Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Dali in Atlanta





Here's Ken outside the High Museum in Atlanta along Peachtree Street.

The High Museum is featuring an exhibit of Salvador Dali's paintings. My friend Ken and I took in the show recently. I brought with me a certain disdain for Dali as a self promoter.  I was quickly impressed by the man's skill, intellect and hard work. He was clearly a master whose paintings challenge your visual perception with their scale, detail and bizarre subjects. Ken's son, Will, put it most simply, "weird!".

There were two documentary films featured in the exhibit which I had not seen before.  I listened to him narrate a "happening" which featured a pig sty and female model while he directed a small crew in a TV studio. It gave me a better understanding of his thinking and the term, "Dada".  He had a wonderful accent speaking English. If you follow along you hear him rattle off directions and nonsense that becomes a kind of "blah, blah, blah". That is until you pick up a few more words.  He brings you back to a sudden understanding of his idea. He entices you in, lulls you with run-on sentences, then snaps you back to attention. He was very amusing.

There is also a scene or photo I recall where he kissed Andy Warhol. This section of the exhibit labeled him a favorite of the "jet set". I came out of it with a genuine admiration and affection for the man and his art.

Returning home to St. Augustine I found a postcard on my office wall with a Dali painting. I had forgotten it was there. Its not featured in the exhibit. I have it because of the bicycles.


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