What is ART?
What comes to mind when you think of art? Is it the colors or expression of characters put into a piece? Perhaps it is the meaning or experience when you view the art? We had talked about what is art in our IDC class but you can only really understand those words mean when viewing art.
So, for my first event I went to the Museum of Modern Art. I am not really the art-type and have not been to an art museum in several years. Also, last time I had gone it had been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art so I was more used to conventional art rather than the MoMA’s contemporary pieces so I did not know what to expect.
Going in I was a little overwhelmed. I did not really know where to go or what to look at so I just slowly made my way up. There I encountered the first exhibit which was a steel sculpture made by Richard Serra. It was a surreal piece of work. Basically it was a huge steel enclosing with twisting curves and turns. I looked and stared but I guess I was not in the right mindset. Fortunately, I came upon what appeared to be a tour guide and some onlookers. However, it was not like a normal tour. It was different, the tour guide was engaging her audience with questions and surprisingly they responded. It was more of an open conversation that an actual tour. I then went on my own to really experience the work for myself. The twists and turns I did not understand when first coming in started to mean something. It was like a dream world, a surreal reality. In one structure there is a singular path that seems to never end. It almost made me feel claustrophobic like you are trapped in this dream where you only wake up when you finally reach the end of the path.
Next, I headed to the sixth floor to enjoy more of Richard Serra’s work but unfortunately I was too late as the exhibit had been taken down the other day. In place of Serra’s work was the exhibit: “What is Painting?” It almost fit perfectly into what I was thinking. Little did I know that it would only slightly elucidate on my understanding of art. Some of the work I had viewed seemed to be scribble scrabble, some I seemed to understand, and then some were literally was a “blank” sheet of paper. It was different experience but I really started to understand more and more of the art. However, some works seemed to a pitter-patter of paint. I could see emotion but there overall was no meaning. What puzzled me even more were the blank works. They took me nowhere and only left me confused as to what others saw in piece. Finally, as I made my way out I saw an interesting painting. It said (as seen above):
What is painting?
Do you sense how all the parts of a good picture are involved with each other, not just placed side by side? Art is a creation for the eye that can only be hinted with words.
This summed up part of what I had learned that day. The question posed made sense; you cannot only look at each part of the work, you need to see how the parts work together. Overall going in was a very positive experience for me and I am looking forward to attending a cultural event again.