Sunday Inspiration: Museums

I love museums. I'm sure I've written about this before, but I really do love them. A lot. There is nothing that clears my mind and purifies my soul like a day spent slowly wandering through a museum. The substance created by so much documented human passion is palpable. Time spent staring into a painting; the feeling one gets from being in spaces so intentionally meant to be felt; the high ceilings (really, I love high ceilings) - it all culminates into an unparalleled feeling of purpose.

At the heart of my love for museums is the little bursts of inspiration around every corner. Though I'm currently on the train home, there's nothing I want to do quite so badly right now as paint a big mixed up compositions like I used to. Images piled onto images, words and pictures and blended colors fighting it out and flowing together like rain. That's due to the work I saw by Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat.

We all loved Warhol and Basquiat in college. We wanted to be them. Or be like them. We memorized the Julian Schnabel movie Basquiat, and have endlessly quoted David Bowie's portrayal of Andy. "Can I borrow some money, Bruno?" 

Today was, however, the first time I've ever seen any of their collaborative pieces in person. The work that inspired us all to play with composition and mix things up was there for the studying, and I have to say - it lived up to the hype. The scale alone made it feel impressive, but the mark-making won me over. The mark-making always wins me over.

So with nostalgic recollections of pushing around big brush-loads of fluorescent colors,

and being surrounded by big canvases ready for whatever I could throw at them, I fondly hold today's dose of museum inspiration close until I can put it to good use.