Phillies Mania

Patricia and I just spent the weekend in Philly visiting Dan and his wife Sophia. We had a lovely time eating at great restaurants, visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art and marveling at the fanaticism of the Philly fan! The photo above is a monument to the Phillies Fanatic, during these important playoffs for their beloved team. It is located in front of Philadelphia’s iconic grocery store, Sprouts .

This is not the only tribute to the Philadelphia Phillies. Check out the fire hydrant below. That’s fanaticism!

Then, there’s the following posters plastered on walls throughout Philly!

Two copies of one of the posters urge the Phillies to chop the head off the snake, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Fanaticism indeed; need I say more!

We did not spend all our time, however, searching for Phillies fanaticisms! We also visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art and viewed an amazing Korean Exhibit, The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989.

The first piece we encountered was a soap sculpture, yes you read that correctly, right outside the entrance to the museum. The sculture“Eastern Deities Descended” (2023), is a new site-specific commission by Meekyoung Shin. Here are Sophia and Pat standing in front of it. This piece will be melting slowly during the life of the Korean Exhibit.

One of my favorites was this triptych by Ahn Sekwong. It depicts the twilight years of the Wolgock-Dong neighborhood. This neighborhood experienced a great increase in population in the 1970’s. The government deemed the neighborhood obsolete and replaced the neighborhood with towering apartment complexes. Beginning with the photo furthest to the right, Sekwong used aerial photography to show the neighborhood first as it was and then in its beginning stage of demolition in the other photo next to it and finally in the final stage of demolition in the photo furthest to the left. Seeing it close-up reminded me of all the neighborhoods in America that were destroyed in the name of Urban Renewal.

Another favorite was Michael Woo’s Headless, which consists of NERF foam-bodied figures in the form of headless seated Buddhas, each with an American toy head. These pop cultural heads levitating above the bodies represent a century of globalized American manufacturing. Each was designed in the USA, manufactured in Asia and then brought to market in the USA. As we walked into the room, we burst out laughing at its outrageousness.

The entire exhibit is worth visiting before it ends in February 2024.

I am watching game 7 of the Phillies/Diamondbacks division finals. Go Phillies; don’t break your fans hearts!!

Hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of our trip to Philadelphia, land of the Philly Fanatics . Please leave a comment after reading it so I know you received it and read it.