When I first walked into Rox Gallery, I was pleasantly surprised with how small it was. I prefer small art exhibitions because I feel that I can spend as much time as I want looking at one image since there’s not too many of them. The gallery had a hip and modern atmosphere, which is perfect for New York. The walls were such a crisp white; it was almost like you could smell the paint drying. The images on the ground floor were diverse, yet they were all tied together. The placement of the photographs was strategically planned to evoke an emotion from the viewer.
The Andy Warhol piece paired with the flower gave the harsh image of a man filled with attitude a delicate touch. Andy Warhol is portraying a woman and he has a determined look on his face. Whether he’s determined to be seen as a woman or just determined to be seen, his eyes seem to invade the privacy of the viewer. It looked like he’s staring me straight in the eye and made me feel uncomfortable. Then, I saw the beautiful white flower with a soft orange center next to him. I lingered on both images. It occurred to me that I was getting the wrong first impression. The appearance of Andy was for aesthetic reasons; it grabbed attention like the beauty of a white flower. But on the inside was a burning passion that took some time to see like the flaming orange center of the flower. Passion for art, life, and doing what he loved.
(image from: http://roxnyc.com/exhibitions/exhibition-images/)
The lower floor of the gallery had images with hidden meanings. Tom Smith’s exhibition “Delusions” was all abstract art and I had to find my own meaning in it. Watching the video “Humidity’s jag” by William Rahilly was an experience in itself. The theme of the video was a domesticated woman who lived a boring life and after drinking a lot of wine, transformed into a superhero. It fed into that one fantasy that everybody has of quitting their daily routine and doing what they really want to. A golden retriever is an all American dog that many people have and it symbolized an average life in the video. When she killed the dog, she also killed the uneventful life she used to live. The abstract presentation of the video intends for the viewers to create the symbolism in the video themselves. Everybody sees things differently but they all get the same central message. The scenes that stand out the most to the viewer are probably the ones most relatable.
“Humidity’s Jag” reminded me of a video my friend showed me during my junior year of high school. The video is called “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” and here is the link to it. The video is shocking and is completely ridiculous the first time you watch it, but there’s a brilliant hidden meaning to it. We watch television as children and are more influenced by it than we understand. Watching too much television ruins our ideas and negatively influences our imagination. We learn to think in those terms instead of our own. This video is so abstract that it’s almost distracting from the central point. However, its colors and “trippy” sounds keep us watching just like they kept us watching “Humidity’s Jag”. The creators of both videos found an intriguing way to get an important message across; don’t be influenced by television and think for yourself.
