Laowai

Today Bea and I took a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. I wanted to see a new exhibit on Ed Ruscha, a photographer and painter. The exhibit was mostly photos taken in the 1960s. They were little black and white photos – the subjects were groups of gas stations or apartment buildings or parking lots from above. He made the sets of photos into little books. They wouldn’t be half as impressive if they weren’t presented as a series. Lots of them featured interesting typography. I thought mostly about how he took the photos and the fact that he didn’t have the immediate feedback of a digital camera. He had to carefully make the composition in his camera’s little viewfinder and then wait until the photos were developed before he knew if he had a good photo. We also saw some of the modern art galleries with big, bold, colorful paintings. I thought Bea would enjoy the modern art but I think she likes people watching most of all.

We had to head over to Millennium Park and take some very touristy photos next to the bean sculpture before we headed home. It’s very cool. You can go inside it and it kind of scoops up and you see your reflection dotted all over a thousand times. It’s best to see it on a cloudy cold March day because in the summer it’s a mob scene.