Also at The Brooklyn Museum

I would be remiss if I didn't recommend the other shows now at the Brooklyn Museum, and you don't have to pay $15.00 to see them. There is a large display which is a bit crowded of art by a wide range of artists in the exhibition Witness: Art And Civil Rights In The Sixties. The show includes all sorts of things, paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, drawings all of which are heartfelt responses to the drastic and terrible events that were taking place in the south during the 60's. The artistic results are mixed like most of these shows that try to include so many artists with so many different viewpoints, but its worth seeing. Also good is the Judy Chicago show of her early L.A. work that are in the galleries right next door to her famous dinner party. I have a fondness for California cool, those pastel colors of her minimal sculptures that remind me of the light and delicacy of the California landscape along with some of her hard bright enamel pieces that reference the car culture and the harsh Los Angeles roadside pop lifestyle. Also like her prisma color drawings. The final show is Swoon: Submerged Motherlands (I wonder if she changed her name from Swoonowitz) this is a big and generally impressive installation piece that is highlighted by this gigantic hand made tree that touches the 72 foot dome. This is a complex work that you can walk through and around and in and out of this politically aware and environmentally conscious work that brings to mind natural disasters and destroyed landscapes. I thought of the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild because of its strong set like theatrical punch, and although I was impressed with its presence (it is overwhelming) I didn't care too much for the drawings that are incorporated into the piece and were for me too much like illustrations. And finally there is the Museum's great African collection which is always inspiring to me, even though I don't care for the space that they are exhibited in