The Getty

I went up to the Getty today.

It was absolutely gorgeous today and I could see from downtown to the ocean, and all the way to Palos Verdes!

There is a good California video exhibit going on. . . .there's some interesting stuff but the best is by William Wegman. Stuff so odd you just have to laugh. One of my favorite clips is when he does the coin flip. I don't want to give it away. You'll just have to look for it and see.

I also went to the photography exhibit. I didn't see a "normal" photography gallery so I just wandered around the special exhibition. There was one room with some random stuff in it - the "Ten Years In Focus" exhibit. I saw a couple landscape tin types by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey. I thought that was really cool, because I thought people only made portrait tin types. I really liked The Probatic Pool in Jerusalem, the Temple of Vesta in Rome and the Lotus Columns at Gournah. The old guy who was watching over this exhibit asked me to smile. He apparently was watching me, because he said I hadn't smiled the entire time I was in that gallery.

I wandered around the gardens, which are lovely. They have a lot of exotic succulents and several different roses. I saw a couple who were having a picnic on the grass and I was jealous. Not of them per say but of the idea to have someone to go to a nice lawn and share some bread, cheese and wine with. I didn't see any other lone wolves there.

I didn't want to push myself so I stopped after the photography, although I did find a small exhibit on Italian home furnishings that was very interesting to view. I saw a fantastic set of sculptures, called Three Goddesses. The idea is that each of these three goddesses (Minerva/Athena, Juno/Hera, and Venus/Aphrodite) is in a state of removing an article of clothing. Athena pulls off her helmet, Hera is unwinding her robes, and Aphrodite is removing her sandal. The three sculptures accompanied a sculpture of Paris, who judged which goddess was most beautiful.

I'll probably go back to the Getty a few more times - it's impossible to see the entire thing in a day. It makes for a great day trip!