Thursday, February 5, 2015

Museum Grounds


 


The Flaneur looks back one year for images of a sunny day in the court of a museum unnamed.







 Lake Merritt from a very precarious perspective,
If I had slipped at the Golden Gate I would have survived,
This is more like the edge of the American Falls at Niagra






 He would have made Blue Meanie alarm noises,
Had I fallen






 But safety, solitude and the hope of something else





 And peace shall be our sign






 A peace that surpasses
Arbitrary laws of ownership and debt







 A prismatic effect of the mind





 Clouds in the water
Fish in the sky





 The Flaneur seeks to acheive
A pleasantly semi-abstract state





 Reckon I'll mosey on fairly soon




 Just then a bolt of lightning
Struck the court house out of shape





VIP section









 Crossing the street


 






 Just passing through
















A note: Those familiar with this museum with no doubt recognize it from these images. There is a reason that I do not actually promote the place or identify it for my readers.
For decades it has been a place of enlightenment and enjoyment. I recall coming to hear the poet Robert Duncan speaking here as early as 1979.
I liked a rather small percentage of the art but was gratified to see some of the artists associated with the Beats were on permanent display--Bruce Conner, Jay deFeo, George Herms.
The independent historian in me savored the contemporary history exhibits which in fact included a Beat Generation tableaux with artifacts donated by Vesuvio's in North Beach including the sign selling beatnik kits to tourists. Another one showed a Berkeley bus stop littered with political and hippie-related flyers. We added an old brass hash pipe to the detritus under the bench.
So many visits over so many years led me to feel acute disappointment over the recent cancellation of an art show by Palestinian children. It seems that activists, in the service of the right-wing interests of the State of Israel, had sufficient clout to get the museum to snuff it with an iron fist. Just following orders.  Incredibly, they hurt all those innocent kids. These are just kids who spent months preparing the show with hope for their future. I guess they just don't represent the big donors.

Peace, indeed.

No big deal to the museum I'm sure, but they lost me as a booster, permanently.








January 2014

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