Lotus and Lemons

It must be summer because the Anderson Gallery began their happy hour series tonight.

The kick-off was a reprise of one of my favorite events there, the WRIR scavenger hunt, where audio meets visual and guests like me get to figure out which matches are made in heaven.

Using the Anderson's two new excellent summer shows, "Sanford Biggers: Codex" and "Jacob Lawrence: The Harriet Tubman Series," DJ Michael Miracle had come up with songs to match fifteen of the artworks.

There were boomboxes in all the galleries as people took their list of songs and art and tried to match up which were inspired by what.

While Michael's show "Lotus Land" played on the boomboxes, we moved from gallery to gallery trying to see what he had seen in the art, all the while listening to his show.

The challenge was how thematically similar the works in each exhibit were, meaning certain songs could have gone with more than one piece of art.

But he's a clever one, that Michael Miracle, and as I chatted with others doing the hunt, I found that many of them were stymied in the same way I was.

And just like the first scavenger hunt two years ago, a big part of the pleasure of it was going back through the exhibits repeatedly, seeing new details each time.

While others finished up or gave up and went outside for the ice cream social part of the evening, I kept at it, sure I could figure this thing out.

When they announced the two-minute deadline, I turned my sheet in, still questioning two every similar song titles and not sure which painting went with which.

And, ta-da. It was a three-way tie and, no, I wasn't one of the three.

Sure enough, the two I'd gotten wrong were the two I'd repeatedly switched back and forth, not quite certain which was which.

So at least in my own head, I knew how close I'd been. In fact, if I'd turned in my sheet earlier before I started erasing, it might have been a four-way tie.

I consoled myself with romance.

The Westhampton was showing the Danish film "The Bald Hairdresser," which had been renamed for American sensibilities "Love is All You Need."

The perceived need to do that says so much about us as a people, doesn't it?

One of my favorite things about the film was how the characters moved seamlessly between Danish, English and Italian, with only occasional subtitles.

All the Danes had great big, beautiful blue eyes.

Another perk was that most of it was set in sunny and lemon-filled Sorrento, Italy, as gorgeous a place for romance as could be imagined.

That I was there just last Fall and remembered it well didn't hurt, either, especially given the magnificent cinematography.

Because the main characters are middle-aged, it wasn't a typical romantic comedy, instead showing two people who'd been around the block a few times and took a while to acknowledge the feelings developing between them instead of immediate sunshine and rainbows.

You know, like in middle-aged real life.

They even quoted Henry Miller.

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love.

A truism, even at middle age.

Give me a Danish rom-com any time and hold the corny Americanized title.

Social Scavenging with a Soundtrack

Audio met visual at the Anderson Gallery tonight and I'd have to say it was one of the coolest ways to see an art show I've ever experienced.

WRIR was hosting a social with Lotus Land DJ Michael Miracle playing a live, specially curated two-hour show featuring music inspired by the art of "Knock, Knock," the new contemporary art show at the Anderson.

Boomboxes and radios were in every gallery. They had a cash bar, there was food for the taking and people were mingling inside and out. And how great that outside is even an option this week.

But the hook, the absolutely brilliant part of the event, was the scavenger hunt.

Each guest was given a list of some of the works from the show and a list of some of the songs from the broadcast.

The challenge was to look at the art, listen to the music and  link them up.  Music came from Sparklehorse, Ladytron, Throwing Muses and Louis Prima, to name but a few of the masterfully chosen songs.

The exhibit showcases works from the collection  of Paul and Sara Monroe and focused on the human presence in the pieces. There were paintings, sculpture, and video installations.

Much to my surprise, the pleasure of the scavenger hunt was in the multiple viewings I had of each work.

Sometimes hearing the song live triggered the answer, other times it was enough just to study the details of the work.

What I began to realize was that I kept coming back to pieces repeatedly, either because I hadn't yet figured out what song they matched, or because I needed a break from the hunt and wanted to enjoy some of the works not represented in music.

In doing so, I picked my two favorites, both far too large to hang in my apartment, but definitely both pieces I could live with.

Jack Pierson's "I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" was an acrylic piece done with dots of a vase filled with lush red roses and a biography of actress Jean Seberg, both in the foreground and filling the canvas. It was striking for the sense of loss it conveyed.

The other, Brian Calvin's "The Open Window" showed a hipster-looking couple facing each other, eyes closed, in front of a window.

There was no depth, the colors were flat without nuance and standing in front of it, I was struck by how slightly weird and quietly disconcerting it was.

After numerous trips through all the galleries, I completed my scavenger sheet and turned it in for "grading." I was eager to know what I'd gotten right and what I'd erred on, but that information wasn't forthcoming.

I probably don't need to know. It was enough to have enjoyed the social, talked to some friends I randomly ran into and seen a really interesting art show with an awesome soundtrack.

Audio and visual, you're a match made in heaven. In lesbian parlance, go ahead and rent the U-Haul.