Sunday, May 18, 2008

Busy

Went this afternoon with my friend D to New York's newest museum (or one of its newest), the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art. Himalayan - mainly Tibetan - art isn't everyone's thing. It isn't really my thing either; I get worn out quickly here - most of the paintings are crammed with incident and color. But with repeated visits I'm starting to get a better sense of what's going on in this tradition, and in this art. The picture at right - all I could find online - isn't representative except in its bold colors. Indeed it isn't even one we saw at all (is that gentleman standing on the copulating couople really holding his head in his hand as blood spurts out of his neck? it wouldn't be the wildest thing in the museum). Compared to the rest, it's actually not busy at all, but a picture of balance and calm.