Russian Art

A friend of mine wanted to get together.  I suggested we tour the Museum of Russian Art. So we met at the museum which is at 35W and Diamond Lake Road. This museum has three floors. We started on the lower level.  There we found a collection of porcelain art. Porcelain people, porcelain animals, porcelain birds, and porcelain houses were on display. There was a television playing a Soviet version of the Nutcracker ballet animated movie. They had several holiday trees covered with Russian ornaments. A poster explained that during the Soviet rule, celebrating Christmas was outlawed. During that time celebrating New Years Day became a big event.  They used decorated trees to celebrate New Years and made ornaments of Grandfather Frost (who looked a lot like Santa Claus). Upstairs on the main level was more art.  One of the first pieces we saw was a large canvas of black polka dots on a white background. At first glance it didn't look like much but something about it drew me in. I stood close and could hear breathing and a heart beat.  As I watched the canvas expanded and contracted as if it was breathing. Nearby were three white vases on three white pedestals.  On each vase was the image of a naked woman doing back flips. One naked lady was yellow, one green and one red. The image of her came out of the top of the pedestal and was projected onto the vase. In another area was a interactive pad on the floor. If you stood on the pad a camera caught your image and recorded you.  If you stood there long enough the images and voices of the people who did this ahead of you also showed up on the screen.  We really hammed it up for the next people. In another area was a black shelving unit about 6 feet high, 10 feet long and 5 feet wide.  On the various open shelves were robots.  Some had eyes that moved and blinked when you walked by. If you stood there long enough a duck like robot would flap the wings and shake the webbed feet back and forth while quacking. On another shelf a headless robot dog would bark and wag the tail. They had a section of feminist art that was very interesting.  On the third level was a display called "Inside the Bee Hive." Along with the wall art of honey combs and bees were several honey comb pieces carved out of onyx.  The third level also has a museum store with lovely but expensive books, art, jewelry, clothing, toys, coffee, tea, and food. We spent two hours going through the museum and it was definitely worth our time.  I wonder why I never thought to go there before!