Art With Liv
We took Liv to the Berkeley Art Museum to see a show by one of my favorite artists -- Bruce Nauman. I knew it would be fun for her because he makes a varied art work that covers photography, neon, video, installations and all sorts of other media.
One of the first things we encountered was a film called "how to catch Asian Carp." She watched this several times, enjoying the hysterical laughter of teh film maker that opunctuated the catch and release of the fish.
We then went into another room where her eye grew wide at the name "Bruce" spelled out in neon cursive. It stretched across the long wall of a room with at least 10:1 ratio f letters in his name to the number of times they were represented in neon. Think "bbbrrruuuccceee," but about 4 times longer, and glowing white.
Another video installation had Bruce Nauman moving along a square painted on the floor by shuffling his feet. At some points he moved from the frame. Liv asked why he was sneaking around. I told her he was making art.
The visit ended with us getting a hot chocolate at a nearby campus coffee house.
The art made a big impression, though. A few days later we got some boxes that had been shipped by my cousin Bruce. Liv asked where the boxes came from, and I said "my cousin Bruce."
Without skipping a beat she said, "Bruce has a long name."
I had no idea what she was talking about until Jenny pointed out that she was referencing the above neon representation of the name "Bruce."
A few days later, as we were getting in the car she said, "You know what Bruce was doing? He was sneaking on the square!"



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