Op Art & Bi Bim Bap

Took a little day-cation to Louisville to see beautiful art and eat exotic food on my birthday.

I love the beauty of the woods and streams around our farm, but every once in while I crave some higher form. Something man-made. Anything that can evoke an emotion or deserve a long contemplation. The Speed Museum has a few galleries with a fair collection of works –  enough for an entertaining afternoon.

Antiquities echo us. This is who we used to be. This was important to us.

Classic art reminds us where we have been. I’m deeply enamored with the Impressionists, and especially paintings by James Tissott. Yes, I have been there. I remember.

Modern art shows us where to go. It’s the next step forward. Through fantasy and hellscape, and out the other side reformed. It’s our next journey.

Conceptual art is meant to disturb our bearings.  Such was the case with the Infinity Mirrored Room. The installation by Yayoi Kusama is so unnerving that you’re only allowed inside for 90 seconds.

Because it was my birthday and I was feeling frisky, I stuck my camera in all the the impolite places you’re not supposed to. Lots of boobs and bi-bim-baps.

After all that culture, it was time for some spicy Korean food to ground us. Back in the 1980’s, Lee’s restaurant started as an American-style cafeteria located in the bottom of an office building. In the evenings the owners would cook up Korean food, to the delight of those who discovered this hidden gem. The cafeteria is long gone, but Lee’s is still serving up the best Bi Bim Bap I’ve ever had.

One last effort to extract ourselves from the city, and we were back to the woodland splendor of our rural home. Badda-bap.