Get Drunk. Buy a Hat.

After several drinks, Shigeru Ban bought a Chinese hat, reasoning to himself, as one does while inebriated, that he would incorporate its shape into an architectural design one day. Fast-forward to 2006, and you see how Ban incorporated that shape  into the design of the roof of the Centre Pompidou-Metz.  That was the story as the Director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, Laurent Le Bon related it to an eager crowd of Charlotteans last night.

Mr. Le Bon was giving a lecture at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.  The humorous Frenchman gave an overview of the Centre Pompidou-Metz's architectural design, inaugural exhibit called "Masterpieces?", and scheduled programs.

So, here we have two newly minted, highly celebrated institutions dedicated to modern art;  a talented young man who is known as a leading authority on modern art;  and a captivated audience made of modern art enthusiasts.  What a contrast this setting was compared to a scene described in a New York Times article just the day before.  According to Michael Kimmelman: Nazis had waged a campaign of destruction against modern works of art.  Several pieces that had mysteriously escaped the Nazis have been found buried in Berlin over the past several months.  These pieces are now on display in an exhibit in the Neues Museum.

For an extra scoop of irony:  The Neuese Museum is just down the street from the Hilter exhibit, which puts on display artifacts of Nazi propaganda.

Add a healthy side of sauted irony:  The Centre Pompidou-Metz sits on a plot of land formerly occupied by a Nazi rail station built during WWII.

Top it off with:  Shigeru Ban was born in post-war Tokyo, which was a close ally of Hitler's Berlin during WWII.

And wash it down with a glass of:  Happy Chanuka.

Shigeru Ban
The Centre Pompidou-Metz
Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
NY Times article by Michael Kimmelman

Tour of Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

I just completed a tour of Charlotte's new Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.  

Thank you to the Arts and Science Council for this treat!  And as an arts agent, I also have to give recognition to the Bechtler family for their enthusiastic patronage of artists.

The collection, which includes about 1,400 pieces, includes many of the big names in Modern Art.  Only a small part of that large collection is on display at any given time on a 9-month rotation basis.  An intimate detail about each piece of art that draws you in even closer and helps to dissipate a foreboding sense formality about the art is where in their living room the Bechtlers displayed the artwork for their own enjoyment.  In fact, the set of furniture that the Bechtlers actually owned and used in their home is also on display.  It's very easy to imagine the family eating dinner in a pseudo-museum that was their home and the Bechtler Cherubs climbing on top of a large statue of one kind or another.

To see the care an attention that this collection of art receives should be comforting and reassuring to any artist who is in a quagmire of self-doubt.  Go to the Bechtler Museum and be inspired.  Go to the Bechtler Museum and be energized.  Go to the Bechtler Museum and be motivated.  Then go straight to your studio and paint your heart out, sculpt your heart out, mold/print/photograph/design/CREATE your heart out.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art 
Arts and Science Council