From the Eyes of Babes
The best part about taking a young child to an art museum is that you get to see what grabs him, knowing that he has no idea what he is supposed to like. The pressures of appreciating “the masters” are not on him. It is the most pure experience of art and the perceptions from that place of innocence are at times profound.
We took a family trip to the Denver Art Museum yesterday. The first Saturday of the month is free and we were certainly not the only ones taking advantage of that fact. But we got there early enough to have some time to explore relatively unhindered by crowds.
One must always have a strategy when taking on a museum. Ours was to make our way to the top of the museum on the seventh floor and then work our way down, take a brief break in the children’s craft section, and then across the bridge to the contemporary art.
Josi was thoroughly unimpressed with the bulk of the art but the “fruit people” of Guiseppe Archimboldo held her attention for almost five minutes. She even returned to the paintings a second time to “find a banana.” Evidently there is some debate in the art critic world as to whether these paintings were whimsical or the product of a deranged mind. One could conceivably have the same debate over the Wiggles, Yo Gabba Gabba or Teletubbies which holds similar fascination for our nearly-three-year-old.
But Julius was eager to “find his favorites.” He’s into ranking things. Not entirely sure what that’s about. But he likes forcing himself and others to make the stark choice of what is “THE best” of something…and if that proves too difficult, then at least the top three.
The pieces he ended up finding worthy of his “top three” list were diverse. And the reasons for their inclusion quite fascinating.
Each began by simply catching his eye. “That’s cool,” he would say. And then wander over to get a closer look.
The first work to get this treatment was an 1838 oil painting from Thomas Cole entitled “Dream of Arcadia.” An imposing piece, Julius was fascinated by the scene portrayed and ultimately declared it would “make a great level on a video game” because of all the different stories depicted.
Secondly, and in the same room, was a painting by John Linton Chapman named Via Appia done in 1873. He chose this because he’s fascinated by Roman history (in particular the Roman history of a particular Caesar). He’s recently finished watching both The Rise and Fall of the Rome Empire and some BBC documentary on Julius Caesar. The depiction of the remains of an ancient Roman street pained 100 years ago somehow brought home the fact that this society was truly ancient. So ancient, that it’s ruins were being studied a hundred years ago.
He then wandered toward a Roy Lichtenstein painting entitled “Violin.” This piece was like a giant puzzle to him and he loved how you could see the whole image more clearly from a distance, but could make out interesting details close up.
After creating “Spoon Men” in the craft area of the museum, we took a stroll through the then fairly crowded contemporary art section of the museum. He noted with what I thought to be rather profound insight that the pieces here seemed much “sadder” than those in the previous section. Somehow, everything here was dark and dismal. There was no joy in the art here.
Now, I love contemporary art. And that statement is hardly a broad brush stroke worthy to paint over the entire 20th and 21st century. But it is perceptive, none-the-less. Particularly coming from a seven-year-old.
His view was swiftly changed, however, when we made our way to the very interactive and joyful (if claustrophobic) piece called “Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson in the Rain” by Tobias Rehberger”
As part of an exhibit called “Embrace,” where 17 artists created installations in the museum, the piece breaks the rules of “don’t touch” and actually invites you to literally walk through a maze of bungee cords with other museum patrons. The artist is quoted as saying: “Often artwork is defined as a ‘useless’ object. But this is actually a myth, just like the myth of the neutral white space of the museum.”
Myth or no, this piece found its way onto Julius’ already full “Top Three” list. Who doesn’t like to literally be inside a work of art?
All of this is to say, that whether you are on the road or in your own backyard, it is imperitive to look at the world around you as if you’ve never seen it before. Removing preconcieved notions and simply absorbing what is around you with both a gutteral and reasoned state of mind. It helps to have a child nearby to give you passage through this endeavor. But it’s not wholy impossible on your own.
Hmmm…I think I just found my first New Year’s Resolution.
