For this week I am going to take a little break from the MoMA and talk instead about the MAD museum, which stand for Museum of Art and Design. I had never heard of this museum before and I am so happy that I found it because it holds some incredible pieces of artwork.

This museum is a lot smaller than the MoMA, but it still had a lot of upcoming and talented artists. The theme of floors 2, 4, and 5 was called “New Territories: Laboratories for design, craft and art within Latin America”. When looking at these three floors it was brought to my attention that all the pieces of artwork were based on the culture and way of life in Latin America. As the viewer I could see the hardships that some the artists had. For example one of the artists is named David Elia. In 2011 he created a piece called Stray Bullet Chair, and in 2013 he created a piece to go along with it called Bulletproof Side Table. The Stray Bullet Chair was made out of polypropylene with stainless steel eyelets. The Bulletproof Side Table is made out of a polypropylene monobloc side table with used bullet shells and glass. This artwork by Elia had a significant meaning behind this piece. The purpose was to show how people survived drive- by- shootings.

Floor 3 was called “Richard Estes: Paintings of New York City” (this was my favorite!). One artist that I was absolutely amazed by was Robert Estes. He does the most realistic paintings of New York City. The medium he uses is oil paint on canvas. He creates these beautiful realistic paintings that range in size and subject. Some of the landscapes that I remember and that were in the museum showed images of the Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, subways, and street level store fronts. What he did was incredible and I could look at his paintings all day long! Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any pictures of his work but if you visit this website you can see the amazing pieces of art that he creates. The link is http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/estes/.

If you ever get a chance to go to New York City make sure you check out the Museum of Art and Design! Check out their website at www.madmuseum.org to plan your next visit.