Art and the tower (sounds like the title of a book...)

So the hike never happened. The weather today was gorgeous as promised, but I woke feeling snuffley and bunged up and I was afraid I was coming down with a cold again. I have a lot to do in work over the next few weeks and cannot afford to get sick. So I played it safe, stayed in bed, and now I feel pretty good.

The exhibition yesterday was fantastic. The number of Henry Moores was pretty low, but they were beautiful. I especially liked the first two pieces in black marble, the slightly more abstract ones:





Regular readers will notice that I am fairly uniform in my tastes. The curved marble sculptures bear a striking resemblance to the Noguchis I've raved about here in the past. What can I say? When I like something in run with it: hence my ability to order the same Thai green curry every time I go to my favorite restaurant in Dublin and still be happy, even when others might bored to tears.

There was some other nice art in the gallery's permanent collection:


The above piece, The Kiss by Constantin Brancusi, was by far and away my favourite. How cute is it? There's something innocent and kind of brotherly or sisterly (in the non-incestuous way) to it. It seems like a much purer kiss than other more famous embraces, like the Klimt or that end-of-war Alfred Eisenstaedt photo.

I usually have a distinct aversion to Jackson Pollock.


And the above fairly reinforces my decision not to like his work. I'd much rather spend my days gazing at the piece that was hanging on the opposite side of the room (see below). It's by Zao Wou-Ki and is titled 07.06.85. It's a huge painting that you could get absolutely lost in, and I think it would be a great pleasure to have it hanging on my wall - not that I ever will. I'm no Thomas Crown (in case any previously mentioned Japanese thought police are reading this...)

I also promised in this post ages ago that I'd keep you updated on the construction of Tokyo's new tower, the Sky Tree. This is where construction was up to in January of this year:

And here we are as of today, October 11 - there's been quite a leap, as you can see:


I love how the statue appears to be watching over this new addition to the city's skyline.


Useless factoid of the day: the Sky Tree will finally reach a height of 634 meters. This figure was chosen because in the ridiculously difficult Japanese-character reading system the numbers can be read (in a non-conventional way) as 6-3-4 or mu-sa-shi. Musashi (武蔵) is an ancient name for the area now around mainly Tokyo and Saitama. And this is pretty much the land that you'll be able to see from the top of the tower when it's completed. Don't say I never teach you anything.