This week's Cultural Event was an Art Exhibition. I decided one Friday (well, this Friday) of an afternoon to visit our very own Museum of Art. Having worked at the visitor booth outside the Museum, I was well aware by the seemingly endless streams of mini-vans of the the Walter Wick "I Spy" Exhibit. I've always had somewhat of a distaste for art in general, and so I thought that visiting this children's exhibit would be a great place to start in finding a true (if not love, then) like for Art.
I descended the stairs and found the entrance. I wasn't there 30 seconds when a security guard asked me to go upstairs and check my backpack. Admittedly perturbed, I went upstairs and checked my back pack. I had already seen the first picture, and I was intrigued.
For the next hour and a half I literally felt like a child again. The pictures and their subjects were so reminiscent of my own childhood. They were filled with storybook tales, toy soldiers, planes, trains, and automobiles. Most if not all of the pictures were optical illusions, puzzles, or riddles in themselves - things I LOVED as a child. The ambiance helped tremendously with my return to childhood. The whole room was filled with children and parents working through the riddles together, laughing. "Look, Mom!" "Can you find the apple?" The music they had playing soft enough to hear but not distract you was childish and simple. It sounded like something you would expect to hear playing in a toy store 50 years ago. I was perfectly content to explore, and laugh at myself as the illusions fooled me over and over again.
I felt uplifted and contented as I ascended the stairs with a huge grin on my face. After I retrieved my bag, I purchased one of Walter Wick's books to show my 10 and 6 year old siblings. I can't wait to take them to the exhibit and be like a child once more.
Out of a possible 10, I would give it a 9.5. The only reason for the half-point deduction is that I wish the exhibit could have been longer! I really wish that I could always identify with Art like I did with the work of Walter Wick.
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Many would consider this art "low" because it is so popular, and yet it is displayed as "high" art in a museum. What do you think of this? Is it a problem? Is there artistic value for people who are unfamiliar with the I Spy series?
ReplyDeleteI LOVE I Spy! I am so excited to go see this exhibit!
ReplyDeleteI am impressed that you described the music in the room... that really adds to your description and helps me to feel in a way what you might have felt!
In answer to Jasie's question above, I think that the high art aspect comes into play when you consider the exhibit as a whole. Alone the pictures would just be I spy pictures, and the music would just be old toy store music. But together and combined with all the other children looking at the exhibit they create a high art exhibit. You go in as an adult and leave as a child... and that is something that our world needs more of in my opinion!
That's it. I think you are the 3rd or 4th person I've heard (or rather, read) rave about this exhibit. I love the irony of the exhibit itself, low art displayed as high art. Perhaps it is has an external, as well as an alternate meaning, to ridicule and "make blurry" the line of high and low art.
ReplyDeleteHigh and Low art: It all sound pretty silly to me. What most people would tell you is "High" art I think is dull. Da Vinci's art was so amazing because of the work that was involved. He went beyond the norm. He incorporated mathematics and found new ways to do it all. Walter Wick had to be a genius to do what he did. With all of the work involved with setting everything up so precise, aligning the mirrors just so, how could this not be art? Just because he uses toys and targets children as his audience. Anybody can paint a circle, square, or scribble paints on a canvas; yet we idolize these painters for the "deeper meaning" they seek to convey. I think there is just as much meaning in the work of Walter Wick.
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