Richmond VA 2011

The Virginia Museum has become a first rate art museum. They recently built a new wing and redid the grounds. When the bureau chief visited it last week, it didn't have any big shows but did have some interesting small ones. Tristin Lowe recreated Mocha Dick, the historical basis for Moby Dick in industrial felt.

Chinese artist Xu Bing's father died of lung cancer which was one of the reasons he did the Tobacco Project. One of the objects in the exhibition was a tiger rug made from 500,000 cigarettes. He angled the cigarettes so that from one side you see the filters which produces an orange and white tiger.

From the opposite side you see the tobacco which produces a grey and white tiger.

The bureau chief hates the smell of cigarette smoke but 500,000 unsmoked cigarettes smell pretty good. The artist also made a large block of tobacco embossed with the words, "Light as smoke".

The British Museum had lent a traveling exhibit on mummies with a very good 3D film (an exception to my usual hatred of that format) and some beautiful 3,000 year old artifacts.

Finally, the autumnal grounds.

Last Month

The bureau chief feels bad about the lack of posts and promises movie reviews after Thanksgiving. It's cold and rainy today so here are some shots from a sunny day at the end of October. Tall ships.

Airborne tourists.