Being a CUNY college student comes with many benefits and perks. One of the more underrated and underappreciated perks is the ability to visit major city museums for free or a discounted price. Yes, that little 3.4in by 2.1in card that you use to enter your school everyday (that is probably in your back pocket right now) can be used almost like a city passport!
Using my Baruch Student ID card I was granted free admission to the Modern Museum of Art, or MoMA for short, on 11 West 53rd Street. The MoMA, unlike other museums, focuses on modern art and how social events have shaped art and our interpretation of it. This is best seen on the exhibition that I visited and spent the most time at: Collection Galleries 1880’s – 1950’s. This exhibition is the one that everyone gets to see since it is up all year round and is the museums staple.
The first piece that caught my eye was Jackson Pollock’s “One: Number 31, 1950” (1950).
I mean, how could it not catch your eye?! The piece is huge and always attracts a huge crowd of people standing around it gazing with awe. Naturally I went to the crowd, mostly to see how people reacted to it but then I was caught too. The piece never fails to disappoint, It gets me every time. It’s simplistic and beautiful. The black and white compliment each other well on top of the cream background. It’s a piece you could spend a lot of time just looking at the details.
Franz Kline’s “Painting Number 2” (1954) also had a similar effect on me but in a different way. The piece feels grim and uneasy.
Next is Giorgio de Chirico’s “The Song of Love” (1914)
which completely caught me off guard. His art seemed similar, too similar, like I’ve seen something like it before. This piece is riddled with random unrelated objects while having a Greek bust as the attention grabber. I came to the conclusion that the piece could pass off with the surreal vaporwave aesthetic. After a moment it hit me. I was looking at a piece made by the founding father of the strange art style, the style that the vaporwave sub-genre took much inspiration from. Metaphysical and surreal art. This artist was creating this type of art almost 100 years before the internet meme pop culture embraced the vaporwave art style. This museum actually taught me about the origins of vaporwave art.
Shirana Shahbazi’s “[Composition-40-2011]” (2011) deserves a shout-out too because it easily catches the eye with its saturated colors popping out of the black darkness. Unlike the other pieces mentioned this piece is actually a photograph which I didn’t expect. At first glance I thought it was a painting but I was wrong. Her piece is not part of the exhibition but it still deserves recognition nonetheless.
All in all, This experience has taught me that it’s important to take advantage of these free resources and opportunities, especially being in a business oriented school such as Baruch. More often than not we usually focus on developing left brain tasks such as logic, math, and science while typically ignoring the right side which works with creativity and art. Museums can help inspire us and fuel creativity. This creativity sparks major breakthroughs and innovation. Don’t sleep on art.
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