During our gallery crawl activity I noticed a different aura in the neighborhood. Almost every block I went too, I saw a different form of art, whether that be through conventional art galleries as “white cubes” or a room full of sculptures that radiates a sense of exploration and curiosity. One of the art galleries my group and I visited was ACA Galleries located 529 W. 20th street. This building was comprised of multiple galleries per floor. This was a very unique experience for me because personally, I was never the type of person to visit art galleries. Every floor we visited gave us a new sense of adventure and exploration. 

Specifically, one painting automatically caught my attention because of its sheer size. It is an oil on canvas painting by Earl H. Brewster called “Women with Violin.” The reason this painting struck out to me was because of the instant sense of calmness that I felt from seeing it. The painting had large gold borders with fancy etchings on them. In the picture itself, it shows a man sitting on a chair with his legs crossed while reading a book. This man is dressed nicely in a black suit and his hair parted in the middle. He has a blank expression on his face, that of someone who is very concentrated on what they are doing. Right behind him, there are two women, both dressed in white who are playing instruments. One woman is standing up playing the violin while the other women on the right was playing the piano. This painting overall gave me an angelic tone with sophistication and class. Additionally, what really helped the artwork to be admired, was definitely the setting. It was a traditional “white cube” environment but I truly believe that is what made the artwork stand out. The white walls, white ceilings, dark cement floors, with nothing but space, made all the emphasis go on the painting itself. The artwork had its own wall and that helped to bring the soft calming tone of the art to fruition. The emptiness and the lack of color within the room itself, gives all the attention and focus to the painting. The painting itself being very calm and sophisticated, it resonates with the minimal environment to create a very holistic experience.

While walking throughout the ACA galleries, I stumbled upon this one exhibit in a small isolated room. In a way it looked like the room was not part of the exhibit. In the corner of the room I see a huge pile of wood and nails all bolted together, thinking it was a disposal area for the exhibit, but the more I looked at the clump of what I thought was a mess, I started to see a shape and an overall pattern. The sculpture was created by Olu Amoda from Nigeria in 2009. Although there is alot going on within the structure itself, ironically there seems to be a certain level of control and organization throughout the sculpture. This exhibit really feeds off the environment because of the fact that it claims attention to itself. I feel as if being in a room of what I thought was secluded, brought the element of surprise. This sculpture really caught my eyes. When I saw the sculpture being originated from Nigeria, it was very enlightening to understand the different styles of art all throughout the world. This sculpture is made out of common materials, but the way it was pierced is what truly makes it unique, compared to everything else in the exhibit. The painting about the man reading a book on the chair, is completely different than this sculpture, but both of them at the same time calls attention to themselves in unique ways. The wooden artwork calls attention by being so different compared to its quiet and soft white surroundings, and the painting calls attention to itself by the vibe and message it is protrying. Being in a white cube environment provides more attention to the artwork rather than the environment. Personally, I believe to truly view and understand the art, a controlled and minimal environment is needed. Overall, this experience was a very fulfilling experience for me as it was something out of the ordinary. It was very interesting to see how an environment can have such drastic effects on artwork and how one perceives them.