I am very impressed with the turn posting has taken lately, so I thought I would contribute something along these new thought provoking lines. I intend to put a discourse on my reading habits and plans as well, but for now I will discuss my artistic interests.

First, this a show that Deborah and I are going to see this weekend.

http://www.corcoran.org/colorandlight/index.php.

I have found that I really enjoy modern art that focuses on clean lines and shapes, but in an organized way. I also really enjoy color, but again, I like clear definition rather than jumbles and swirls.

Within that realm, I really enjoyed an exhibit Deborah and I went to some time ago by Anne Truitt who constructed 3D artistic pieces. The pieces were all rectangular based shapes and often with interesting color schemes. http://annetruitt.org/

The other discovery I made was of Yinka Shonibare MBE. He designs still lifes of manequins dressed in colorfull costumes and staged in interesting constructed settings. He had an entire exhibit at the African Art museum here in DC (he is Nigerian, I believe) that include many of his sets and some photos of highly costumed scenes. Unfortunately, the largest set was ruined (in my opinion) by its overtly sexual depictions. I got what he was trying to say, but I still thought it detracted from his original and highly creative form. http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com/

I think I found this so interesting because it seemed to bridge my interest between art and design. While thought of as two separate fields, I believe they are intricately related (though you can have one without the other). If you have every walked down 5th Avenue in NYC and looked at the window displays of Bergdorf Goodman, you will see what I am talking about. In fact, I would make the arguement that fashion is probably the art that generates the largest following in the US (if not the world). For clarification, I am not including performance art such as music or cinema, though the runway shows are somewhat of performance art themselves. Some might argue that this more like artful design in some cases, but then is architecture art?

I discovered this photographer while wandering around SoHo. http://www.peterlik.com/tree-hope

It turns out he has many galleries, but I do like the vitality of his photos.

Lastly, I have grown to be very interested in cloth and textiles. I hope to decorate my man cave with great suit cloths I find. In fact, I would have to credit in men's clothing (both fashion and style) with openning up my interest in other design fields and now art.

A very big happy birthday wish for Christopher.