The title of Assignment 3 was The Art of Choosing. We were given a list of exhibits and had to choose, whether through research or initial appeal or games of chance, which exhibits and/or performances we would go to. At its core, however, the assignment was a lot more than simply choosing art exhibits/performances that appealed to us. It was about discovering the art lover inside of us; we had to really take a step out of our own selves and analyze what it was about art that appealed to us: our likes, our dislikes, and our preference. By the end of this assignment, I was undoubtedly more aware of my artistic taste.
The first arts event that we went to was The Last Ship, a musical scored by the legendary rock star Sting and performed at the Neil Simon Theater. This score was what initially drew Justin and I to the performance. In addition to that, I had also never seen a musical before and was excited to see one. The first thing I did upon arriving at the theater was to observe the environment. The theater had an elegant feel to it; it was the same feeling that I had at the Metropolitan Opera while watching Figaro. The stage was also beautifully done, with soft lighting and a subtly animated background. Now, onto the actual musical itself: Overall, while not the best performance I’ve seen over the course of this class, “The Last Ship” was thoroughly enjoyable. The highlight of the show was definitely its incredible score, “Dead Man’s Boots” and “The Last Ship” being my favorites. Many of the songs also infused a sea shanty feeling into them, making the shipyard presented on stage come to life. The problem with the musical, in my opinion, was its narrative. At several parts of the musical, I felt that I was watching two completely separate stories unfold, independent of each other. Despite this setback, “The Last Ship” shined; it was an amazing first musical and one that I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone.
Of the two exhibitions we visited, Genesis and Cubism, I wholeheartedly preferred Genesis. This is not to say Cubism is a bad exhibition; on the contrary, the exhibition presented the origins of modern art and contained the works of masters. However, as soon as I looked up the premise of Genesis, I was enthralled. Actually seeing the exhibition first hand was a powerful experience. The black and white photography conveyed a beauty that I hadn’t seen in colored photographs; an interesting observation we made was, since the photograph did not have any color, Salgado had put more focus on the angle and context to increase its power and message. If that was his intention, then Salgado succeeded marvelously with Genesis; the pictures depicted the raw power of nature in a way that would not be visible to most in their life times. His timing was impeccable; the clouds seemed to almost bend to his will, hovering mysterious and grand in the background of many of his pictures of glaciers, canyons etc. Not only is Genesis powerful in its message of how beautiful the untouched parts of nature remain, but, combined with the brilliance of Salgado’s photography, it almost seems unreal.
The third assignment encompassed everything that we learned and did in this course. We got to know our artistic preferences better, saw shows that we otherwise might not have seen, and all the while, had a great amount of fun doing it. Like the field trips and like the books we read, this assignment made us re-assess our relation to the arts and the impact that it has had on our lives.
