DC meanderings -2

The second day in DC and I was out. Went out to see Jon Stewart at ‘The rally to restore sanity’ at the National Mall in DC. The grounds stretch from the Capitol to way back to almost the Washington Memorial, and the crowds were packed completely. They had blocked off the side roads from traffic and people were everywhere, even on lampposts, to get a better view. The only reason that I was there was to see Jon Stewart in person; after having seen his performances on the Daily show for so long, I was a big fan now. In the end, I ended up being content with seeing him on the big screen only, as I waded for half an hour through the sea of people over there, and still was only halfway to the front. But nevertheless, it was a good experience, coming out and seeing this huge crowd, all waving creative signs on this beautiful sunny afternoon, and hearing Stewart and Colbert speak, with a few other artists'  performances thrown in. The Smithsonian Castle and the lush green patch in the middle of the Mall (which I obviously got to see some other day, albeit only what wasn’t trampled by the crowd on the day of the rally) is a nice place to spend a leisurely walk.

It was almost like a woodstock like atmosphere, well okay, maybe not that wild, but still people were out in huge numbers and enjoying themselves. Some of them even had blankets spread out and were simply looking for a tan on the nice afternoon. The cops must've had a tough time keeping all of this in order, and a lot of them had their bikes parked on the connecting side roads to maintain the flow of traffic.

                          
  The office building is smack 3 blocks from the White house, so yours truly decided one evening decided to see if mr. Obama would be available. Surprisingly he wasn’t, so just took a few snaps in front of his house and moved on. It was a bit surprising to see that people were allowed to get so close to the building with so few cops patrolling the place, or they were there but in plainclothes. There were plenty of foreigners having their snaps taken in front of the building, posing around, humph, tourists!

                           

Week 2, and I got roam around a bit more before the winter really settled in. The DC zoo came highly recommended by a few guys and the zoo it was then. A good day once more, bright sunshine allowed me to roam around in a just a thin pullover all over the zoo premises. The attraction, at least for me, wasn’t just few of the animal species I had never seen, but also the brightly colored fauna.

It was almost magical to see green leaves interspersed with a very generous dose of yellow, orange and red all around; guess it’d have been even more amazing to look at in the spring. The first animal species that graced us with its presence was a cheetah.

Let me tell you, it was damn hard to get a decent shot of the gentle beast, it was doing its morning walk, (well it was 10 in the morning but I guess the cookoo clock didn’t work today), and the grass was easily 2 feet tall all around, so I was running around from corner to post chasing the four legged speedster. Guess they don't call it the fastest animal around for nothing! The gazelles in the next enclosure were much more hospitable, or lazy, whatever, as they sat there the entire time getting a nice tan.

I was quite lucky that I reached the Panda area at feeding time. When I reached there, the camera shy couple were way at the back of the enclosure and hidden by the trees. Luckily a zoo employee came out soon enough and called out to the pandas, and tossed them their breakfast. She told me it was ice, mixed with lots of chunks of fruits, and the big fluffy animals enjoyed the meal, sitting on their butts licking the iced dessert/main course. I stood there for 10 minutes admiring the cute animal that I had only seen on television before and its enormous size.

Next up was the small mammal building, and I cannot remember all the names of the monkeys, meerkats and other small creatures, but it was really great to see many different species. The orange furry monkey (That's at least what i call it) was all at attention perched nicely on its bark. Its a bit sad to see them caged up away from their natural habitat, for the pleasure of the beast called human, but maybe it is us who are trapped in a cage, this unending cycle called life or death....but i digress, that's a topic for a much more detailed discussion , and probably one which would require all the parties to have a few shots of hard liquor in them to enjoy.

 The amphibian lane included some monitor lizards as well, and it seemed the Iguana was a bit short on manners as it stuck its tongue out to everyone who passed by, dunno if it thinks it’s the lucky one inside the glass cage or whether we are. But it certainly does need to change its acne cream, the protrusions on its face might not be too good when it comes to talking to ladies, unless the opposite ender also has the same problem, in which case i guess its fine.

The king of the jungle really was living life kingsize, with a really big enclosure for him, and 3 lionesses in the same enclosure, well here’s one guy who likes to play the crowd, or the pride in this case. And as if he knew how good a life he had, he was striking a brilliant pose for the shutterbugs, just sitting in a majestic pose under the trees, while the lionesses roamed around on the lower level. 

