The Albright Knox Art Gallery

Every time I visit Buffalo I stop at the Albright Knox Art Gallery. What a place! I have heard that it has the second largest collection of modern art in the world outside of New York City.

The pieces always inspire, amaze and delight, and some remind me of my childhood–the same pieces I saw back in the ’60s and ’70s, strolling through with my dad, or after riding my bike from Kenmore, or taking art lessons there and painting with really cool temperas (water paints). I remember being overwhelmed by the size of some of the paintings (Clyfford Stills) and how cool the sculptures were (by Louise Nevelson, Joseph Cornell, Robert Segal, Jean Arp among others).

Does what we look at as children affect who we are as adults? I think it must. I think if more kids sat and stared at Gottlieb’s huge red and black circles over a mishmosh of black swirls (”Dialogue”) or got up close to Camille Pisarro’s pointillist paintings to marvel at how a bunch of dots could turn into a warm autumn evening’s harvest scene, the world would be less violent and people would be much happier. I think if everyone could enter the Mirrored Room by Lucas Samaras (which is back at the Gallery after a hiatus who-knows-where) and see the endless reflections there, the concept of infinity would make sense, and humility as a virtue might make a comeback.

This entry was posted on October 6, 2006 at 1:22 am and is filed under Summertime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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