Kunst and Redwood.

Howdy all!

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of modern art, it has to be said; and I’m by far the most knowledgeable in this field… despite my regular visits to the Pompidou Center whenever I can fit them in. It’s just never all that clear to me when I stare at some modern kunst piece quite what the artist was depicting – or why. What was he/she trying to express, if anything? Other times – rarely – I do manage to ‘get it’, thankfully!

Djerassi Resident Artist Program Kunst3

I mention modern art as we got to see quite a bit of it just recently. A group of comrades and I found ourselves at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California – a real out-of-the-way place in the middle of nowhere where artists can come and stay to inject new vigor into their creativity, be it painting, sculpting, writing, music making or multimedia-ing.

Djerassi Resident Artist Program landscape

Always keep an ear to the ground

For visitors, maybe for residents too, of particular interest here are the modern art installations scattered all over the sizable territory of the creativity incubator. It was these we came for. And I soon found out that T.T. is also not too well-versed in matters of modern art…

Djerassi Resident Artist Program Kunst4

Djerassi Resident Artist Program Kunst2

The main sculpture attractions are curious tree-based ones created by Drue Kataoka. All the sawn ends of felled tree trunks feature small pieces of carefully placed broken mirrors. They not only look great – they also reflect rather nicely. They say that with a full moon this installation is spookily extraterrestrial. By day, you can see the reflections of the sky, neighboring trees, and nearby tourists – including those carrying a pine cone in each hand…

After the Celestial Axe by Drue Kataoka1