Minneapolis, Part One

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Wow I have a lot of great posts to put up, but no time to do them. I decided to carve out a few minutes today to share a few thoughts about Minneapolis. I went up there early last Friday and had several hours to myself, so decided to see some art. The photo below was taken from the Walker Art Center. I liked the old on the left and the new on the right.
The "Walker" as I found out the locals call it, was very enjoyable. It is a museum filled with modern and abstract art. I find this type of art very pleasurable in short doses, maybe once or twice per year. In my life I don't think too far outside of the box. Most of what I do is very black and white - I buy, sell, collect, and do it all over again. I read mostly history books where not much imagination is required, rather a desire to learn. With abstract and modern art you need to use parts of the brain that may need a little dusting off once in a while.

Some things I simply have to shrug my shoulders and shuffle off to the next display, such as when faced with a piece as pictured below.

But the Walker had many more pieces that I stared at for much longer periods of time, trying to figure out if the artist was trying to say something, or not. The museum had many rooms that were playing films that were extremely entertaining. I sat for about 45 minutes watching one that featured the Barcelona Harbor Cable Cars. The screen was large and the sound was up pretty high, and that made that particular cinema more intense than some others. It isn't for everybody, but the Walker has a very large permanent collection and there is a lot there to make you think - or shrug your shoulders. I should mention that the museum itself is very nice also, and cheap. $10 admission, $2 parking.

I also went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. This museum was free, and so was parking since I found a spot on the street. When I first walked in, the Buddha gave me the "OK" sign - right then and there I knew that Illinois was going to win their game the following night.
The MIA has a much more traditional collection than the Walker. It wasn't really my cup of tea. There were very large Asian and African collections, none of which interests me too much. There were some photographs that were very cool. Also, they had some Roman period pieces which I liked a bit better. There was also a section of Frank Lloyd Wright things that I liked very much - but it was pretty small.
All in all, I spent much more time at the Walker than the MIA, but to each their own.