Two words.
Two more words.
And two more words.
One quote.
“A girl’s gotta have a life of her own.”
While figuring out how to even write this post, it came to me that it was more than just going to see probably one of Washington DC’s most talked about art exhibits of 2017. Maybe even ever [ok not that far]. First I have to talk about my realization that just two years ago I had NO life. Boring. Unsure. Disconnected. Everyone around me seemed to be out here doing it. Doin’ their own thing. Living life. ‘Bout that life. Living not existing. And I was just sitting there – on the dock of the bay – unsure of what “create a life of your own” meant, or rather – how to go about doing it. That’s always my challenge. I know what to do most of the time. It’s how.
Fast forward.
I started to push myself to become fearless. Whatever seemed fun and interesting, I wanted to at least try it out or experience it. If I went to something, and it wasn’t what I expected or it turned out not to be my thing. Then ok. But the most important fact was for me to be able to say, well at least I tried. That’s all I know, life is a try. I stopped worrying about who wanted to go with me [hence me Masterdating] or setting expectations of the unknown.
2016 was the year of creating a life. I can legit-ly say [I know, not a word, but let me have it] I’m a foodie, I can go almost anywhere by myself, I can spark a random conversation with just about anybody, I’m a certified free spirit and I loooooooovvvveeeeeeeeee museums. For real, how can I work in the heart of the city surrounded by at minimum 10 of the most popular museums, and not visit at least one. Last year, I went to them all. One of my favorite museums is the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. I can now answer the question when asked, “What kind of art do you like?” Contemporary art, avant-garde and culture. Thanks to my cultural escapades.
Fast forward a little more.
In early 2017, I heard about Yayoi Kusama, the artist who had this weird, colorful, thought provoking exhibit coming to the Hirshorn for a limited time. And some things that look like eggplant emojis? Reading her story a bit before I went, turned out she didn’t like sex but had an obsession with it. Accredited to her father’s extramarital affairs. Top all of that off with a physically abusive mother – and well – this is what you get.
I had to go. [ Not because it’s been a long ti…ah never mind. My dad’s gonna read this]
One hurdle. I needed a free time passed.
What that means is: Be ready stalk the website every Monday at noon and hope to get a ticket.
Week after after week, for a month plus, I tried to get a ticket. My goal was to go for my birthday.
Fail after fail. The site was certainly crashing. I’m sure of it.
Tickets were being sold out in record times. One minute or less. Beyonce type selling out. Go Yayoi. Goan girl.
So, I started to give up. I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to get a ticket. And then one day while checking e-mail. There it was. An extra ticket for the April 3rd entry to the exhibit as a birthday gift!
All I have to say is: easily one of the best experiences this year for me.
I have a thing for weird, eccentric, complicated art. Art that can be misunderstood but that’s what makes it beautiful.
Kinda like me, I guess.
Anyway.
As always, snapped a few pictures of my experience.
Enjoy.
Phalli’s Field. 1965/2016. Stuffed cotton board, and mirrors
I knoooowwww. It’s. Uh. Different?!
Oh, wait. One more thing. So the whole chief complaint or heads up about the longggggg lines was real dot com. Gee wiz. Like 30 minute wait times per room. And there were only six! But I still say it was worth it. Total time to complete the exhibit was about 3.5 hours. Yes, I stood and waited. And talked to people. And talked to more people. 
Two notes:
- The Pumpkin room was closed because apparently someone broke a pumpkin. SMH. So I don’t have a picture of the #1 room I wanted to see.
- I have some videos to load but I’m having some issues right now. I’ll do an update to this post once I reload them.
