the art in bloom exhibit at the mfa was rad. basically, various flower/gardening groups (ie not professionals) get together and create floral arrangements to stand next to selected pieces of art throughout the museum. its cool to see how people tried to play with shape, color and texture in the flowers, and its also cool just to see some amazing fucking plants. some of the floral arrangement/art work relationships were a bit strained, but for the most part, they all had some pretty obvious connection. also, the people managed to find a host of really cool containers for the arrangements, which was sweet. while the museum itself has a lot of plant life in and around the courtyards, its kind of strange to see brightly colored plants in the exhibition halls. its was also cool to see live things on display, as opposed to dead (or never living) ones.
it was also interesting to see how the flowers changed with the style of room in which they were exhibited. the darker rooms (ie those holding egyptian sculpture) were seemingly filled with the smell of the flowers, which was really cool. the room became this kind of esoteric garden. also, the bright rooms had some cool containers that reflected/refracted a lot of light, so in general, those arrangements were more sculptural and diverse (though that could have had something to do with those rooms being fliled with younger paintings rather than older sculpture).
it was also interesting to see how the flowers changed with the style of room in which they were exhibited. the darker rooms (ie those holding egyptian sculpture) were seemingly filled with the smell of the flowers, which was really cool. the room became this kind of esoteric garden. also, the bright rooms had some cool containers that reflected/refracted a lot of light, so in general, those arrangements were more sculptural and diverse (though that could have had something to do with those rooms being fliled with younger paintings rather than older sculpture).
imagoldfish:
That is awesome. I wonder, did anyone try to fill the room with a scent that they felt would be appropriate to the setting/context of the painting? Like, if it were a still life with roses, seeing and smelling them would be awesome. I dunno what kind of flowers they rocked in old Egypt (my indubitably orientalizing impulse is to imagine musk and jasmine type stuff) but that would be neato.