Monkey Mind

[James Grashow, "The Great Monkey Project," 2006, detail; DeCordova Museum]

I went to the DeCordova Museum yesterday and saw the exhibit, "Going Ape: Confronting Animals in Contemporary Art." According the overview:

The history of art teems with animals, and may indeed have begun with images of beasts painted on the walls and ceilings of caves. Since that time, animals have appeared in the visual arts in everything ranging from decoration to symbols and allegories. The current interest in animal imagery, as expressed by both artists and viewers, seems intensified by our increasingly uneasy relationships with the natural world and its denizens. Our positions vis-à-vis animals are marked by confrontation and confusion. We gaze with wonder at them in the zoo, yet try to avoid them on the street. Meanwhile, our pets are practically people, since we ask them to be life-long companions and child surrogates. People don’t seem to know animals well anymore, or understand what our interactions should or could mean.

I enjoyed the exhibit, and in good company. I've been to museum exhibits with dates who seemed to be uncomfortable with anything "odd," by dates who wandered off without stopping with me to contemplate and share an opinion, and others who have been fully engaged - the psychiatrist I used to date probably had the most interesting thoughts on exhibits we saw together. Yesterday's chatty Gemini (or Gemini with the toggle switched to chatty) was thoroughly curious and open-minded albeit not liking everything. That made it fun - although admittedly not as fun as a barrell of monkeys (I'm not sure how well you can see James Grashow's corrugated cardboard monkeys above, but they reminded me of those linked plastic monkeys in the old Barrell of Monkeys game - they're strung up in the museum from the atrium ceiling above the stairs and you can see them from the grounds inviting you with their playfulness to go into the building).

The flip side, or not-so-flip, were Frank Noelker's sad portraits of chimpanzees retired from biomedical research. Their faces - and the stories accompanying the portraits - are heartbreaking. Here's one (there's a good slideshow of the exhibit at Boston.com):

[Frank Noelker, "Pepper," 2002; at the DeCordova Museum]

Outide later in the Sculpture Garden I was nosing around the big tubular steel sculpture behind the museum when a chipmunk and I startled each other - it had been perched on the lip of a tube opening until it caught sight of me and scampered down the tube shaft. Perfectly in keeping with the exhibit's theme!

Unfortunately I was fighting overload and exhaustion before I even got there, running late and getting lost. A minor thing, except that I spent so much time in traffic last week that at times I fantasized about getting out of my car, while it was just sitting on the highway, and walking away. Thursday it took me more than an hour and a half to get to work, and after work I had a wake to go to which took me an hour and 15 to get to in traffic, and after the wake I still had to drive home almost an hour. I did have dinner with a friend before heading home, but got home long after I should have been in bed. The saving grace of these long commutes has been the audiobook my housemate gave me for my birthday (Isabel Allende's Zorro, read by Blair Brown - very entertaining, but I'm finished with it! So I just joined an audiobook club similar to NetFlix). But it's still so much time out of my day. I am going to have to find some solution... work out at a gym after work to avoid evening traffic, stay at a friend's, something.

After the museum visit and sharing some pizza afterwards, I drove home and took a nap. I was supposed to drive down to Rhode Island that evening to go to a party but couldn't bear to get in my car. Today I went out only as far as the grocery store and to fill up the tank. I hardly said two words to anyone all day and I'm finally feeling like myself again. Tomorrow morning, back into the commute with the rest of the herd. Moo.

[Cow, Tufts Veterinary School, Grafton; 9/24/06; viewed by bicycle]

Comments

[marja-leena]

That animals in art exhibition sounds fascinating! I'm sorry to hear that the commutes are wearing you down, I hope you find a happy solution.

[Dave]

Sounds like a fun exhibit, and I love the photo. I don't envy you that commute, though.

[mary]

What a fascinating post and photographs, Leslee. And you had an appropriate companion for the exhibit by the sounds of it. Glad you are out and about again but taking time to rest as well. Periods of silence and solitude are part of the necessary mix imo .....

Wishing you a good week.

[Keith]

Can relate to the feeling of being in herd while stuck in traffic. Thank goodness for express bus service or I'd have had to abandon my car on side of road a long time ago. Have a good week.

[MB]

The exhibit sounds interesting. I don't envy you those commutes, Leslee. You make me appreciate what I have in that regard. Books on tape are a must for me on long drives. Gets my mind Elsewhere.

[joanna]

Nice earring. ; )

[Rhea]

Hi, I just read your post on the DeCordova Museum. I live in Boston (I guess we're neighbors!) and I was thinking of going there on Sunday. So now I know a bit about what the show is like. Thanks!

[Sara]

Ooooh, the DeCordova is my absolutely favorite museum in Massachusetts. And the grounds, including the hiking trails, are gorgeous at this time of year.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to have to get over there. I loved the exhibit they had a few years ago that was all about monsters, sort of a different dimension of the same area of human consciousness. Glad you were able to fit this one in between everything else. As tired as you were afterward, other people's creativity can be so rejuvenating. It stays with you and picks you up long afterward. It feeds everything you do.

I'd rather go to an art museum -- especially the DeCordova -- than a day spa anytime.

[leslee]

Thanks, all. I enjoyed the exhibit - any of you locals that go let me know what you think. The DeCordova is also one of my favorite museums.

ML, Dave, Mary: Thanks, and Mary I hope things are going well with your big move, too.

I will have to check in on everyone's blogs this weekend.

Joanna: Yah, those poor cows all had similar inappropriate accoutrement.

Keith: I wish I had public transport from here. If I worked in Boston I could take the train from my hometown, but I live at an entirely different trajectory out of Boston from the suburb I work in. Sigh.

Waiting for my new book on tape to arrive...

[Ana]

I just saw this this morning. Lots of good stuff. I think the Kitty Wales piece ("canis ex machina") and the "manscape with beasts" photos were my favorites.

[leslee]

I liked the Kitty Wales piece, too. The manscapes were pretty out - the one with the skunk especially! I did like the aquarium ones across the hallway.

[Ana]

Yeah, those Henry Horenstein (I think that's who it was) aquarium photos were pretty neat. I remember seeing them during the south end open studios a few weeks ago.