Cultural day - Galleries in Chelsea

1- Jim Hodges; 2- Andreas Gursky; 3- Nan Goldin; 4- Neo Rauch; 5- Uta Barth; 6- Youssef Nabil (exhibition curated by Shirin Neshat); 7-Joan Mitchell

Do you know why moms usually sound futile, uninteresting and seem to be talking only about their children? Mainly because it is extremely difficult to read anything with kids around you - at least this is true for me. However, I always try to take a glance at the headlines on the newspaper and, on my lucky days, I even get to read the editorial and one or two articles.

The headlines on the FT this morning were quite catastrophic. It really felt like it was the end of the Euro, the end of the airlines industry, the end of the banking industry - basically, the end of the World as we know it. But, like I said once to my dear mother when I stopped working in the middle of the financial crisis in 2009: "there is no crisis in baby world".

Therefore, I left the news behind me and headed to Chelsea for a great gallery tour. Very futile of my part? Maybe. Probably. Most certainly. But staying at home wouldn't solve the World's problems either. So let's enjoy life while we can!

Our tour included:

• Neo Rauch - David Swirner Gallery
• Uta Barth - Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
• Andreas Gursky - Gagosian Gallery
• Jim Hodges - Gladstone Gallery 
• Nan Goldin - Matthew Marks Gallery 
• Hiroshi Sugimoto - The Pace Gallery
• Joan Mitchell - Cheim & Read Gallery
• Shirin Neshat - Leila Heller Gallery 

There are tens of other galleries in town and you can go whenever you want. As I said in another post, galleries are for free, so take advantage on that. But, let me tell you something, it makes such a difference to go with someone that can explain to you what you are looking at, talk about that particular artist, his work and his surroundings. At least for me, today, it was essencial. I wouldn't have understood half of what I saw today if I'd had gone by myself. I think that the understanding of art in general takes time, studying, lots of readings and lots of visits to different exhibitions (especially contemporary art). But, when you don't really have time for all of this, calling a specialist might be a good idea. Besides, isn't it great to go with a group of friends with whom you can discuss what you are all experiencing?

I didn't like everything that I saw today, but I certainly appreciated everything. By that I mean that knowing what the artists intentions were or knowing about their backgrounds makes a big difference. It puts the art in a certain context and it educates your eyes and your senses so you can appreciate what you are looking at under a whole new perspective. For instance, a month ago I entered the Pace Gallery, took a look at Hiroshi Sugimoto's work and 5 minutes later I was out the door. I just didn't get it. Today, I walked in the same gallery, to see the same exhibition and I liked what I saw.

If you are interested in organizing your own tour, do not hesitate to contact our guides Gisela Gueiros (giselagueiros@gmail.com) and Ana Strumpf (anastrumpf@gmail.com). The tour was well organized, Gisela was really prepared and her presentations before entering each gallery were simple (no fancy words), short (no big lectures in front of each piece of art) but full of useful details and information. What I liked the most was how she would give us some heads-up on what we were about to see without giving too much information at the beginning so we would still have a surprise when entering the exhibits. And what a surprise it was!