Art Exhibit

I thought it was really fun to have Rita Wright come and change up the class for a few days.  I am also a huge fan of art history so I always enjoy hearing and analyzing new pieces.  

The Types and Shadows: Intimation of Divinity exhibit was really interesting with a lot of really different pieces that happened to relate through subtle details.  I think it was a great idea to discuss some of the exhibit in class before going to see it because there just isn’t time to get through everything in the short fifty minutes of class.  Truly, every piece was interesting but I did have my favorites.

I loved Exchange No. 8.  The realism and striking color contrast caught my attention and the concept is just fascinating.  The chairs seem to signify the throne of Christ and as it said in the pamphlet, the mercy seat.  It’s also interesting that the white chair is stable and upright while the red covered chair is lying on it’s back.  The cloth, a theme throughout the exhibit, possibly a symbol of the shroud that covered Christ and of course the colors that are so obviously significant.  Red, the blood of Christ, passion, sin  while white is purity, sacred, clean.  I absolutely love the contrast between those colors, including their meanings.  The background of this piece is also really intriguing.  The different geometric patterns overlapping and in more neutral colors.  I don’t think I understand this one very well but for some reason I just like it.

I also really like the Devotion painting.  I actually thought it was a photograph at first because the front part is so realistic.  I really like the idea that the woman in the background is from a time devoid of the truth and that the modern vase full of water represents the truth and light of Christ that is available now.  I don’t know if that’s what the artist was getting at but for me that’s what makes sense to me.  Her clothing and manner express that for me.

My absolute favorite though, had to be Christopher Young’s Man of Sorrows.  I think this piece is so beautiful.  We discussed how it was so ideal that it didn’t seem real but I still see it as a perfect representation for me.  I don’t think this is meant to represent a true moment in time, such as his journey to the hill he would die on.  I see this as a representation of his knowledge of the great things he had to and would do for us.  His expression and the title speak to me of his great burden that is incomprehensible for us.  The cross and crown represent the physical suffering he was to go through but they are not in the process of hurting him.  There is no blood on his head and he is not nailed to the cross but I get the sense that this portrays his entire mission in one piece and I love that he is portrayed so ideally, so perfect, because that’s what he is and temptations and even physical scars could not change that.

I don’t know if that’s what I was supposed to write about but I really enjoyed the opportunity we had to see some of that art if only just because I got to see Man of Sorrows.  I loved it so much.