Check my ticket!!!

Gale and I had quite an arty weekend. We went to a large (and quite posh) Antique fair held in the Indiana State Fairground. I've been before and it's pretty cool. Lots of expensive things that are probably overpriced. The people who decide the value should be people willing to buy the things, not the people selling them. A desk is only worth something if someone wants it. It's not worth anything sitting with a high price ticket in some arty-farty antique dealers warehouse. But I like looking at the things. I like the antique prints and engravings. And unlike most "antique" malls I've been to in America, this actually has things that a Brit would consider antique.

I did get to see antique legend (legend who knows antique, not saying she's old) Judith Miller. Which isn't exactly a major celeb, but I used to watch her on various shows in Blighty. Shame I didn't have something for her to value.

It's not a huge show, so we finished early and decided to go to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We're members, so get free entry. And Puck's restaurant is there which is great. So we had a really amazingly expensive lunch. But it was pretty yummy. But worth the money? Maybe not. It's a buffet, so maybe if you're really hungry you can get a good deal. I tried a little of everything though and it was nice food. Deserts were gorgeous too. If only I could have squeezed in the rest of the lime pie thing.

Then we went around the shop. Which is free to enter for everyone. Then decided to visit the recently opened contemporary wing. Which you do need tickets for, but since we're members, we didn't go to the ticket desk. We just went upstairs, our membership cards at the ready and totally didn't get asked for them. The few members of staff we saw were unhappily mulling around making sure kids didn't get sticky finger prints over the art. I was quite upset. Membership isn't that cheap and the benefit of having a membership kinda disappears if people don't check for tickets. (Last time I went was on a Thursday which is free for everyone anyway). So in the year I've been a member, I've not actually had any benefit to it.

The main exhibition we looked at was Amy Cutler. An illustrator I wasn't aware of before. And I quote "Inspired by stories and images encountered at random through mass media, book illustrations, folktales and personal experiences, Amy Cutler creates exquisitely detailed, enigmatic paintings that obsessively illustrate scenes of women, animals and hybrid beings engaged in magical, dreamlike activities. Her works incorporate references that have been described as "snippets of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Hieronymus Bosch and Masterpiece Theatre plotlines."

Her work was childlike. She certainly has a skill and an art, but I'm not really anymore a fan than I was before. I couldn't really see any similarities to Bosch. I felt it more had a hint of Gorey (who I am a fan of). A kind of turn of the century feel to it.

We also went around the contemporary galleries. Some I like. Some I just don't get. I'm really not the kind of chap who will say "interesting, I like what the artist did here", I'm more the kind who will look for a meaning and then say "It's just a piece of string". One piece was a piece of red wool stretched from the centre of the floor to a point on the wall. I read the information about it and it had words like "intersecting" and " dividing" but to me, it's just a piece of string.

There were a few pieces I liked though. In a case was an open book with what at first glance appears to have tiny writing on it. But as you look, the writing appears to be moving. Closer and closer I looked until I could see it was lines of people actually marching. The people were projected from above onto the white page. I don't profess to understand what the artist was trying to archive, but thought the idea was cool.

Another piece I liked was a video. An artist (sorry, I'm crap when it comes to remembering names) set up four male actors into poses similar to the old masters. Reminded me of Reubens.
The artist told the actors to go through a set range of emotions over the course of a minute. He filmed them using a high speed film and then played it back on a large plasma screen over the course of 15 minutes. So you had to stare at the screen to be able to see the movement. Doesn't really come across as I explain it, but it was quite fascinating.

I suggest you check out the IMA, it really is worth the entry fee, which seems to be nothing in general. Next time they better check my membership or I won't be happy!