2018 in Review: Bowie Days, Part 1
Hi everyone,
David Bowie always showed up with something interesting to add to my world and a funny story to tell. He thought and did things differently from everyone else, surprising me with his music, innovation, and style.
I knew about the David Bowie is exhibition while it was in the works and then traveling to far off places, but it wasn't until I saw it mentioned online that it became an emergency must-see event: After a five-year journey, the exhibition was at its last stop in the Brooklyn Museum, just as David Bowie had planned.
At the time, I was between jobs. I had been laid off for the first time ever from a job that I acquired to avoid being laid off from my previous job. Now, I was working as a temp in a stress-filled office and looking for a permanent job to rescue me.
David Bowie knew I needed a break. I think he planted that exhibition reminder in whatever article I was reading. He still has those powers.
Here's a rundown of my overnight trip to New York to see the David Bowie Is exhibition. My next post, 2018 in Review: Bowie Days, Part 2, will cover the follow-up lecture by the Brooklyn Museum's Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture Matthew Kokobosky, which the Smithsonian Associates presented in D.C. (I'm sure that David Bowie planned this event for me too.)
David Bowie is, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, June 30, 2018
The Brooklyn Museum is in Park Slope, the neighborhood where I spent my college internship in the '90s. It was fun but felt odd, taking the familiar subway route from Manhattan and climbing the same steps out to Prospect Park. I walked by my old apartment brownstone and ate my favorite meal at Cousin John's Bakery. I had to start the day off right because it was sure to be a long one.
My entry ticket into the David Bowie is exhibition was slated for 11 a.m., when the Brooklyn Museum opened. I fully expected to be exploring this exhibition and shop until 6 p.m., when the museum closed. But, of course, this exhibition went beyond my lofty expectations, probably because David Bowie was involved in planning it. With access to his archives, this exhibition was a full-on Bowie-esque, immersive experience. I needed more time to read through and hear everything it had to offer, but here are some moments and thoughts from my delirious day, discovering who David Bowie is:
The exhibition covered the Brooklyn Museum's fourth and fifth floors, and we all followed the signs, up an elevator and through several galleries, to get there. It felt like a school field trip, and everyone was happy to be on it.
The gallery entrance opened to a spacious room with sparse seating. The white walls were covered by three giant cutout orange images of David Bowie. This was your only chance to take any photos to prove you were at his exhibition.
As we entered the exhibition behind the walls, we received magic audio boxes and headsets with minimal controls. Depending on where I stood in the room, it knew what relevant story to tell me. Suddenly, David Bowie was singing and talking in my ears about whatever I was looking at or reading! As soon as I put those headsets on, I thought David Bowie must have requested this unique feature. In fact, he probably invented it. I loved it! But I had to pause it often because it was hard to concentrate on reading descriptions while David Bowie and those who knew him were talking to me at the same time.
The exhibition space was quiet because everyone dutifully wore headsets and was listening attentively. We were students, shuffling along from room to room and piece to piece, reading up on our favorite artist – the man behind the different personas.
Through most of the exhibition, I read and watched everything, sometimes more than once. For example, there were several performances of "Space Oddity," like this one, that I had never seen before. It was interesting to see films of young David Bowie doing performance art as a mime. Even in photos from his teenage years, he looked so confident and ready for what's next. (Here he is at 16!)
What I loved most about this exhibition was seeing David Bowie's creative process. He was involved in every aspect of whatever he created, from concept to completion. For example, he drew and painted sketches of album covers that ended up looking exactly like the final product. He wrote tidy, hand-written lyrics and sometimes dotted his i's with circles.
David Bowie carried around a small framed photo of Little Richard for inspiration. One time, he pointed at it and told his producer that he wanted his music to sound how that image looks. (They got it.)
I didn't write down who said this, but this quote spoke the truth: There's old music. There's new music. And then there's David Bowie music.
The galleries reflected different aspects of David Bowie's life with such titles as, "David Bowie is... a Human Being" or "David Bowie is... a Star." This was a great approach because, as we all know, David Bowie is...so many different things to so many people.
One of the rooms covered David Bowie's time in New York. It included his costume from the Elephant Man, which he performed on Broadway in 1980-1981. (Check out his amazing performance in this video clip!) It also showcased a large bright yellow portrait of his wife, Iman, which he created while working on the 1996 film Basquiat. In that movie, he portrayed Andy Warhol (seen here with Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat), and this painting reflects that artist's pop-art influence.
By the time I reached the music video and film rooms, I was running out of time and steam. I skimmed through these rooms since I've seen the videos and films plenty of times before (but I still read all of the explanatory descriptions that accompanied each piece).
In the film room, my favorite item was a giant black wardrobe case. David Bowie was stenciled on it in white, and it was covered in various stickers, as you would expect of any old, cherished travel case. One side of this case was filled with film costumes, but the other was fitted with shelves to carry David Bowie's 100 favorite books! He brought these books with him to movie sets (I assume because there's a lot of waiting around between shots).
Costumes were displayed along the edges of and sometimes above the music video room (and elsewhere throughout the exhibition). I didn't read all of the costume descriptions because people were crowded around them, but I fought my way through to see some Alexander McQueen and other creations. One of the costumes had Japanese writing on it that phonetically read as, "David Bowie." It translates to, "One who spits out words in a fiery manner." Seeing the "Blue Jean" costume (on the far right of this photo) and video almost made me cry. The music video room represented how I first met this guy. Thanks, MTV!
After the music video room, signs instructed us to remove our headsets as we stepped into the next darkened space. In there, we watched, sang, and danced in front of a floor-to-ceiling grid of screens, blasting never-before-scene concert footage of Ziggy Stardust. That's what we were all waiting for.
I somewhat dreaded the next room. It summarized how David Bowie's death affected everyone and how fans rejoiced around his final gifts to us, his jazz-infused album Blackstar and stage musical Lazarus.
The exhibition's final room was covered with fan art. He kept every piece of artwork that he received from his fans! Had I known that it was an option to send David Bowie a gift, I would have added the Kitties to his collection.
I landed in the gift shop at 5:15 p.m. I bought two copies of the exhibition coffee table book (one for my sister and one for me). It's missing the music and videos, but it's got great photos and information. I didn't consider having to lug these giant, heavy volumes to Penn Station and home, but we made it intact, and it was all worth it!
If you missed the David Bowie is exhibition, check out the online app, and enjoy the ride!
Credits: David Bowie is photo © Explore BK; The Konrads photo © unknown; Basquiat image © Miramax Films; Costumes photo © Shintaro Yamanaka; all other photos and illustration © Melissa Connolly