The aquarium section was also quite something, with piranhas, stingrays, octopuses, color changing jellyfish and what not; this one seemed to be a smart one, or a really dumb one, depending on whether that was a enlarged brain or a temporary bump on its head.

The stingray in fact did look cool up close, always wondered how effortlessly the creature is able to glide in water, so easily floating through.

One of the really exquisite things that they’ve done here is that they’ve also built up inside a big glass enclosure, an ecosystem resembling almost a rainforest, and there are a lot of plant species that you wouldn’t normally get to see in the climate outside, with vanes rising high, pitcher shaped stems on trees and bright flowers all taking you to a completely different place from the one that you are used to.

The last place that I visited was the snake area. Now they had a nice variety here as well, the vipers with the horns on their heads, or was that the adders, well one of them. And there was the rattler, and the rattle was in fact quite audible even through the glass. The tree green boa was happily stationery in a zenlike position and presented quite a harmless picture, guess that’s how the dinner feels as well.

There were the usual pythons ad boa constrictors, which were close to 20 feet in length, and a couple of snakes that were also in the process of shedding their skin. Got to see the giant snapping turtles, as well as the Galapogas tortoises, the latter as big as an 8 year old’s toy car.  I did not even realize that I had spent close to 7 hours here as I was heading out, and as luck would have it, I chanced upon the Emu enclosure as well. The shy bird was about 30 feet away behind some bushes, and I was thinking of leaving, but just lingered for a few more moments, and the gracious host stepped out and posed quite comfortably right next to me at the fence. I obliged by taking a couple of snaps, thanked the magnanimous gesture and finally called it a tiring, satisfied day.

DC meanderings -1

Too tired to venture out anywhere else, I headed back to Smithsonian, where it was a chance happening that I entered the Botanical garden. Well, even though I’m not too fond of appreciating mother nature’s flair at fauna, it turned out to be a nice surprise.

Once you enter the building, the first room is full of miniature replicas of the main structures in DC, The Supreme Court, Library of Congress, the Capitol, Smithsonian Castle, et al; all interspersed with bright trees. I couldn’t really make out whether they were leaves or flowers themselves, ‘cos I have never seen, white, blue and red leaves; and since I’ve been too lazy since then to even google, that mystery stays a mystery…unless one of you kind inquisitive folks would go through the trouble for me.

It was literally raining inside, and that was when I realized that the sprinklers on the ceiling were spraying a thin spurt of water every minute or so, well, so much for taking a bath in the morning.

It might not be something that blows your breath away, but the variety of plants and the flowers in full bloom in the winter does present a soothing sight. There were Orchids, purple and white, but the ones that caught my eye were the cacti family. First you get to see that variety that you mostly get to see in cowboy movies, or the ones in roadrunner cartoons (beep beep),you know, the tall forked ones. And you can also see the round shaped ones, all with their own peculiar design, and the one which has white whiskers growing all over it, making it the grand old man I guess.

The maintenance work is another thing that amazes me here, the small waterfalls inside, the rocks placed so neatly in a natural fashion, the greenhouse environment, and the parts where the shrubbery gets real thick, all presents a good experience.

Next up, well since you are a stone’s throw away from the Capitol, so I decided to trot up the front (rather the lawns on the back side) lawns of the US Capitol. It’s a bit strange to see people roaming around so freely, without much interference, so close to such an important place. And there was also a group of lazy bums on the strollers, having a nice time on this sunny day.

 The view from the Capitol, past the lawns, the small lake, the national Mall, right down to the Washington Monument, is now one of my favorite ones. The lush green grass cut to a decent height and the big flock of black birds flying around in front of the Smithsonian castle and a bunch of people playing touch football on a lazy late evening, and you can be simply immersed in it all.

Now, I’ve never been a fan of dear old Pablo, and I do have a very, take my word for it, a very vivid imagination, I still could not find the subject matter in the painting below.

Oh, for benefit of the confused, the painting’s titled ‘Nude woman’ by Pablo Picasso.

The big head formed out of what is made out to be a tree trunk is quite something. Standing taller than a 6 feet tall person, the emotions that the artist has been able to generate with the help of the different shades of the tree bark, and the moss making up for facial hair and that on the scalp, with twigs, and branches jutting out to retain the illusion of a simple tree, simple and at the same time, something that makes you stand there in front of it to keep on admiring it for some time.

