Seattle Asian Art Museum

As if you didn't already know, one of my favorite things in the world are museums. There are so many artifacts to see and new information to learn. I often find myself running around in awe and trying to absorb it all. Seattle has a program called "First Thursdays" where on the first Thursday of the month, many of the museums are free admission for the day. I mean, what's not to love?

This month I decided to hop on a bus and head down to Capitol Hill and see the Seattle Asian Art Museum. It was the last week for the special exhibition, Live On: Mr.'s Japanese Neo-Pop, and Maddie recommended that I see it.

This is Seattle, so I had to climb up the hill to Volunteer Park, but I made it on the sunny Seattle day. I was surprised by the interior, for it was much grander than I had expected. I checked in my backpack and decided to look at the permanent collection.

The rooms were full of traditional Chinese and Japanese art with modern twists.

This piece, for instance, is of a blurry, androgynous individual with a braid. From a distance it is striking. Up close, you can see the careful weaving to form the intricate braid.

I wandered some more, stumbling upon beautiful statues and vases.

Another theme constantly portrayed was the idea of layers. These ceramic vases have been dipped in paint multiple times. Ai Weiwei, the artist, equates the layers of paint to history, "no longer visible, but is still there".

These were just so cool!

After the permanent collection, I headed over to the other wing of the museum housing Mr.'s Live On. Walking into the first room, I came face to face with large paintings mounted on the walls depicting young neo-pop girls personified by flowers and sparkles to represent their youth.

Hey look there's Pharrell!

But the main attraction was Mr.'s piece in response to the 2011 tsunami, earthquae and nuclear incident. In this monumental room, Mr. used everyday objects to recreate the debris at the scene and tv screens playing footage to demonstrate the Japanese's reactions.

I really appreciate the innovation behind this work and how Mr. took simple objects to create a powerful and unique representation on a large scale.

What a good Thursday!