A Great day at the Rubin Museum of Art
I decided on Friday night, November 29, 2019, to visit the museum called “ The Rubin Museum of Art”. The Rubin Museum of Art is an arts oasis and cultural hub in New York City’s vibrant Chelsea neighborhood. Over there people usually go to see contemporary life and art of the Himalayas, India, and neighboring regions.
I don’t like in general museums because I thought that I was not interested in art. A lot of museums can seem very similar which is why my love for museums is very difficult. However, the Rubin Museum was different from most I’ve visited. I believe that the Rubin Museum is one of the most underrated museums in Manhattan because I never heard about it until I went with a friend. It is honestly such an amazing museum that should be seen by everyone. Every Friday night, the museum is free from 6:00 pm to 10:00pm. They had a bar on the first open to the public and also an evening Dj. The architectural beauty has hypnotized me and pushed me to bring particular attention to the different artistic work, relic related mostly to the Asian culture. Once I enter the museum, my sight of the museum has started to change. It is pretty rare to visit a museum and like it because the atmosphere does not fit with my personality.
I like my visit to the Rubin Museum of Art for the reason that everything was made to give a modern and young vision and good mood to the place itself. I was amazed by their spiral stairs. The calm and sweet music in the background throughout the five floors of the building and leads me to discover with passion and keen interest the part of history offered by the Museum.
I was pleased to learn about some part of the Asian culture. I knew a little bit about Tibetan culture because I used to take classes of Bharatanatyam ( traditional Indian dance to celebrate their gods and telling stories) when I was young. I thought that I knew a lot about certain gods from over there, but I was wrong. I have opened my mind to understand the deeper meaning of their gods or even on their history and beliefs. Seeing these types of objects or even listening to the song in the background made me remember why I when I was younger a fell in love with traditional Indian dance and culture.
The presentation of the sculpture, painting, and object is unique in its way. To create a sense of intimacy in floors and required to appreciate the art, the galleries are isolated by surrounding wall panels. All the objects that they have are very religious. They have a lot of Buddha and Tantric Deities from each specific country such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Mongolia inside. They also have a temple ( The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room) which made the place more authentic.
The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room was one of the best experiences that I saw, that had and will recommend to anybody. The temple is inspired by a traditional shrine that would be used for offering, devotion, prayer, and contemplation. It was amazing to sit here and just relax and be. I was astonished to see that they got an actual, reel temple in the museum on the 4th floor. I had the chance to experience that feeling of listening to the voice of monks praying and meditating. It was strange, exciting, relaxing and at the same time, I was scared because I was hearing many voices at the same time and asking myself how they do to synchronize their voice to provide an amazing relaxing song. I loved it.
In the culture where I was raised , bad people are generally represented with ugly faces, tattoos and so on. However, visiting the museum has changed my idea on that subject for the reason that some sculptures such as the Nine-deity mandala of two-armed Hevajra or the Black Hayagriva have a pretty bad appearance with all the tattoos, piercing, multiple arms, etc.… These art has taught me a good lesson of life. Even if somebody looks different than you by their cultures or even tradition, you just need to wait and meet their real nature because maybe they aspire you to something great in life.
After reading this small article (review) of The Rubin Museum, I just hope that you will try to go at least one time over there. And also, I wish that you fell in love with the Tibetan cultures and the place itself.