 

The collection here is not that bad, with a bounty of Monet, Pissarro, Seurat and Renoir thrown in. I particularly liked ‘the bridge at Argenteuil’ and ‘Sainte-Adresse’ by Claude Monet, ‘Washerwomen on the banks of the Durance’ by Paul Guigou and ‘the ramparts at Aigues-Mortes’ by Frederic Bazille. Monets works were a bit more bright but were still a treat for the eye. And of course there was Vincent with his famous ‘Farmhouse in Provence’ with his broad brush strokes making up the grass in the foreground with the solitary farmer walking through it.

There were works also from later day artists as well, Henri Matisse with his oilwork. I wonder how all these Frenchmen were great painters, either they had a lot of talent and a lot of time on their hands, or probably they had outsourced their works to ghost painters in their time, which if they had, I guess they should be honored for the offshoring industry boom, or they went simple by eliminating the better painters of their times. I’d put my money on the last theory! Rene Magritte ‘s (thank god a Belgian) painting within a painting illusion ‘La condition humaine’ is surprisingly simple and mesmerizing.

 
The west wing houses most of the early day sculptures, a few human anatomical, a few of the gods, a few reflecting the fantasies of the artists, a few simply of animals. Most of these are marble, with a few blended with bronze as well. The Chester dale collection that was at display did take up a significant part of my trip, the Monets in particular are simply to be experienced in person.

The gallery does have benches in the middle of the halls to sit down and gaze, but its not the same with people walking all around, and in front of you ; all I ask is to be left alone to simply gaze at the artwork in peace and solitude….I guess that’s why most of the patrons bought these and put them up in behind their own four walls. Monet’s ‘bridge over a pond of lilies’ is quite something, to be able to recreate the beauty of nature with the help of oil paints and canvas, and mix a little bit of your own imagination on the palette is something that I wish I was able to achieve as well, oh well one can dream, can’t one?

The other impressionist era painter that caught my eye was Amedeo Modigliani, at first it was his last name (that is the same as that of Modigliani of Modigliani Miller fame, for the uninitiated Franco Modigliani was a renowned economist, known mainly for the modern theory on capital structure) that held up my gaze.

But a few moments later, the paintings were also in the picture, so to say. Finally an Italian artist, not a French one, and his paintings were a bit different as well, with the human face in all having an elongated shape, which to me sometimes felt a bit disproportionate to the body. But it was all in the eyes, I don’t know why, but the eyes by themselves are able to exhibit so many different emotions that the rest of the painting sometimes just fades away.

In the east wing again, the basement has influential works from the abstract expressionists, and there was Jackson Pollock as well. The artist had towards the later part of his career started to label his paintings simply by number, not even a title, his reasoning being he wanted the viewer to be rid of any preconceived notion, to see it as he/she deemed fit, use your own imagination to try and make sense of the work.

The ones on display here were number 7, and number 1; the latter also used aluminum in addition to the normal use of oil and enamel on canvas. I tried to use my own head to try and give a title to the ‘number 7’ but all I could think of was how the top right of the black and white painting resembled a weird face, while I was completely lost for the 5 minutes I was staring at ‘Number 1’, which just seemed to be an apt reflection of my life – completely jumbled up with no direction at all.

Then there was Henri Matisse’s later day works, wherein he took to making collages because of his medical condition. Funny, even when you are made incapable of painting in the conventional sense, the artist in you screams to be let out one way or the other, and he did it by making huge colorful collages. There were also displayed works of Andy Warhol and finally there was Alexander Caldor, who is credited for inventing the ‘mobile’, a neat kinetic structure that adorns the east wing at many places. There is one that I particularly liked, not a mobile, just a man’s head shaped out of wire hanging from the ceiling, and the lights shine down on it so cleverly that you can see two different shadows of the man’s face on the white wall next to it. The mobiles themselves are quite impressive, not just by their size and structure, but the way they maintain an equilibrium and also project those hauntingly beautiful shadows on the walls.

It was good to see such a diverse set of paintings, not just the fruit bowls, which were also there in plenty believe me, but the landscapes, the human form, the abstracts (read Picasso), the statues, the wireworks, the modern arts, and some photographs thrown in as well. Maybe if I also paint something incomprehensible by people in my time, indulge in debauchery, experiment with a lot of different drugs and alcohols, and die as a young, penniless artist, then who knows, my works could also be worth millions in some future era. One sure can dream!