David Bowie Is...
May. 5th, 2018 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatCo-worker: So any plans this weekend?
ME: Planning on seeing David Bowie Is with a friend at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, assuming we can get in on the basis of being members. Since we don't have tickets.
Co-worker: You're seeing David Bowie? Live?
Me: Well, no, David Bowie is dead.
Co-worker: Oh, that's right. I forgot.
Me: Died two years ago.
Co-worker: I was thinking maybe he was coming back...
Me: Not for this. He's not that crazy.
I told this to Wales aka former best friend...who was shocked by it.
Wales: How old is this woman? Is she part of our generation?
Me: Forty-Six.
Wales: How can't she know? Why aren't you shocked? I'd have been shocked and dismayed.
Me: Well, I have extremely broad taste in music, I don't expect to like everything I do. When they ask what I love, I ask them what they like -- and just pick whatever fits, it narrows it down or we'll be here all day.
Wales: I loved David Bowie -- I was devastated when he died. I visited his Soho Loft and left a stuffed purple unicorn and flowers as a memorial.
Me: I was upset, but I figure he lived a long and amazing life. It was his time -- also he was in pain, died of cancer.
Anyhow - that's why I chose this activity. It was something to do together without a lot of chatting, no money on food, drink or things that annoy Wales. Wales is high maintenance and needy, hence the former best friend status. I've learned that in order to be friends -- I have to be careful, insanely flexible and pick activities in which it does not matter if she arrives late or has any money.
So, due to becoming members, Wales (aka Former Best Friend) and I were able to get in to see David Bowie Is at Brooklyn Museum of Art. Our membership -- got us in without waiting in line, our paying for tickets in advance or at all. So for $75, we get to see all the exhibits, complimentary ticket to David Bowie Is, and all exhibits for a year. Plus support the arts in Brooklyn.
Worthwhile expense all things considered.
Also we spent close to three hours touring that exhibition. Got in at !:15 and didn't leave until 3:47 PM.
It is insanely extensive. The exhibit basically covers David Bowie's entire life and all of his body of work throughout his life, including music videos, artwork, costumes, architectural designs, drawings, album covers, how he wrote songs, his methodology, his music, his film and stage roles, appearances on television, etc.
I sat for thirty minutes watching clips of various film and stage appearances he'd done, including a jaw-dropping film clip of his performance of the Elephant Man on Broadway in the late 1970s/early 80s, when John Lennon was shot. He preformed the role with no stage makeup or prosthetics, using facial contortions and mime. It blew me away.
Then there was this clip of a "Mime" act which Bowie did for a BBC Television Special way back in the 1960s, which is about a performer who puts on a mask to obtain attention, fame, and applause. Each time he puts on the mask, everyone is devoted to him. Until finally he can no longer remove the mask, it has become permanently part of him and he strangles himself onstage attempting to remove it.
He is the performance. It blew me away -- because it is in many ways a commentary on Bowie's struggle with his fame and various roles. To what extent had Bowie created himself inside each of his characters and to what extent did those characters become Bowie?
Another part of the exhibit has a demonstration of word program that Bowie created to help create songs or generate song ideas...entitled the Verbalizer -- where Bowie inputs various sentences and the computer program dices and slices them together. Then Bowie grabs the bits that create a visual story in his head. Such as the "Top man always falls".
Then there are various music videos -- directed by people such as David Mamet, and it explains how each was directed and put together -- they are put inside cubes or children's playing cubes.
In another part of the exhibit -- we see various documentaries about how he created his album covers and what influenced him, films, artists, and books. The exhibit has his traveling book case containing the 100 books that he couldn't live without. Including but not limited to A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 1984 by George Orwell, The People's Tragedy, A Self-Divided...he was a huge fan of Anthony Burgess and heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange -- in particular the costume design and aesthetic.
Fan art, his own works, including line drawings that he did with performance and conceptual artist Laurie Anderson were exhibited. He did these drawings with Laurie over the telephone, stating he believed she could read minds and that the drawings would prove it. They sort of do.
They have Bowie's musical composition and notes on Space Oddity - how he came up with the chords, and the changes in the words, lyrics and musical compositions. Also all the set design, drawings, storyboards, album cover design, and costume designs for The Diamond Dogs Tour and album cover.
This is a must-see for any David Bowie fan. It is mind-blowing extensive. I thought it would be just the costume design and a bunch of art work, some music, nothing more, but they not only show the actual costumes (which made me realize David Bowie was NOT a big guy, he's smaller than I am), but videos of him wearing them. Because some of them look impossible to wear or insanely uncomfortable. One -- which he wore on Saturday Night Live rendered him immobile and he had to be moved by his handlers. They show the costume and the SNL performance, and explain the methodology behind the design and David's concept.
