Pardon my Patronage
Let's Go Outside!
The Contemporary Moment
Building Blocks
Natural 🐚Wonders🌴
Stay Golden
Nothing Lasts.
I am very important. People know me.
Prehistory MYSTERIES
1000
Empress Wu, one of the probable patrons of a big temple at THIS MASSIVE rock-cut Chinese temple complex, was thought to have requested that the Buddha's face be sculpted to resemble her.
LONGMEN CAVES!
1000
Jade congs have mostly been discovered outside, buried in THESE.
GRAVES! (NEOLITHIC CHINESE GRAVES)
1000
THIS minimal work was officially unveiled to the public, after much controversy, on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in November 1982.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Maya Lin)
1000
The conical tower at Great Zimbabwe was constructed using the ashlar masonry technique, and is believed to have functioned as THIS type of structure.
A GRANARY (A GRAIN CONTAINER)
1000
Albeit in an abstracted and contemporary fashion, Song Su-nam painted THESE in this work, which were traditional subject matter for east Asian artists.
TREES (SUMMER TREES)
1000
In this capital city of the INKA EMPIRE, you could once find their main temple to Inti called the Qorikancha, where they supposedly had created a garden of gold and silver.
CUSCO (CUZCO)
1000
The public, free, and ephemeral installations of the dynamic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude usually only lasted for THIS MANY DAYS.
14 DAYS!
1000
Only THIS POWERFUL BAMILEKE MAN owns the image of the elephant in his Cameroon kingdom, and is allowed to decide who gets to use it. Good thing that the Kuosi Society has his blessing!
THE FON! (The Bamileke King)
1000
A piece of sacrum bone found outside of contemporary Mexico City is thought to have been sculpted in the image of this type of animal.
A DOG (Canine)!
2000
THESE "twin" objects were commissioned by a man as a gift for a Daoist temple in China; too bad the accompanying incense burner is now missing in action.
THE DAVID VASES
2000
It was here where Christo and Jeanne-Claude installed their famous saffron-colored gates ... all 7,503 of them!
Central Park, NYC
2000
The painting Earth's Creation by Australian Aboriginal contemporary artist EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE was inspired by a this burst of natural growth that would occur in her normally arid village following a brief monsoon season.
GREEN TIME !
2000
THIS BUILDING featured long bas relief narratives, including The Churning of the Ocean of Milk.
ANGKOR WAT (Cambodia)
2000
Ryoan-ji, a famous wet and dry nature-based temple in Kyoto, Japan was made to accomodate the meditative practices of the followers of THIS major branch of Buddhism.
ZEN BUDDHISM
2000
Instead of using gold in his work Marilyn Diptych, Andy Warhol used this color on the right panel because he felt it alluded to a early 20th Century nickname for motion pictures.
SILVER! (Referencing the Silver Screen)
2000
THIS outdoor and salty earthwork has been around since 1970 when Robert Smithson created it; only mother nature knows just how long it will last.
SPIRAL JETTY
2000
I occasionally dance the world to destruction with my a destructive fire, but don't worry - it allows for rebirth!
SHIVA NATARAJA!
2000
The AMBUM STONE was made out of this hard, durable material.
GREYWACKE!
3000
The first Qin Emperor of China commissioned an army made out of THIS MATERIAL to go with him to the afterlife.
TERRA COTTA!
3000
In order to call attention to herself and call out the white-male-dominated artworld, THIS female artist set up her (unofficial) temporary installation-performance outside of the 1966 Venice Biennale pavilions.
YAYOI KUSAMA (Narcissus Garden)
3000
Michel Tuffery famously used this this word as part of the title for his work made of the emptied and layed cans of corned beef, because it IS the Polynesia word for canned or tinned.
PISUPO!
3000
At the Mesoamerica American city / site of YAXCHILAN, you can find these intricately carved architectural elements, showing Maya kings and queens participating in royal bloodletting rituals.
LINTELS!
