Walker Art Museum

I got into Minneapolis a few hours before our meeting was to begin.  Since I had wifi on the plane I really didn't need to sit down and do email so Erin suggested I go to the Walker Art Museum.  Minneapolis has a burgeoning art community and great museums.  I listened to the resident expert and off I went.

FIrst stop is the sculpture garden.  The cherry on the spoon is an icon.  Huge and whimsical sitting in the middle of the water.  Really a wonderful artistic description of Minneapolis particularly sitting in the middle of the lake as Minneapolis is built around multiple lakes. 

Architectually the museum is modern.  Small spaces to be discovered and large galleries to show art.  Really brilliant.  Today there were a variety of shows.  The first was Midnight Party on floors 4-7.  Clever and well curated.  My favorite group was a series of prints from a husband and wife.  He was a baker by day and by night a photographer.  He took pictures of his wife dressed up.  They printed them in their kitchen.  I had never seen these prints before.  Of course I can't recall the photographer and I couldn't take picture.  Very kitsch.

This is one of the pieces from their permanent collection, a Lichenstien I had not seen before.

The other show that I really enjoyed was this large room of art.  Visitors were asked to pick from over 200 pieces of art from the permanent collection, online and in the museum.  Over a quarter million people participated.  The curators then considered the choices and created this exhibit.  What the museum said is that this exhibit explores the dynamic and the boundaries between curatorial practice and popular taste.  Personally, I loved it. 

The one downside is that I wanted to purchase books from the two exhibits I really liked but they didn't have them.  A commerce mistake.  Regardless, a great museum and a worthy stop when visiting Minneapolis.