MAD ART

With fluorescent white walls outside, and contemporary art-deco furnishings inside, the Museum of Art and Design just exudes modern art. MAD is currently housing a two-floor exhibit entitled “Second Lives-Remixing the Ordinary”, a collection of works by over 50 international artists, who created pieces of art from normal everyday objects. My favorite piece in the exhibit was Paul Villiski’s “My Back Pages”, which consisted of butterfly-shapes cut out from vintage vinyl records, and which were then tacked to the wall—the piece was aesthetically beautiful, and the artist definitely accomplished his intent to make physical the beauty of music. Other notable pieces included Susie MacMurray’s “A Mixture of Frailties”, a dress composed entirely of latex washing gloves, and Teresa’s Agnew’s “Portrait of a Textile Worker”, a life-sized quilt depicting a worker at a sewing machine composed entirely of clothing labels. The pieces in the MAD collection were varied and awesome, and each had a message to tell the world. The two hours I put in at the collection was definitely less than the amount of time the exhibit deserves, so I will make sure to reserve an entire day for the next visit I make to the museum.