A Night to Rememer

Here, Alexis Rockman has depicted New York City, NY under, as he says "87 feet of water."

The National Portrait Gallery has begun a series of lectures called "Face to Face Portrait talks." These Shows coincide with various exhibits throughout the Gallery, where either a highly educated curator, or the artist themselves will come discuss their work for an audience. The first of these Talks was with artist, Alexis Rockman. Despite his narcissistic, self absorbed personality and his unfailing focus towards politics and the environment, his work is amazing. His technique and use of detail is impeccable, and his use of color and  design are breathtaking. Seeing that I personally do not agree one bit with his politics or his subject matter, I still find his work beautiful. One aspect of the talks, which I had not anticipated, was the audience. The Audience members were surprisingly educated in art and the arts, and even threw out descriptions and artists I had never heard of before. It is almost as though every member of the audience has a masters degree in art history. And they all might just have one, seeing that I was the youngest member of the Audience.

My family and I also went to see the show and following talk of "Elvis at 21." The Exhibit shows the work of Alfred Wertheimer, a photographer who documented the career of Elvis Presley. This exhibit includes photographs of Elvis in the uprising of his career at the age of 21. The show includes some of the most iconic pictures of "the king." The talk was accompanied by a cover band, who knew a slew of Elvis's songs, which fit perfectly with the narration of the presentation, given by a curator from the gallery.
The talks are very interesting and last through the beginning of February, and are open to the public.