The Quiet before the Quiet

Starting tomorrow, we go into Lock Down Lite.  Schools and shops will be open, but museums, gyms, theaters, will all be closed for at least the next four weeks to try and bring COVID back under control till we find a vaccine or some other thing that keeps the monster in check. We've long given up our gym membership. Restaurant eating is out of the question. So it was really important to get out today and see a bit of the world, or what we could cover in a couple of hours on our bikes.

And the day started off so well!  Bright sunshine!  Blue skies!  But it didn't last and by the time we'd finished our usual late Sunday morning brunch, cleaned up and got organized, the sun was in hiding and the skies were gray.  Oh, well.  You can't let gray skies stop you. (And I'm still weighing getting up at 7am to enjoy a bit of sunshine vs. getting a bit more sleep.  Sleep usually wins.)

We put tea in the thermos, packed some of the apple cake I made yesterday, and headed to the Overbeck Museum. Current exhibit:  Benjamin Beßlick:  Cloud Show. There were several rooms of clouds, drawn in graphite on transparent paper.  At first it looked boring, colorless drawings hanging on neutral-colored walls, but it quickly became calming.

Next to many of the drawings was a quote from a contemporary German poet, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, from his collection A History of Clouds.  Here's a sample:

Their wanderings high up
are quiet and unexorable.
Nothing bothers them.
Probably they believe
in resurrection, thoughtlessly,
happy like me,
lying on my back and
watching them for a while.            (translated by Esther Kinsky)

Well, I am not sure I fully agree with the poet's assessment, but there were some interesting juxtapositions and my brain can always use a bit of jogging.

In the next room, they'd put together paintings and drawings from the Overbecks, both Otto and Hermine, that had clouds as a prominent element.  We're quite familiar with their work, but this was an interesting contrast, too.

I have to say, I prefer the oil/colored representations of the clouds, but ... if I want calm, I'd have to choose Beßlick.  Is that what I need now?

Boy, art makes us hungry!  Jump on the bikes and head to the park and find a bench and break out the tea and cake!  (I hope I did not imply that we'd be actually biking for hours, just OUT and WITH bikes for a couple of hours.)

Knoops Park is just around the corner and we frequently bike through the park going from A to B or here to there, but far less often stop or wander.  But today, a stop on a bench and a nice look at the sky.

I think the artist would be challenged to highlight the contrast in the sky today.  Really, it is still pretty uniformly gray.  The view is pleasant, but no way are we lying on our backs and pondering the clouds.  It's way to wet on the ground for starters and not quite warm enough to be lolling.  But the tea is hot and the apple cake is just as good as it was yesterday. That's enough.

Our foray to the park wasn't random. or just a transition point.  There's some newly installed art there as well: steel sculptures.  Modern.  Stark.  Not sure what I think.

 I like the contrast of nature/not nature.  The sculptures are not stabiles á la Calder, but almost, since there may be only one point that melds one piece to another.  And WHAT is under the ground that keeps them upright!!?? These are v e r y heavy pieces. They almost remind me of trees, they almost remind me of  natural shapes, but not quite.  Nevertheless, I don't find them jarring.   

Even though the sky was pretty uniformly gray, you can see there's some nice color around.  We'll enjoy it while we can. By the time I get out again, the remaining colors will all be gone.