I attended the Final Friday event at the Denver Art Museum (the DAM) last night, since it the last such event they will hold until next year. Since the last Fridays of the month in November and December are during the holiday season, they must assume no one will attend, especially since they eliminated the free buffet table. In any case, I wasn't expecting much, since the last few Final Fridays I attended were pretty boring, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually pretty entertaining.
The first event I attended was the tour of the Stampede exhibit by "acclaimed art critics" Mitch and Jess. Stampede is all about how animals are portrayed in art, and it seems like it has been at the museum now for months if not years. And it is going to remain on exhibit for another excruciating 7 months. But I digress. The guided tour by Mitch and Jess was very funny and a lot of fun. I don't know if they are a comedy team at one of the local theaters, but if not, they should be. They certainly did a great job of poking fun at Stampede. And yes, that is Georgia O'Keeffe dressed up as Whistler's mother in the painting in the photograph on the right along with Mitch and Jess.
I also attended a showing of short films by Marcy Saude in the auditorium in the basement. They were pretty damn strange, but interesting. The most important thing I took out of it was to avoid spending any time in Ward, Colorado if at all possible. The museum is currently preparing for a new exhibit on the second floor, and so much of that floor has been closed off from the public, as can be seen in the photograph on the left. The new exhibit is called Dior: From Paris to the World, and opens November 19th. And once again I have to ask if this is really art? It is an exhibit of high fashion clothing, after all. I suspect the only reason they have shows like this is that it attracts a larger audience than just plain old fashioned art. Not too long ago there was an exhibit of costumes from Star Wars, and it attracted a huge audience. Perhaps they need shows like this to bring in enough money to reopen the free buffet table. If so, more power to them.
As I was leaving, I stopped in the lobby area to check out the scene. There is a bar and tables there, and a lot of people were mingling around, drinks in hand. And no, it was not an open bar. If so, most of the city would have been there. The crowd was being entertained by a rap singer. The museum seems to feel that rap music is art, too. Once again I feel that it is just a way to boost attendance among the younger set. And walking around, I must say that there are a lot of strange rangers that attend Final Fridays. It is difficult to photograph them, however, since they would probably wind up hitting me, or even worse, breaking my camera. But in any case, I was not sure if the person in the photograph on the right wearing a hat and cape was wearing a Halloween costume, or if that is just how he dresses. I imagine I could have gone up and asked him, but he might take it the wrong way. And so that is it for this year's Final Fridays at the DAM. If you missed it, you'll have to wait until next year.
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