Sir William Welles’ Nocturnal Diary

Look at what I found…

See you in the Dark!
Sir William Welles

Greetings my dear Gothlings!

Last Thursday I organized an impromptu Gothic Gathering to go to visit the currently ongoing James Ensor exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.  As expected, the turnout was quite slim, however, I wasn’t surprised…meeting in the heart of Midtown, at 2pm, on a Thursday that was also a scorcher (this summer sucks!), sobeit. For the few that did show up, I hope that they had just a good time as I did!

I will say one thing, though: that museum was jam-packed with tourists!!! They were of all shapes and sizes, young and old, (Ooohh the old!) domestic and foreign. Being that it is the month of August and all, I can understand the shear number of visitors MOMA attracts…it is one of the city’s more popular museums outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But there were sooooooooooo many of them! It was like when you turn on the light in a roach infested room and they scatter about aimlessly at a sickly pace. I don’t know whether or not it is because it’s the Museum of Modern Art, but the visitors shouldn’t trample through the halls like they were in a mall, or worse, at Disney World’s Tomorrowland! At the Met it is so much more quiet, refined, and respectful of the Arts. Most Day-Crawler do not realize that there are certain rules of manners and etiquette that should be followed when visiting a museum or an art gallery…all of which I witnessed being massacred all around me that afternoon.

The first and most important law of etiquette here is to never, ever walk in front of someone viewing an art piece! One should always go behind the other person when moving from one piece to the next…kind of like the same rule that applies at a bookstore when someone glides by between the bookshelf and someone scanning it…if you must absolutely interfere with the viewers field of…well…view, you must apologize when doing so! So simple, yet so overlooked!

Rule number two is that if you must talk to someone that is accompanying you to said museum or gallery, or even to a stranger commenting on a particular piece, one must employ a vocal volume ranging between a whisper and a quiet conversation. Not: “HEY SAL! DID YOU SEE THE TITS ON THE BROAD IN THE RUBEN PAINTING OVAH-DERE?!?!?” While I was at this particular exhibit, trying to look at a very surreal, yet small drawing of a group of musicians with animal heads and limbs, one woman (mid to late twenties) shouted over to her two friends to hurry over so that she can point out that that particular piece of art by James Ensor, must have been the inspiration for George Lucas’ cantina scene in the first Star Wars movie. Really? REALLY??? And the entire room, due to her high-pitched ramblings, was privy to her amazingly geeky observation. Great. Thanks.

The third rule is to respect the museum/gallery/artist’s wish of no photography (and yes this means no cell phone video either) of the works portrayed if it is so indicated. You can’t believe how many times I heard the security guards cry out: “No photos, please!” to scores of tourists trying to play dumb. They even have signs with an icon of a camera with a “No” circle-slash symbol over it!

The fourth rule is to simply not make fun or mock any piece of art. Don’t be a frat boy idiot yelling, “Hey! This painting looks like a giant vagina!” (remember rule #2?). You are more than welcome to discuss, comment, and even criticize the piece, but never ridicule or debase it…you’ll just come across as an uncultured twit.

The fifth, and final, rule is to never, ever, never, ever, ever, never, never, physically touch an art piece (unless, of course, it is an interactive art piece that allows you to do so)! You would think that a rule so universally understood would be adhered to, right? Ha! You wish!!! It is outstanding how many middle-aged women (why this particular demographic for the most part, I’ll never know) I witnessed touching the artwork as they were “expertly” pointing things out to their family members or friends, making “astute” and “poignant” observations!!! After seeing way too much of this behavior, I was grateful to that the MOMA staff had the forethought of putting glass or Plexiglas between the paintings and drawings and the greasy, prodding fingers. I enjoy actually getting somewhat quite close to a painting and focusing on individual brush strokes of color, almost visualizing the artist’s hand as he or she made each calculated gesture to create an entire piece of art that can be appreciated as a whole when one steps back for a broader view…but I am not molesting the piece like a blind man reading braille!

But enough about my bitching and moaning over improper Day-Crawler behavior…I was going to tell you about this terrific exhibit!

If you haven’t been yet, I strongly encourage you to muster up the $20.00 (that’s right! 20 Smackers! Unless you are a student with I.D. ($12.00) or FREE if you are a Gothling under 16 years of age) and drag your ass to Midtown Manhattan before this exhibit ends on September 21st! It really is worth seeing. I’ll even go so far as stating that Ensor’s work, even though “Goth” didn’t exist during his time, had indeed Goth elements within his works. This is more apparent as he grew older and explored his more surreal side, which led to a dark and macabre sense of humor, mixed with social and at times political satire.

One of the more  remarkable aspects of this exhibit, especially if you really take the time to view and read all that is provided to see, you will not only just peer at wonderful art, but you will also be treated to a loose, yet comprehensive, history and biography of the artist. This adds a wonderful dimension to the exhibit experience — not everyone reads a full biography of an artist before heading out to an exhibit. By the end of the exhibit you feels as though you’ve learned about this man’s life through his works, and the exhibit is set up in such a manner that it generally guides you through his artistic career from the 1880’s when he was in his early twenties and in art school in Belgium, then throughout his life up until 1949 when he died at the ripe old age of 89!

What is very interesting  to see within his body of work is that in his earlier pieces, namely art school paintings of portraits, landscapes, and still-life, Ensor uses (for the most part) a wide brush with broad and bold strokes, thus giving his paintings a somewhat hazy and out-of-focused style that is very reminiscent of Impressionism. But as you move further along into the other rooms, you are shown his progressive works in which there are numerous drawings. Some of these drawings are even first drafts of later, larger painted pieces. The intriguing thing to observe here is that Ensor’s drawing and sketching style is incredibly detailed and fine! A complete 180 degree turn from his painted pieces…it was almost like seeing two exhibits in one! Then toward the end of the exhibit, when James Ensor is much older, it is apparent that his sketching, painting, subjects, and style find a common ground, and thus allows him to express himself with humor, satire, disturbing imagery, and even self ridicule, but also capturing the subtle beauty of the environment around him as he sees fit…with lots of skulls and skeletons. O.K….I’m going to stop sounding like an Art History teacher now…are you still awake?

I was later joined by Zoe (you know Zoe, right? She’s here from Oxford University in England doing her research for her PhD on the Goth Scene) and she asked me what my favorite piece was. I responded that I had two favorites…but for completely different reasons…and both pieces are some of the smallest sketches in the exhibit! The first was a colored sketch of an old European building (The title of the piece escapes me at the moment) at a slight angle to allow for some perspective work. This simple and observant sketch was so intricate in its detail that it even inspired me to go to Lee’s Art Shop and buy a .07 mm mechanical drafting pencil (the thinnest I could find) and also spend hours (where shall I find them?) intricately penciling every last detail of historic N.Y.C. buildings…I miss painting and sketching from back when I was an art student so many, many years ago, I’ll admit. The second tiny wee-bit of a sketch I thought was spectacular, simply because of the very dark humor behind it is entitled: “My self portrait in 1960.” I am not going to spoil the punchline behind this sketch…you just have to go and find it for yourself!

See you in the Dark!
Sir William Welles