Seeing Art

I like to imagine myself as not some one who is very artsy but I can appreciate art. Encounters with works of art are unique because everyone connects, relates and interprets a work of art in his unique ways. Art is intrinsically a different viewpoint or a different vantage point to look at the ways of life. History museums offer a view into the lives of people who lived before us, they provide structural pieces that can be put together to understand the cultures, societies, traditions, politics and economics of the world, as we know it. Then there is another variety of art, one that is more fluid, it simultaneously evokes a set of questions or a complete blank, it is open to interpretation. The Krannert Art museum was interesting as it offered both artifacts, the ones that answer questions and the ones that raise questions!

I had been meaning to visit the museum for past one year but I guess in this case I needed an external reason. I visited the Museum one day in advance to identify a piece of art that I found interesting. Honestly I found it a little difficult to identify some work that really appealed to me. I could admire the diverse collection, small pieces giving me a slice of different cultures and eras. There was a wide range of subjects, different stories but somehow none too compelling.

I finally picked up the Cornwall Kirkpatrick, the “Chicago News Paper directory jug, 1879. The use of a jug as the object for the newspaper directory was interesting for me. I could see a symbolism, the pitcher looked symbolic of how all the news items quench the human thirst for knowledge and information. Further at my workplace we had just released an info-graphic (http://www.infobright.com/tmp270812/ ) on the growing volume of digital data in a technical magazine and the jug made me think of the contrasts on our world in terms of the amount of information that we have around. Interestingly the approximately 1.5 feet tall pitcher can provide enough surface area to encompass all the commercial newspapers in that era in the 19th century. I stood and wondered how the news services today fight to occupy our mind space and no pitcher in the world can hold their names any longer. The digital world has moved on from floppy drives, CD drives, cloud storage and one can only wonder what pitcher would be next! I am guilty of seeing the world through my technical glasses.

The next day group activity helped me to come over my biases, my tendency to look for structures and appreciate the art objects around with a more open mind. Going around looking at the objects, talking aloud our impressions, building up from each others helped me have a more enriching experience of the museum. Once we were done looking at the objects we had picked we started to look around for the pieces that looked really abstract and tried to decipher them. We had taken the assignment to a new level now! As we looked at some of the challenging pieces, we tried to give it our own interpretation. Initially I tried to reconcile the side note and the art object and I could not make much progress. I was not comfortable with the ambiguity and abstractness and then I realized how one person in my group could give a totally new spin to each of the art objects because he didn't try to limit himself with the description. He looked at everything with an open mind without reading any side note and was able to appreciate things in a bigger way. 

I would say that this was the biggest learning for me on that day, to be open and comfortable with abstractness and ambiguity. To not look for accompanying directions right from the onset but to try to take in all the information around and process it gently without any preconceived notions or biases. This approach perhaps gives the most beautiful interpretation to things and is the most enriching of experiences.