On 65th street just east of Madison I had a scrumptious Croque Madame today. The restaurant s small with a friendly neighborhood feel.

I went with my new friend Ray after visiting the Met Bruer to see the Lucio Fontana exhibit. Now two days ago I had never heard of Fontana but in my quest to become more familiar with art, to gain a greater understanding I went right to youtube and a few art sites to read up on him.

Apparently he was quite revolutionary in his time. He was a sculptor and a painter and a thinker. If I understand him correctly he was trying to get across his thinking on the cosmos, on things greater than the plane we see.

Amongst the YouTube I saw was a live slashing of a friends monochromatic painting. he two artist had been commissioned to work together. One creating the large monochromatic and the other to puncture it.

At the time it was revolutionary.

When I see art I always first look to see “is it pretty? Would I want it in my home?” I am trying to see past this. To see it in the context of its time. Today we are accustomed to artists working in all sorts of medium creating things that we dont understand. But go back 100 years and artists were just breaking away from landscapes and portraits. Nothing like this existed before…

I am still working it out, still looking at artwork first with the questions of appealing and now further. I am hoping that it will take me somewhere new.