Side Quests in the City: How Museums Keep Me Sane in Winter

When I say I like winter, I only mean in December. The cold and snow, combined with the holiday season, create a magical time of year. There's nothing better than cozying up by the fireplace, sipping a hot chocolate and watching Pride and Prejudice (2005) for the umpteenth time. Winter from January to March, however, is easily my least favorite part. It’s cold, miserable, and there are no fun holidays to break up the monotony (I am not counting Valentine’s Day as a fun holiday). Everyone’s sour mood also seems to match the bleakness.

In a concentrated effort to make sure I leave my apartment, I’ve been taking full advantage of free museums in New York. So far, I’ve visited the MoMA, The Whitney, the Morgan Library, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Chinese in America. I also went to two paid museums: the Cooper Hewitt and the New York Transit Museum. Let me tell y’all—the architecture in New York museums is gorgeous. I love the bold curves of the Guggenheim Museum and the cozy, European interiors of the Morgan Library.

I also took a weekend trip to Boston, where I visited my favorite museum in the world: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Isabella Stewart Gardner was an eccentric, wealthy woman and a devoted patron of the arts. The museum houses artwork from Europe and Asia, and its stunning courtyard offers a much-needed escape from bleak Boston winters. The museum was also subjected to a dramatic art heist in the 1990s. The art thieves disguised themselves as police officers and stole 13 paintings. Their identities still remain a mystery to this very day.

These museum visits have been great for expanding my mind and exposing me to new things I wouldn’t ordinarily seek out. For example, all of my guy friends went through a train-loving phase when they were kids, but I never had that same interest. That’s why the New York Transit Museum was unexpectedly enjoyable. Seeing the evolution of the New York subway over time—and being able to actually step inside subway cars from different eras—was incredibly cool. From a design perspective, I loved seeing how subway signage evolved over time. The New York metro system used to be operated by three different companies, each with conflicting signs in different styles and materials. You can still see remnants of that discordant design with some stations still retaining the mosaic, serif signs.

Nowadays, NYC subways use Helvetica as their primary typeface. Here’s an interesting article that explains why and how that happened.

I was so inspired by my visit that I made this animation using Cavalry:

The Morgan Library was another unexpected delight. Established by J.P. Morgan of Chase Bank, it’s a massive and grand library near Grand Central Station. One of its most fascinating exhibits focused on its first librarian, Belle da Costa Greene—a light-skinned Black woman who passed for white. The exhibit explored how her family was able to assimilate into New York’s upper class by hiding their background. I’m a big fan of the movie Passing (2021), which tackles the same subject, so this exhibit was particularly compelling. Beyond that, Greene herself was an incredibly intelligent and accomplished woman. The Morgan Library is free on Friday nights, so I highly recommend checking it out if you’re in the area.

From an artist’s perspective, museums offer a great respite from endlessly scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest. There’s so much to learn from the past and incorporate into our everyday work. The New York subway system, for example, is an excellent case study in how Helvetica can be both visually appealing and highly functional—helping commuters navigate the city, find their stops, and locate accessibility features. Art and design are two different things: art can be whatever you want, but good design has to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Inspirations:

Here’s what’s been inspiring me lately:

• Architecture!
  • My countless museum visits have deepened my appreciation for different architectural styles.
  • The Brutalist (2024)—While not exactly about Brutalist architecture, it plays a big role in the movie.
• Gachapon
  • A type of Japanese vending machine that dispenses small plastic figurines in capsules. I especially love the weird ones!

Movies I’ve Enjoyed:

• Grizzly Man
  • My first Werner Herzog film, and it did not disappoint! It’s a documentary about a failed actor who found solace in the Alaskan wilderness by becoming obsessed with grizzly bears. Herzog’s dry commentary makes the film unexpectedly hilarious. I love documentaries that subvert expectations, and Herzog himself becomes very much a character in his own film.
• I’m Still Here
  • Set during Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1960s, it follows a woman whose husband is illegally detained and “disappeared.” As she fights for answers, she struggles to keep her family together. Fernanda Torres gives a masterful performance—I wouldn’t be mad if she won the Oscar for it!

Are there any cool or unique museums where you live? Let me know!