Smithsonian, 08-22-05

	I drove down to D.C. today, to go to the Smithsonian. The great thing about the museums there is that they're completely free, unlike those in Manhattan. Also, everything is in one place, which is conducive to free-association. So it makes for a very cheap day, other than the small up-front fee of gas and a Metro card. I went down primarily to see the Visual Music exhibit at the Hirschhorn, which was different than I expected, but cool. I left Carlisle a bit late, so I only had three hours with the museums. I got through the Hirshhorn and the Museum of American History, and a few rooms of the National Gallery before they closed.
Giacomo Balla, Plastic Construction of Noise and Speed,1914-5 A lot of my thinking recently has been about the synthesis of sculpture and picture; like dioramas, friezes, cut-outs, holograms and pop-up books. Here's an example of such a synthesis, in a style which could be at home in a '50s Chrysler dealership or at a mall in the '80s. One thing I saw later in the day, which made me think back to this, and futurism, was that General Motors mounted a campaign in the '30s to promote a corporatized, technological society. The first was a caravan that travel town to town demonstrating science, this campaign was called "The Parade of Progress". The second campaign was a pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair entitled "Futurama".
	Red Grooms,Loft on 26th Street,1965-6. This is a diorama by a very eccentric artist I don't know nearly enough about. Oddly, he was a student of Hans Hofmann at one point.
I haven't noticed before how Thiebaud treats his lines. They're made up of very bright colors, sometimes with different hues striped beside one another. It's the large areas of matte, cake-icing consistency paint that he's known for, which define his sharp edges, which run up to and occlude all but thin multi-hued ribbons. He does this even with his figure paintings.
	A display of prothetic hands at the Museum of American History.
This is a replica of a 1950s CTA train and platform in an exhibit about the effects of transportation on society. Next door is an exhibit about the evolution of computers and communications, but it was closed for renovations. I was perturbed, because I was very much looking forward to visiting that technological graveyard.