have been fun for us.

• Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino – Entertainment – Shark Reef

I think I’m ready to go back there and see the sharks again. Maybe this time they will be more menancing.

The Utah Museum of Fine Art has an exhibit right now called, Frida Kahlo through the Lens of Nickolas Muray. Nickolas Muray was a famous photographer who lived in the United States. Frida Kahlo was a famous surrealist painter who lived in Mexico. They were introduced by friends when Frida traveled to New York with her husband, Diego Rivera. The subsequent love affair seems unfathomable to me.

I toured the halls of the museum reading Frida’s letters, trying to understand her willingness to have such an open affair with a man while still married. According to the rumors, Diego also had many affairs. They had an “open” relationship forty years before there was a name for it.

All of this is new to me. I was never taught anything about Frida Kahlo in school. I don’t know if it was because she was a woman, a socialist or an artist. My public school education was very light on the arts. I concentrated on things I thought would get me a job. I think I might have enjoyed school a little more if I had heard about this torrid affair and seen the loving photos of an artist.

The beauty of traveling is going to museums in other cities. Check the schedule for the art museum in your city and see if this exhibit is coming your way. It’s worth the time and you will feel as if you had a mini vacation in your own town.

Where: The Utah Museum of Fine Art 410 Campus Center Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0350 Google Map Phone: 801-581-7332

Click here for a detailed biography of Frida Kahlo:

• Frida Kahlo – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click here for Frida Kahlo Quotations:

• Quotations Weblog » Frida Kahlo through the Lens of Nickolas Muray Exhibit

When I was a kid, a King Tut exhibit came to the United States. I think it was the first time that I had heard about archaeology. I didn’t get to see that exhibit, so when I heard that King Tut was back in the United States, Mike and I planned a trip to go see him in Los Angeles.

Was the trip worth it?

Yes, but not for the reasons you might think.

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