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Museum of Modern Arts

My Contemporary Art History professor is requiring us to take a trip to San Francisco this semester and "raid" the Museum of Modern Art (a.k.a SFMoMA) to write a research paper on our favorite work there.

So, that's what I did this past Saturday. SF is about a 2-hour drive from me, and I went with a fellow classmate and her two friends.

We were required to visit every gallery in the building across 5 different floors. We had to take multiple photos of works in each gallery, and of ourselves...because she will not even grade our work if we don't have photo proof that we were there. x_x So, pretty much it was a given that we had to go with other people...not only because SF is a hell of a city to brave alone...but also so we could take each others' photos and what-not.
We also had to sketch our favorite work, and keep a photo journal inside the actual museum. BUT...as a blogger, I'm naturally inclined to take more photos than necessary. :P

We stopped in Berkeley because we don't like actually driving into San Francisco. Crazy place. So, we parked to catch a train...and saw a Mario block on a bridge. Win.


I took the below photo and texted my mother saying that I was taking the BART for the first time, and she was like...uuh...yeah, you took it when you were like 4. -__- Oy. Well, excuse me for not remembering. I was pretty excited about it anyway.


When we got to SF, we found out they were celebrating St. Patrick's Day a day early. o_O; Green. Everywhere. I was glad to have worn even the smallest amount of green on the letter beads of my bracelet, and in the teal eyeliner I had on. lol HEY, it counts.



My classmate n' I kept taking photos of random architecture around the city 'cause it's really pretty. I realized then just how much SF and Toronto have in common. Pretty cool. I could never live in a city like that, though. Way too hurried, too expensive, the people are SO strange, pollution, noisy, dirty, etc. Not good for my stress levels. ^^; It's a great place to hang out for a bit, though. Gorgeous old buildings, lots of history, I love all the businesses and people in suits, the ocean, etc. It's also very liberal, which is also bad for the stress levels. lol 

I've been to SF several times in my life, but not much as an adult on my own. It's quite a different experience. Seems a bit more exciting when I have the freedom to do whatever I want. :]

This is where PikminLink attends college. :P We passed by it looking for food.
A view of the city from the 5th floor of the MoMA
View of the city from the 4th floor of the MoMA
Front of the MoMA
MoMA lobby
Below was the first piece we saw inside the museum...I didn't particularly like it, but my friends went crazy about it. lol You can definitely tell it's done by a Japanese artist just from the way the eyes are done. Takashi Murakami. The title is "Super Nova."


Definitely had to take a photo of this one below. It's Mark Rothko's "No. 14." You walk in and it's like glorified on the back wall all on its own. The lighting is majestic (photo doesn't do it justice), and there's a wooden line built on to the floor where you're supposed to stand while looking at it. This is an artist who puts large bodies of color on a huge canvas and calls it a spiritual experience. I was talking with my classmate about it and said I believe it's only a big deal because people have intentionally made it that way for some reason. Think about it. Call it genius, sublime, contemporary, what have you...but what the actual hell makes it that way? 

The artist himself said that looking at his work is meant to evoke a spiritual experience in the viewer just as he went through. So, another girl and I just stood there staring at it for a good while, and were just like...yeah...not gettin' anything. 

Yet, at the same time, I can completely understand how it would spark feeling in others. Perhaps I simply wasn't letting it speak to me. But as an artist who most certainly does NOT prefer abstract styles, I also chose to not view this image as the extraordinary piece it's been made out to be by certain other people. (Are you seeing my love/hate relationship with art yet?)


I like the below painting a lot better - "Leaky Ride for Dr. Leakey" by James Rosenquist (another artist we've studied). I'm much more drawn to Pop Art than Abstract Expressionalism (the movement Rothko participated in), even though I still find its randomness a bit irritating. I'm picky, what can I say. :P But I can still appreciate. 


The artist I deemed my "favorite" in the museum was Lebbus Woods, an architect who draws and creates some of the most intricate and intriguing designs I've ever seen in my life. Unfortunately, it was one of the galleries we weren't allowed to take photos in. Why? I have no fricken idea. I found it out a bit late though...so I have a few. It wasn't even flash photography, so none of us understood the issue.




Funny how I'm drawn to this abstract style, no? :] I was surprised myself. It was just so incredibly gorgeous. Look up his stuff online!! It's amazing! I will be writing my paper on him for sure. So much to say. Good chance I'll share it here.


Top of the stairs on the 4th floor - back of the giant tapestry piece.



Top floor has a roof garden and coffee bar. I asked for bottled water. This is what I got. $3 down the hatch. x.X

I found Alexander Calder's work on the roof! It made me excited 'cause I wrote a paper on him last semester. :]


Lastly, we visited the gift shop to look at books and see if we could find a souvenir. I found a Wonder Woman art book on sale for over half off - I got it to expand my western art collection in the midst of all the Japanese pop culture I possess. lol Can't wait to have time to read through it. :]



I also got this SFMoMA paint brush...which wasn't only extremely soft, but was also a pencil on the other end. ^_^ Can never have enough pencils...


MUGS YOU CAN DRAW ON, WHAT?? Craziness. 


And theeeenn....on our way back to the train station I spotted a Japanese Sweets store... Being on the Pacific coast, SF has tons of Japanese/Asian culture in it, and you can get some legit cuisine out there. We didn't wanna pass that up. Expensive as HELL, but sooo, so worth it. It was so good. I made a video about it below if you wanna hear me talk about sakura sweets for like 10 minutes. :v

My classmate and I still speak some Japanese, so were able to communicate with the basics while we were there. It was so incredible. I would eat Sakura Daifuku every day if I could. D: And there were sooo many other things we would have gotten if we had the money. One girl with us was a high schooler, and I told her this is the kinda thing college students totally should not do, but do anyway. xD 


Didn't get to try the Hakuto Mochi! So bummed...


So pretty...~





Dun be judgin' now...people in every country go crazy over foreign "exotic" culinary experiences. :3


Anyway, the day took it out of me for sure. Back to work. Lots of homework. Gonna be another all-nighter. Even so...I made up a list of good habits for me to look at and remember to follow this semester...hopefully it'll help me get through...








~Uni


P.S. San Francisco is absolutely crawling with incredibly attractive men. I assume half are gay, tho. :p

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