During one of our free days, my classmates and I attended college night at The Morgan Library in midtown New York. When we entered the building, we were welcomed by the sounds of the live band that was performing near the café. I took some time to sit and enjoy the music and do some people watching and then I made my way into the library. I was delighted by the extensive collection of books within the library; it was reminiscent of the large library I hope to one day have in my home. After I got over my amazement of the extent of the collection, my attention was drawn to the beautiful ceiling with its golden accented images.
After leaving the library, I made my way over to the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery where the collection entitled “Entrance to the Mind” displaying drawings by George Condo. I was very intrigued by this collection because of the abstract quality of some of the drawings; the others I was drawn to because of their dark, chaotic atmosphere. I was intrigued by the distortion of the images themselves and the ways in which this distortion is meant to reflect the human mind. I was fascinated by the theme of having distorted figures lurking by the main person in the drawings, which were meant to represent the fears, desires, and anxieties of the people, usually women, in the image.
Though I extensively enjoyed the George Condo exhibit, I think my favorite installation was in the exhibit by Nina Katchadourian entitled “Uncommon Denominator” in which interconnects works from her past with family artifacts and objects the Morgan. The installation within the collection that I loved the most was entitled “Sorted Books” depicted collections of book titles, taken from the shelves of some noteworthy people such as writer William S. Burroughs, that are put together to create a short phrase, poem, story or commentary. The installation felt very fitting for a trip devoted to book publishing. The installation initially caught my eye because it depicted books; however, it held my attention with the interesting phrases that she was able to create with the book titles such as “The Sergeant says pigs is pigs, experts are puzzled”. I spent most of my time reading through all of the phrases she was able to put together.
