ART ART ART (#1)

     Vienna is art heaven! At least for someone like me, who's slightly direction-challenged and thus am a not-so-good driver, the accessibility of the Viennese musuems (all within walking distance from the Ringstrasse) is such a relief! Imagine, culture and beauty, all walk-able! :)

MQ    

     The MQ, Museums Quartier Wien, or the Musuem Quarter is an area that contains several museums including: Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK), Vienna Architecture Centre (Architekturzentrum Wien), Art Hall (Kunsthalle Wien), Leopold Museum, and ZOOM (children's museum). If you find the MQ a delicious treasure, purchase the MQ Kombi Ticket and for 25 euro and you can visit all of the above museums except ZOOM. I visited MUMOK and the Leopold Museum.
     MUMOK
     I'm not a fan of the modern art, I often find the works too... unpleasing. It is rather painful to look at the literal translation of the disturbed psyche. However, I was intrigued by the exhibition  that was showing at the time. It was titled "Traum & Trauma", meaning "Dream & Trauma". The English translation fails to capture the word play of the original text; for dreams, as the product of the unconscious, often address fears or anxieties -- the negative emotions that are surpressed by the dominant superego. Here, the artists explore the various negative emotions by actualizing them into art works. It was a rather unsettling experience.
Upon entering the exhibition, I felt like an intruder stepping into someone's unconscious and probing into his or her private thoughts, which may very likely resemble the entangled red mess/web.
It was rather odd, when my presupposed notion, that individuals' fears and desires are isolated from my own, was overturned. At times, I find myself sharing similar anxieties such as the fear of violence or having animal-like nature (defecation). The artists pushed the unconscious, which resides in the background, into the foreground. The act forced the viewers to acknowledge trauma's unequivocal presence.

One of my favorite piece of work was the painting of the slice of cake (as shown on the left). The original painting was gigantic, bigger than me (a lot bigger)!  When staring into this perfect, glossy cake, with its delicate pink frosting, it was as if I was sinking into the canvas, into this sea of electrifying pink-ness, and I desperately wanted to take a bite of the cake. Yet, there was an underlying disquietude. The cake was just too perfect... and the pink too overwhelming. It screamed, Hansel and Gretel, a Brothers Grimm fairytale. If you know this cautionary tale well, then you know that beauty masks danger. For a cake this lovely, I am sure it has to be poisonous.
Leopold Musuem: Schiele

I absolutely must recommend the Leopold Musuem! The Leopold Museum started in 2001, based on the private collection of Rudolf and Elizabeth Leopold. It housed the world's larget collection of Schiele. This talented artist lived a brief life, dying at age 28. It was as if he knew he was going to die, for he produced prolific works. He is characterized by his intense, expressive lines. Indeed, Schiele is a master of lines, he never has to draw it twice. I saw his sketches, and was awed by his masterful control of his strokes -- perfection!
The above picture is titled "Death & the Maiden". The color palette is rather muted, composed of shades of brown and dense tones. The barren landscape, surrounding the two figures, seems to augment the overwhelming presence and inevitability of Death. I cannot really describe what it was like to view his paintings, but to experience a Schiele is to experience absolute isolation. His figures always feel alone. Even in his work, "The Family", in which he drew himself, his wife, and his unborn child, each figure remains utterly detached. There is no connection, not a touch, not even an eye contact. I remembered leaving the Leopold feeling blue, as if a pale melancholy enshrouded me, and I thought to myself, "in suffering we suffer alone... ultimately, we're alone..." 
[note: some of Schiele's works are displayed in the Belvedere]