Too bad I didn't do this when I played Cyberpunk or something, I think it would have been fun making art for the games I played with my high school friends. Ah well, too bad everyone has to grow up.
My scribbles, ramblings, and sketches


So, we headed back into Philly and decided to see the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In contrast of the Met, Philly's was wonderfully relaxing and peaceful to just take our time and walk around. The American Collection was laid out well and given the space the paintings deserved for these great American Illustrators. Great pieces from Sargent and Homer's collection was great and sizable, but Thomas Eakins piece, the Agnew Clinic was the most impressive there. Wow. There was so much story, such execution, and size. A great painting to see in person. I used to think a person could enjoy great work from the internet or a well printed book, but now, I'm going to be on a mission to see all artwork I can in person. I wonder when the low season is for Paris?
We also saw more medieval armory pieces, journeyed through impressive mock sets of a variety of cultures, and viewed some great European painters. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a excellent museum. I really enjoyed my time there and would love to go back there as much as I would to the Met. And the topping of it all was when I finally found the statue of Rocky. Yeah, I like the movies and heard there was a real statue at the museum. I wasn't sure if the city still had it out there, but out there it was!

We started in the Greek/Roman collection admiring the great collection of sculptures. In fact, we weren't the only artists there, many art students were there using that incredible resource. Soon, we wandered through the Egyptian collections to the Medieval collections. I loved seeing the armor and weapon masterworks there, we took many photos for future reference. Eventually wandering through the maze like Met with its many reconstruction projects, we got to the American Collection. Sadly, much of the work was in storage within these reflective and poorly lit glass cases. Not the most ideal setup to view them, but the paintings were still great to view. The Sargeants, Eakins, and Cassatts were beautiful. It made the hassle of wandering through the Met really worth it to see such great paintings.

So, spending so long in the Met, hunger set in once again. We took the subway and surfaced near the Chrysler Building look for restaurants. Before the trip I wanted to somehow fit in some authentic NY thin pizza. Much is to be made of this vaunted pizza that somehow, however unlikely, to be better than Chicago deep dish. Many an debate I've been a part of concerning this, which always comes down to... "Sure, you've had NY thin pizza, but have you had it in NY?" A point I would use for Chicago deep dish, the best IS in Chicago. So as we looked for a place to eat, I kept an eye out for a place. None smelled or looked any good. Eventually we came to the area where we had dinner the last time. The place of excellent Chilean cuisine, Pomaire. Then it dawned upon me, who cares about thin flaky NY pizza? I rather have delicious Chilean food. So, once again, we ate as kings did. Steak, wine, and pisco sours!
We started off to the Neue Gallery to see the Klimt work that came back from tour. During our hike, we went through Central Park. And that was a nice and relaxing walk. Its a welcoming beautiful park with paths all over. We stopped by a cafe for a cup of caffeine and to slow down enough to enjoy our vacation. So many people rush according to a time table for all the sights, but you're on vacation! There is no schedule! Thus, relax and enjoy we did. Central Park is a beautiful place that so starkly contrasts the stone and steel of the city. Golden Gate Park is so different from Central Park. When you leave Golden Gate, you're in smaller residential homes, where Central Park is directly next to the skyscrapers of NY.
Later, we made it to the Neue gallery and walked around all the Klimt work. It was great to see so much of his finished work, but whats amazing was his sketches. His figures drawings are loose and shows off his talent. We spend a good amount of time there admiring his work and we brought a book of his drawings.


Afterwards we headed to South St and checked out Isaiah Zagar's work that dotted all over the walls of Philadelphia. His work covers entire sides of buildings in found materials all over the city. Random places you might look, you do find a wall he adorned sometime ago. One wall of his work is fantastic, but when we got to his building where he worked for the past 20 years on, absolutely staggering. All the floors had every inch of the walls covered in his mosaic designs. He even moved his work into an abandoned building next door and covered that too. Its a multi-level maze of mosaic designs and patterns. This gallery is one of the highlights of Philadelphia.
