A pair of shoes

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
A Pair of Shoes, 1886
Oil on Canvas, 37.5 X 45 cm
Location: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Image: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/popup.jsp?page=1576&collection=1297&lang=en

Wow, so I knew something would be around to finally posting my potentially favorite painting of all time. I sat down to write this blog entry with no specific art work in mind. Looked around the room for inspiration and a book on Heidegger caught my eye. I pop "Heidegger and art" into Google and not surprisingly come up with as the first hit, a wikipedia entry on Heidegger's Origin of a Work of Art. I scroll down the page and there is Van Gogh's A Pair of Shoes. Yes, I studied art theory at the graduate level but somehow I seemed to have either skipped (which I surely shouldn't be admitting) reading Origin or somehow missed the focus on this painting. Alas, I shall be reading it soon but despite the hurrah and writing about this particular painting I am happy to say that I fell in love with it on my own, without pointers to its perceived importance or the interest it held for a variety of philosophers.

The wonder of the internets, as I link through more information I come across what could possibly be one of the best exhibitions ever "Vincent van Gogh: Shoes" currently at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne, Germany. Currently! How splendid is the wonder of timing and little coincidences! If only I could get myself to Cologne. A recent post in Harper's Magazine online discusses the exhibition, with extensive quotes about the shoes from Martin Heidegger, Meyer Schapiro and Jacques Derrida.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/10/hbc-90005828

All of this is well and good, but this is the kind of painting where I find no need for wordplay. Van Gogh painted a number of pictures of boots and shoes, all of which are rich and and alive and wrenching but this particular painting stands on its own. Oh how I want to go to Amsterdam! Both the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum have raised their awesomeness to me today!

Wave Field

Wave Field, 1995
Maya Lin
Shaped earth; 100 x 100 feet. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Image at Uniquely Michigan

A bit of earth/land art and public art practically in my backyard, I just discovered this work by Maya Lin. With initial thoughts to highlight Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial for today I discovered more of her work and veered to the less heavily associated work. While this is very much an earth bound work Lin's fascination and ideas stemmed from art history, science and autobiography. The results are a truly integrated work that shares its beauty with the public.

"A concept as inextricably bound to Eastern philosophy as it is to the principles of thermal dynamics, "The Wave Field" - as an inherently social work - demonstrates that out of destruction can come creation and the possibility for renewal. " (Art:21 Maya Lin's "Wave Field" PBS)


The waves are 3 to 5 ft. high which help to engage on a close physical level as one can sit in the wave (Image at umich)

This is the first in 3 "Wave Fields" by Lin. Check out NYTimes this article and video with Lin discussing the third and final field at the Storm King Art Center which will open in the spring of 2009.