My trip to the NAWA exhibit was unlike any other museum exhibit I have previously attended. I was taken aback by the exterior and interior appearance of the building the NAWA exhibit was held in. All of the exhibits I have attended in the past were modernized, well-painted, and displayed in a spacious room. The NAWA exhibit, however, was in a small, cramped, one floor room. Another difference between the NAWA and many other exhibits I noticed was the popularity of the exhibit. Many times in the past I would experience having to get in between a large crowd of people to view a work of art. At the NAWA I was the only one in the exhibit and to my surprise the individual working at the NAWA stated she was shocked someone actually came to the exhibit since not many do.
Despite all this, as I walking around the exhibit I found the works of art displayed interesting. Each work of art stood out in its own way whether it was an oil painting, photograph, random objects put together, or pencil. The first work of art that drew my attention was What is Seeing by Jill L. Kline, a wall mounted sculpture consisting of buttons differing in size, shape, design, and color to form the design of an eye. I found the use of buttons an interesting object to use for the piece and felt it worked for the artist. As my eyes went further up the wall I noticed the piece right above also used a three-dimensional object for the collage displayed. Puzzled While Flying High by Toby Klein consisted of a puzzle almost put entirely together with the exception of a few missing throughout the puzzle board and scattered around the puzzle board or on white background behind the puzzle board. As mentioned in class prior in regards to why certain things like a white canvas is considered art came to my mind while viewing this piece. In my mind this was just an uncompleted puzzle board. I would never consider it art yet it was in this exhibit and priced for $1,600. The same thought came to mind when viewing Hybrid Harmony by Claudia Flynn which was an assemblage of a toy doll’s head put on the body of fake deer. As I was almost done going through the exhibit I noticed on the wall many of the paintings were of still objects, such as flowers in a vase (Mother’s Favorites by Barbara Kitty Williams). Although aesthetically painted my mind again went to the class discussion of whether exactly painting something like a bowl of fruit or flowers in front of you is considered art. In this case I do consider it art based on the artist’s specifics to detail within the piece and use of contrast with the colors.
My trip to the NAWA wasn’t exciting, but I would describe it as more relaxed. In my opinion I felt I wasn’t in an exhibit at all, but instead viewing un-famous street art that you see people selling on the streets for some quick cash. Overall, the majority of the works of art displayed were interesting to view as well as try to comprehend the reasoning behind the use of specific three-dimensional objects for the work of art created.
