Four-wheel objects of desire

When I first heard that the N.C. Museum of Art was hosting a Porsche exhibit, I knew I wanted to go. I had to lusted after Porsches for years, admired them from afar, dreamed of what it would be like to drive one, but never got my hands on one.

Now I've been to the exhibit and have seen the remarkable collection of beautiful automobiles from the 1930s to today. Of course, I still haven't gotten my hands on one — touching the exhibits is not allowed at museums. And I haven't satiated my desire for a Porsche. If anything, it the desire has grown.

 Racers like this one dominate the exhibit.

Ferdinand Porsche designed beautiful cars with advanced aerodynamic styling and compact engines with exceptional power. The Museum of Art exhibit makes all that clear, and the show is a great attraction well worth the time to walk through the array of vehicles. If I had a disappointment about the show, it was that the exhibit concentrated on race cars rather than production cars that you or I could (theoretically, at least) buy and drive. There are "famous" cars, like Steve McQueen's 356 Speedster, and the original Porsche design, which had to be hand-made. There was also the 2014 Porsche Carrera that the museum is raffling off — just $100 per ticket. Since I couldn't afford the taxes if I won, I didn't bother.

                                    That is Steve McQueen's 356 Speedster (below).

 The 914 gets no respect in the museum show.

I was also a bit surprised that there was no mention in the exhibit of the Porsche 914, a model that I once thought I might be able to afford. It was the "baby Porsche" with a small engine and cheaper production from the 1970s that attempted to make the Porsche name affordable. I suspect that the omission was deliberate in an exhibit titled "Porsche By Design," the boxy 914 didn't quite fit in with the swooping aerodynamic designs of the 356, 911, 904 and others. Ultimately, this was an art exhibit, a design exhibit, not a car show.

This Carrera is being raffled off.

 
It's still worth your time. Go here for details.

Museum shows off its art in a new light

The new North Carolina Museum of Art, which opened this weekend, really is spectacular. From the outside, it has all the charm of a tin warehouse, but the architects' use of natural light really does display the art in wonderful ways. After reading about the museum, I was eager to see how the natural light could be used as pervasively as described without creating glare and sun damage. The skylights throughout every gallery direct a muted light into the high-ceilinged galleries, and the floor-to-ceiling windows are covered by sheer fabric, eliminating any glare or hot spots. This lighting shows the familiar art from the permanent collection in, well, a new light and validates the bold and expensive decision to move from the adjacent museum, only about 30 years old, into a new and much larger venue.

For me, the highlight of today's visit was the Rodin collection. I had been fascinated by Rodin since I first saw his "Burghers of Calais" at the Hirschorn Museum in Washington more than 35 years ago. Rodin's depiction of hands, arms and legs give his sculptures a strength and a kinetic feel. The museum has a dozen or so small Rodin sculptures plus a huge "The Thinker," his most famous work, and several life-size or larger sculptures in the Rodin garden.

Today's opening festivities included interpretive dance by students from the N.C. School of the Arts. The dancers provided a bit of "performance art" as they struck poses and synchronized movements in the galleries and in the gardens throughout the afternoon. Larry Wheeler, the museum director who pushed for the new museum building, strolled among the visitors as if he were just another citizen come to see what the artsy crowd had done now.

Two other pieces that caught my eye were glass art from the collection of Lisa and Dudley Anderson of Wilson. Oddly, "Green Eye," on loan from the Andersons, was not identified with a plaque like all the other art was.

This weekend's opening was a grand occasion with entertainment and special events each day, but the new gallery space lived up to its billing as something special.