It may just me, but did anyone else notice how perfect the gloomy weather played into today’s Walk-In Wednesday? Not because of the subject matter, but because of the format of the discussion. Today, in Tempt café, with overcast skies and dimmed lights, Director Paul Ha shared with us a PowerPoint on the current and upcoming happenings in the contemporary art scene.  Paul opened the lunch hour with an interesting point…when Matisse and Gauguin created their works they were labeled as Fauves and gained considerable condemnation with each showing; do we not regard them as masters of their time now?  They were contemporary artists…at that time. 

Today’s talk was like grabbing an appetizer platter at your favorite local eatery…a great sampling of good things covering a wide range of tastes…but instead of food, with art and instead at the local eatery, at the Contemporary (my old college professor would hang her head in shame with that simile).  Paul shared with us five different exhibitions he finds interesting ranging from the Guggenheim to the NewMuseum.  The shows covered include:

• Cai Guo-Qiang; I Want To Believe  at the Guggenheim Museum
• Unmonumental  at the New Museum
• Life on Mars at the Carnegie
• Take your time: Olafur Eliasson at MoMA
• 2008 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney

It was a great insight as to what is happening today in the art scene and upcoming shows around the United States; paired with soup from the Tempt café and a dreary day, it was the perfect lunchtime retreat. 

Make sure you catch next week’s Walk-In Wednesday when we sit down with Registrar Cole Root who will talk about marketing, advertising, politics, and the award winning documentary film Our Brand is Crisis directed by Rachel Boynton.  So come hungry, leave informed.    - Elizabeth