Neither Wales nor I noticed the passage of time or that we'd parted ways and wondered apart and together at various junctures. We were wearing these ear phones throughout. So basically you wonder through listening to David Bowie talk to you and sing throughout the exhibit. You are immersed in David Bowie -- sound and visuals. He might as well be standing next to you -- it certainly felt that way at times. Or at the very least his ghost.
I read a bit of his writing taken from a journal about how he viewed art and music. He said that he saw it as an interactive experience. That there really is no true authorial voice, that the audience, viewer interacts with the art, and takes away whatever they interpret. That the art exists outside of the author rendering the author moot. He also stated that he felt that meaning had been wiped or pulled out of art, and history, that people were not truly interpreting or seeing it. And how this was problematic. This isn't exact of course. But it resonated with me or rather I found it memorable because my brother's told me pretty much the same things. My brother is a huge fan of Bowie, even saw him perform live in concert in the 1990s. He's passed this love down to his daughter who used a David Bowie song lyric in a story she wrote. But my brother was also a conceptual artist, and a performance artist, and his wife's parents were performance artists heavily involved with the Beat Generation. Her father was best friends with Andy Warhol. And they introduced me to Laurie Anderson -- who we saw perform in person in the late 1980s/1990s.
I've also seen several of Bowie's films, although not the best one, The Man Who Fell to Earth. I did see Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Prestige, Labrynth, Absolute Beginners, and The Hunger. He was an amazing actor and artist. Always pushing the envelope, challenging the borders of art, and subversive -- he liked to question things. He also played with technology in ways a lot of artists never have. In some respects he created the music video and was among the first to do music videos or really push the boundaries regarding music videos. You get to see several examples, topped off with a surround sound concert experience where they air his Station to Station tour on various huge screens.
This exhibit takes you on a completely immersive world-wind tour of this artist's life's work, showing you his entire body of work, and emphasizing various highlights here and there. It is among the best exhibits that I've seen regarding a musician. (And I saw the Beatles and Bob Dylan exhibits at the Morgan.)
I can see why it is sold out. It's bloody brilliant. I was enthralled for three hours. Stood for 90% of that time. Now, I'm exhausted. By the end of it, neither Wales nor I wanted to look at anything or listen to anything. We were spent. But it was so worth it.
ME: Planning on seeing David Bowie Is with a friend at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, assuming we can get in on the basis of being members. Since we don't have tickets.
Co-worker: You're seeing David Bowie? Live?
Me: Well, no, David Bowie is dead.
Co-worker: Oh, that's right. I forgot.
Me: Died two years ago.
Co-worker: I was thinking maybe he was coming back...
Me: Not for this. He's not that crazy.
I told this to Wales aka former best friend...who was shocked by it.
Wales: How old is this woman? Is she part of our generation?
Me: Forty-Six.
Wales: How can't she know? Why aren't you shocked? I'd have been shocked and dismayed.
Me: Well, I have extremely broad taste in music, I don't expect to like everything I do. When they ask what I love, I ask them what they like -- and just pick whatever fits, it narrows it down or we'll be here all day.
Wales: I loved David Bowie -- I was devastated when he died. I visited his Soho Loft and left a stuffed purple unicorn and flowers as a memorial.
Me: I was upset, but I figure he lived a long and amazing life. It was his time -- also he was in pain, died of cancer.
Anyhow - that's why I chose this activity. It was something to do together without a lot of chatting, no money on food, drink or things that annoy Wales. Wales is high maintenance and needy, hence the former best friend status. I've learned that in order to be friends -- I have to be careful, insanely flexible and pick activities in which it does not matter if she arrives late or has any money.
So, due to becoming members, Wales (aka Former Best Friend) and I were able to get in to see David Bowie Is at Brooklyn Museum of Art. Our membership -- got us in without waiting in line, our paying for tickets in advance or at all. So for $75, we get to see all the exhibits, complimentary ticket to David Bowie Is, and all exhibits for a year. Plus support the arts in Brooklyn.
Worthwhile expense all things considered.
Also we spent close to three hours touring that exhibition. Got in at !:15 and didn't leave until 3:47 PM.
It is insanely extensive. The exhibit basically covers David Bowie's entire life and all of his body of work throughout his life, including music videos, artwork, costumes, architectural designs, drawings, album covers, how he wrote songs, his methodology, his music, his film and stage roles, appearances on television, etc.
I sat for thirty minutes watching clips of various film and stage appearances he'd done, including a jaw-dropping film clip of his performance of the Elephant Man on Broadway in the late 1970s/early 80s, when John Lennon was shot. He preformed the role with no stage makeup or prosthetics, using facial contortions and mime. It blew me away.
