I was confused by the name of this park--when had Seattle ever hosted the Olympics?--until Zoltan provided a very basic geography lesson: it refers to the mountain range visible across the Puget Sound which edges the park on one side.
“I think if work is asked to be accommodating, to be subservient, to be useful to, to be required to, to be subordinated to, then the artist is in trouble," Richard Serra observed to an art critic.
We flew to Bilbao on Vueling, a cut-rate European airline. Business men and women crowded the cramped flight. Bilbao is the capital of Biscay--Basque country--one of Spain's most prosperous regions.
The City fathers sure knew what they were doing when they persuaded the Guggenheim to open an annex in a small town that that didn't appear on many tourist itineraries before 1997. Even better, the Guggenheim got Frank Gehry to design it. We examined his tinny sensation from every angle. I'll bet it looks more gold when the sun is shining.
The best art is displayed outside. Like this spider by Louise Bourgeois. My friend Anthony printed some textiles for her before she died several years ago.
It's hard to resist Jeff Koons, especially if you're under the age of 12.
As part of one permanent installation, fog envelops the bottom portion of the building on a regular schedule.
The audioguides breathlessly whispered a lot of claptrap.
As for most of the art inside? Meh.
A guard reprimanded me for taking this picture of a "work" by Antoni Tapies. Perhaps the museum fears no one would come to see the exhibit if they realized it consisted largely of pieces like this. I'm sure it's comfortable, though!
Wandering through Richard Serra's mammoth plates of spiraled steel was fun.
No touching the sides!
Art appreciation is exhausting.
Would you want the Guggenheim Bilbao as the backdrop for your wedding photos? This bride is just asking to be upstaged!
Thom, Chris and I used the cute little tram to take in some of the City's other sights while Dan enjoyed a massage and pedicure back at the Hotel Melia.
We walked across the Zubizuri, a pedestrian foot bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava.
I failed to make the connection between the Zubizuri and the Milwaukee Art Museum which had so impressed me nearly a decade earlier. Calatrava also designed the Oculus in New York City.