3000
THIS FAMOUS PAINTED HANGING SCROLL by Chinese artist Fan Kuan showcases nature as supreme, while humans are depicted as small and inconsequential (and hard to find).
TRAVELERS AMONG MOUNTAINS AND STREAMS
3000
THIS precious and powerful object was said to have fallen from the heavens into the lap of the first ever asantehene, Osei Tutu.
THE GOLDEN STOOL
3000
The works of THIS contemporary artist are often taken down and re-installed by the collectors, galleries or museums who own them, therefore never taking the same form twice ... what artist calls indeterminate forms.
EL ANATSUI
3000
Works like these were commissioned in pairs by THIS POWERFUL MAN, who is often depicted front and center in the plaques. 
THE OBA!
3000
The artist(s) of the Lapita Terra Cotta fragment used this technique to add facial features and pattern designed to the surface of the clay.
INCISING (CUTTING INTO)
4000
This French city commissioned Rodin to depict some of its Medieval heroes, but they weren't too pleased that he made them look ragged and worn.
CALAIS!
4000
To make their famous black on black pottery, this artistic team would fire their pottery traditionally in a pit outside.
MARIA and JULIAN MARTINEZ!
4000
In THIS slow-motion yet high tech work, artist Bill Viola explores the opposing forces of fire and water.
THE CROSSING
4000
The long, prismatic basalt columns used to created THIS complex of buildings atop coral reefs in Micronesia are naturally occurring due to a unique cooling process with lava.
NAN MADOL
4000
THIS MOUNTAIN is featured in 36 famous woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai.
Mt. Fuji
4000
Golden, tree-shaped crowns made for the the kings and queens of THIS historical East Asian kingdom were said to symbolize their axis-mundi world tree.
THE SILLA KINGDOM (KOREA)
4000
Originally, Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks by THIS ARTIST had an inflatable element, but that did not last, so it was remade with steel.
CLAES OLDENBURG
4000
In order to communicate the importance and power of THIS MAN, Liu Chunhua painted him towering over the mountains, intentionally deviating from Chinese artistic traditions. 
CHAIRMAN MAO (MAO ZEDONG)
4000
Tlatilco female figurines are always made out of THIS MATERIAL.
CERAMIC(S)
5000
The initial hyper-realistic oil painted portraits of Maori leaders painted by THIS EUROPEAN ARTIST were commissioned by another white man, while later portraits were commissioned by Maori peoples themselves.
GOTTFRIED LINDAUER
5000
This neon-laden artwork was inspired by Nam June Paik's arrival in America, the interconnectivity of the of the interstate systems, and the signage you would pass by at high speeds.
ELECTRONIC SUPERHIGHWAY!
5000
In THIS TEMPORARY AND INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION, artist Pepon Osorio tackles the stigmas around toxic masculinity, also known as machismo.
NO CRYING ALLOWED IN THE BARBERSHOP (En la Barberia no se Llora)
5000
The Spanish used stones from this structure that they destroyed in Tenochtitlan to build, perhaps symbolically, a new Catholic church nearby.
THE TEMPLO MAYOR! (MAIN TEMPLE OF THE AZTEC / MEXICA)
5000
This mask was made mostly out of THIS MATERIAL, considered sacred by the peoples of the Torres Strait.
TORTOISE / TURTLE SHELL
5000
Probably more famous for the long green tail feathers of THIS BIRD, the headdress of Montezuma II also was made with a lot of small golden disks. 
QUETZAL BIRDS!
5000
THESE WORKS were usually complexley carved out of native wood behind makeshift walls, and having served their purpose, were often left to rot after the funerary ceremonies for which they were made had commenced.
MALAGAN (New Ireland)
5000
In order to access the powerful bilongo (or medicine) of THIS type of object, clients had to go see the village nganga who was the only one who could activate it.
POWER FIGURE (N'KISI NKONDI)
5000
It was when THIS SPACE MISSION was happening in 1969 that some prehistoric animal paintings were found in a cave in southern Namibia.
Apollo 11 Mission!