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I seriously almost just forgot how to spell my own state.
Epic fail.
I believe I will be truly pleased with the post. Chronologically the pictures I took between two locations were truly radical.
This is a fountain. A badass gnarly fountain. Though, in all honesty, does a body of water without any spouting cherubs or gargoyles count as a fountain? There is a strange pagoda looking thing in the middle, but I don’t think water pours from anywhere here. Just sort of a water hazard in the pedestrian walk of Salem. A truly awesome water hazard though it may be, I don’t want to over glorify it by calling it a fountain.
Though, why am I being so judgemental, feck it. It’s a fountain.
There was a gaggle of children hopping from stone to stone across the water, as was I when I took this picture. That’s not half as bad as when I was lying on the sidewalk taking…
…this picture.
I think I was just inspired to do an entire series of Pictures Taken from the Ground; Caitlin Carrigan Lies Down on the Job. Tell me that ain’t the sweetest series title you’ve ever heard and I will call you a stinking liar!
Not sure what I want to take pictures of for that series, but I am taking volunteers if anyone wants to be seen in public with me while I do it.
Wusses.
We were roaming around the downtown area with bellies full of Pizza Hut in sweltering heat around supper time, so a good amount of the tourist locations were closing up shop for the day, sadly. The Peabody Essex Museum was one of said culprits, though I still busted in there and took pictures I will be posting momentarily.
Isn’t it architecturally intimidating? I love this museum. Unlike the MFA in Boston, the Peabody Essex actually has a photography section. Apparently, the Museum of Fine Arts doesn’t feel Photography is a Fine Art. Yet, the garbage paintings that Munch farted out during his early years of his career are somehow truly brilliant works of art. I’d like to stab that guy in the face.
Which brings me to his one work of art that I truly respect; The Scream.
Why do I respect it?
Because it is pretty much chalk on cardboard. Or pastels…on cardboard. He literally painted what is considered by Norway to be one of their national treasures, on a piece of a cardboard box while squatting in an empty tenement building. Herein lies the lesson to all artists, writers, creators, humans for that matter; greatness is not decided by where you start, but where you end up.
It also teaches us to quit being lazy excuse-giving jackasses who claim we aren’t creating national treasures because we haven’t the capital, tools, supplies. Go to the dump and sculpt epic rad and shut the fuck up!
Fittingly, this picture is one of my favorites that I took on this trip and it is of the discarded museum passes on the way out the door of the building. What will I think is art next?
I guess I can go back on the comment of Munch farting stuff out, because this is a shot I just farted out and I love it. I guess what I am really trying to say, in essence, is I fucking hate Munch. His paintings offend me. In truth, so do some of Van Gogh’s works. It seems every artist has a long line of failures to stand on when they die and have a couple pieces stand the test of time. Sure, Sunflowers was great, but have you seen his bedroom? Would that painting be a classic if it had been painted by Joe Schmoe MacGee? Probably not.
So, apparently you have to be willing to create crap in order to finally create gold. Unless you’re Monet. Then you fart diamonds.
Here’s the last shot of Peabody Essex. There are more Slame (typo of Salem, keeping it) shots to come. I am planning to do one a day for a week, then start the next location. Did I already say that? Am I repeating myself?
No matter!
This is another one of those abstract reflection shots I seem so fond of. Makes me smile, ladies and gentlemen.
Oh! Peabody Essex is amazing. The last time I went (when they were open) they had an entirely original traditional Chinese house, deassembled in rural China, with every piece marked and shipped to the US where they put it back together in their courtyard. I am unsure if it is still there, but when I visited it, it was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen…outside of China.
The museum knows how to impress me, I’ll give em that much.
Stay classy.
…and have a pleasant tomorrow.
