Art, art and more art

I’ve been having a little trouble getting around. While I was in Kyoto, I may have inflamed a tendon (or something of that nature) so walking has become a real challenge.

What a time for this to happen! Seeing Naoshima’s art installations was one of the things I looked forward to the most on this trip.

There is so much to see here. So many opportunities to learn something new, so many opportunities to photograph something beautiful.

In the hotel, Teresita Fernandez Blind Blue Landscape is an installation of thousands of tiny glass cubes glued to the wall . They reflect the light and murmurs of the landscape in the most elegant way.

The modern version of a Japanese tea room designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto stands in a shallow pool of water located on the hotel’s grounds. Many of his photographs are in the building also.

Some of Niki de Saint Phalle‘s pieces also dot the hotel’s grounds. Playful and whimsical as most of them are.

Kusama yellow and black polka dotted pumpkin installation is part of the Benesse Art Site.

I remember reading that this Kusama pumpkin got washed out to sea during a typhoon some years ago.

This pumpkin is an amazing visual. The yellow against the blue sky and ocean juxtaposes these two complementary colours making this pumpkin (to me) more visually striking than the red polka dotted pumpkin I showed you yesterday. .

Three artists are on permanent exhibit at the Chichu Museum are Walter de Maria , James Turrell and Claude Monet. I have no photos to offer here since photography (understandably so) is not allowed at that museum).

Chichu Museum owns five of the 250 of Monet’s waterlilies and they’re simply lovely. They’re huge canvasses dominating even the largest of walls.

I stood for a long time looking at Monet’s brushwork. If you pay attention you can see which colours he loaded onto the brush, the angle he put the brush down, and how he moved his hand to create the stroke.

To me, it’s just beautiful – I could imagine that kind of thing for hours.

The Chichu Museum itself was also designed by Tadao Ando.

The building is huge. Immense for the collection it houses. But there are also beautiful shadows and sharp angles of sunlight that hit the smooth concrete walls and those can be enjoyed as part of the museum’s exhibits also.

Because Ando didn’t want the immense structure to mar the natural landscape, most of the building sits underground.

Okay, okay – I’ll stop.
I could go on but I’m afraid I’ll bore you or overwhelm you.

Tomorrow is another day. Hope you’ll come back and visit.

---

Copyright © 2023
Lisi-Tana.com
All Rights Reserved