Exhibition Fun

Georges Seurat was showing at MOMA. Better known for his dot paintings, he did do a lot of sketches during his short career. The exhibition focussed on those sketches, as well as how those sketches contributed to his final paintings.

So of the stuff he sketched was amazing, and the word sketch doesn't quite describe it. It was more of a tone on tone shading, and the differences between certain sections was what defined the shapes. The subtlety of where the shades changed was very impressive.

I've always liked the use of charcoal and graphite in paintings, because of the diversity of the product. There can be a sharpness and intricacy in the picture that brushes would be hard pressed to achieve. And, as shown by Seurat, a blending of shades that rivals mixing paint.

What was also great to see at the exhibition were all these amateur artists bringing in their sketch books and mimicking some of the drawings there. A few of them were really skilled! Made me want to buy a sketch book and get into it.

MOMA is a great place to spend the afternoon, especially when it was snowing outside. The more I live around Midtown the more I like the fact that so many of these places are accessible by foot. I'm pretty sure I don't want to move for a while :)