The MoMA and The Plaza, NYC

The Plaza Hotel

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — The Plaza Fairmont, NYC, on a sunshiny afternoon

My daughter Mistaya and I saved a trip to The MoMA Museum of Modern Art until we’d moved over to the second hotel of our Manhattan adventures, The Plaza. The Plaza is only blocks from The MoMA.

P8250002 — The Living room in our Plaza suite.

We were fortunate to be upgraded to a suite on the 15th floor because it just so happened that my friend Rick (Rick and his wife are Toronto-based actors), my sister, Theresa, and my nephew, Kyran all just happened to be in NYC at the same time (Rick is a friend from my early university days. We met on a weekend prairie road trip that included 2 guys, 4 gals and a lot of dancing).

P8250090 — There is something “Hotel Budapest” about this pic (Mistaya and Kyran join us).

The suite was the perfect place to hold an impromptu get together. However, the thing about the neighbourhood around The Plaza is that it’s impossible to find a liquor store after ten at night. Mistaya and I searched for snacks and champagne. We managed to find a few snacks and a bottle of pink Chateau Diana wine at a near by mini-mart. Chateau Diana tasted a little like fruit punch–thank goodness for Theresa’s bottle of Seraphina.

I read my daughters the Eioise books by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight when they were very young. Like Eloise, we also have a pug dog; my girls and I have always enjoyed stories that include pugs. A stay at The Plaza was a luxury that we were thrilled to include in our NYC trip.

The MoMA Museum of Modern Art

Mistaya’s number one NYC “must see” museum of choice was The MoMA. After an exhausting yet exhilarating week in NYC, I was a little museumed-out but Mistaya was persistent. We arrived at The MoMA unsure of what we’d find as we didn’t read up on any of the current exhibits.

I found The MoMA to be a breath of fresh creative air. My brain was filled to the brim with historical art at The MET; as much as I adore historical art, and use it to guide and inspire me, sometimes, I get caught up in “art as perfection.” I truly needed The MoMA to open the doors of my mind to pure, unrestricted creativity.

As an artist, the historical art at The MET shaped my mind with the philosophy of “art as impeccably skilled craftsmanship” and The MoMA opened my mind to a “no-limits in art creation” philosophy.

P8260029 — Misatya at The MoMA (I cannot remember the artist of this room).

P8260041 — Mistaya, very excited to enter the Yoko Ono exhibit. The exhibit proved to be one of our favourites, perhaps because we had fun with it.

Mistaya and I especially enjoyed Yoko Ono’s exhibit. The black sack on the white platform contains a living, naked person. At the time of our stroll through the exhibit, I assumed the person was a small boned woman; though, I cannot be sure as the person in the sack can see out but no one can see in. Gallery visitors are invited to slip into the sack, get naked, and disappear inside it for as long as they like, as long as they remain on the platform. Mistaya and I didn’t have the opportunity to try it out as it was occupied for our entire visit. Though, at one point, I dared Mistaya to bend over and ask the sack, “Yoko? Is that you in there?” She refused to do it!

I included the oil painting below by Rufino Tamayo because the energy of the two dogs reminded me of my two dog boys at home: Pablo and Fernando.

There is so very much more at the MoMA but I fear I will bore my readers with picture after picture of all the paintings, sculptures and exhibits that we found aesthetically intriguing. However, I will leave you with one last piece that caught my eye:

A chair upholstered in 3D penis fabric.

The MoMA and The Plaza, NYC