Then there was this clip of a "Mime" act which Bowie did for a BBC Television Special way back in the 1960s, which is about a performer who puts on a mask to obtain attention, fame, and applause. Each time he puts on the mask, everyone is devoted to him. Until finally he can no longer remove the mask, it has become permanently part of him and he strangles himself onstage attempting to remove it.
He is the performance. It blew me away -- because it is in many ways a commentary on Bowie's struggle with his fame and various roles. To what extent had Bowie created himself inside each of his characters and to what extent did those characters become Bowie?
Another part of the exhibit has a demonstration of word program that Bowie created to help create songs or generate song ideas...entitled the Verbalizer -- where Bowie inputs various sentences and the computer program dices and slices them together. Then Bowie grabs the bits that create a visual story in his head. Such as the "Top man always falls".
Then there are various music videos -- directed by people such as David Mamet, and it explains how each was directed and put together -- they are put inside cubes or children's playing cubes.
In another part of the exhibit -- we see various documentaries about how he created his album covers and what influenced him, films, artists, and books. The exhibit has his traveling book case containing the 100 books that he couldn't live without. Including but not limited to A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 1984 by George Orwell, The People's Tragedy, A Self-Divided...he was a huge fan of Anthony Burgess and heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange -- in particular the costume design and aesthetic.
Fan art, his own works, including line drawings that he did with performance and conceptual artist Laurie Anderson were exhibited. He did these drawings with Laurie over the telephone, stating he believed she could read minds and that the drawings would prove it. They sort of do.
They have Bowie's musical composition and notes on Space Oddity - how he came up with the chords, and the changes in the words, lyrics and musical compositions. Also all the set design, drawings, storyboards, album cover design, and costume designs for The Diamond Dogs Tour and album cover.
This is a must-see for any David Bowie fan. It is mind-blowing extensive. I thought it would be just the costume design and a bunch of art work, some music, nothing more, but they not only show the actual costumes (which made me realize David Bowie was NOT a big guy, he's smaller than I am), but videos of him wearing them. Because some of them look impossible to wear or insanely uncomfortable. One -- which he wore on Saturday Night Live rendered him immobile and he had to be moved by his handlers. They show the costume and the SNL performance, and explain the methodology behind the design and David's concept.
Neither Wales nor I noticed the passage of time or that we'd parted ways and wondered apart and together at various junctures. We were wearing these ear phones throughout. So basically you wonder through listening to David Bowie talk to you and sing throughout the exhibit. You are immersed in David Bowie -- sound and visuals. He might as well be standing next to you -- it certainly felt that way at times. Or at the very least his ghost.
I read a bit of his writing taken from a journal about how he viewed art and music. He said that he saw it as an interactive experience. That there really is no true authorial voice, that the audience, viewer interacts with the art, and takes away whatever they interpret. That the art exists outside of the author rendering the author moot. He also stated that he felt that meaning had been wiped or pulled out of art, and history, that people were not truly interpreting or seeing it. And how this was problematic. This isn't exact of course. But it resonated with me or rather I found it memorable because my brother's told me pretty much the same things. My brother is a huge fan of Bowie, even saw him perform live in concert in the 1990s. He's passed this love down to his daughter who used a David Bowie song lyric in a story she wrote. But my brother was also a conceptual artist, and a performance artist, and his wife's parents were performance artists heavily involved with the Beat Generation. Her father was best friends with Andy Warhol. And they introduced me to Laurie Anderson -- who we saw perform in person in the late 1980s/1990s.
I've also seen several of Bowie's films, although not the best one, The Man Who Fell to Earth. I did see Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Prestige, Labrynth, Absolute Beginners, and The Hunger. He was an amazing actor and artist. Always pushing the envelope, challenging the borders of art, and subversive -- he liked to question things. He also played with technology in ways a lot of artists never have. In some respects he created the music video and was among the first to do music videos or really push the boundaries regarding music videos. You get to see several examples, topped off with a surround sound concert experience where they air his Station to Station tour on various huge screens.
This exhibit takes you on a completely immersive world-wind tour of this artist's life's work, showing you his entire body of work, and emphasizing various highlights here and there. It is among the best exhibits that I've seen regarding a musician. (And I saw the Beatles and Bob Dylan exhibits at the Morgan.)
I can see why it is sold out. It's bloody brilliant. I was enthralled for three hours. Stood for 90% of that time. Now, I'm exhausted. By the end of it, neither Wales nor I wanted to look at anything or listen to anything. We were spent. But it was so worth it.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-06 01:08 am (UTC)I wonder if it's the same clip I once remember seeing -- though probably much briefer as what I saw was around 30 seconds. But yes, it was striking. Thanks for the write up, I'm glad to know what was included as i can't visit it myself.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-06 02:26 am (UTC)It's quite beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-06 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-06 08:18 pm (UTC)It was a mind-blowing exhibit. I'm still processing it.