Unfortunately, we had to be in Chicago while the Design wing in the Art Institute was closed, so all that was on offer was a tiny room by the cafe with a bunch of modernist chairs...beautiful as they are, I mean, yawn. I was hoping for something more invigorating, not least local!! The other design bit was a little 20th c. section with some great assemblages of furniture, but very dated labelling, so I'm sure they're coming round to that part as well... But thankfully, the modern and contemporary art sections were entertaining and beautiful, and for me, a little less self-conscious than the Tate. It had a whole plethora of stuff displayed together, well designed spatially, and colourful! I also think I'm more of a Matisse gal than a Picasso, because I ended up taking lots of pictures of them. However, I would say the cherry on top of the cake was this little piece we found by Karel Appel, to bring us back around to mine and Hannah's trip to Amsterdam! It made me want to look into him again, as I can tell that I'm immediately drawn to his work because I recognised it straight away!
Terribly we ran out of interest for the rest of CAI (tut, tut, tut), and I knew I wanted to at least see some of the public art that Chicago is famous for. I didn't expect to be so impressed by Calder's Flamingo because I'd seen so so many images of it already, but it was for me the most breath-taking, and was a really jubilant contrast to the somewhat sombre, corporate modernist architecture around it. As glittering as they are, I can only cope with it for so long, and when it is juxtaposed with a giant red thing with different shapes and curves, it reminds you to be excited. I was somehow less mesmerised by the Picasso, in part because of the terrible lighting in that corner, but probably because of this lack of fun that I enjoy in his other work and sculptures (namely the loveliest one in NYC that Hannah and I stumbled upon).
As the sun started to set, we ventured back to Millennium Park to catch the final day of the Jazz Festival, in the glorious setting of the park surrounded by shining towers. The pavilion was lit beautifully for the show, showing off its dynamic lotus shape. By the end of the day I was knackered, and looking forward to sleeping, but nonetheless enjoyed the excitement of live music in such a setting!
That's it for now. Hopefully there'll be another blogpost to come about the trip when I finally get my films to the developers... and a sneaky sketchbook in tow too!
