I went to a modern art gallery... and I liked it.

I went to the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts. It was good, really good. This is surprising for me, I enjoy art, and I like galleries, but I don't like going to anywhere that has modern art. In London I avoid the Tate and go to the National Portrait Gallery, in New York I skipped the Museum of Modern Art and went to the Metropolitan. As wanky as that last sentence sounds, I just don't like modern art. There has been a recent blog post getting attention from someone who also just doesn't get it.

I did a one year course in the foundation of visual arts, I liked painting and drawing and printmaking, but I hated all the wanking on about crap, all the wallowing in lake me. I chose instead to do graphic design. Design takes information from the client and communicates it in the right way to reach the audience. I thought it had more point.

Anyway, I digress. In the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (two buildings with a sculpture part in the middle) has beautiful modern art from all over the Middle East. It's interesting, it's skilled, and it looks good. Sure there is concept, but I don't feel like I need to 'get' anything, I could just look at it and think that's cool, or I like that.

Here are some pictures... (sorry I didn't get the details of the artist, artwork title, country or origin or anything useful like that)

Fortunately for me there was a calligraphy exhibition in one of the gallery spaces.

The exhibition included some works from Iraqi calligrapher Hassan Massoudy, I had some of his work in postcard form up on my wall in my house in Edinburgh... I think I still have the postcards somewhere, anyway he's ace.