Lawndale Art Center had an multi-artist opening on Friday night (3/12/2010). I knew none of the artists. But the event also had the Frosted Betty truck stopping by that specializes in cupcakes. That was actually my main drive to get out there. Silly I know, but hey, it’s CUPCAKES!
Got there a little early and no cupcake truck. So I went inside and mulled around on the main floor checking out the interesting video print and found film prints show. All of a sudden about 200+ people show up! What’s going on? Turns out, up on the second floor is another artist who’s art kinda referenced metallurgy. Well all these people were in town for a metallurgy conference!
I listened through the two downstairs artists talk. Kinda cool actually, for visually it reminded me of the sonic My Bloody Valentine concert I went to last year. [Extreme loud db makes your vision blurry not to mention your insides jiggle. Don’t worry I had ear plugs and ear muffs on – together] When they finished I wandered up stairs to the second gallery area.
Up to the smaller upstairs show, Caroline Gore from Kalamazoo, MI. Small petite woman wearing something that looked like 5 inch heels. Very elfin looking. Anyways she starts to talk about her exhibit, which encompasses all four walls of the room. Now it is important to note that the work is not all consistent on the time line. It actually is an evolution of work of almost 10 years. Themes, poignant dreams, repeating symbols patterns and exploration of evolved insight is what happens over that time. What struck me was this parallel of her art work to my inner personal development work. How? Her work starts off with this “idea” that comes to her in a dream, so she works on making the piece. It’s like a raw outpouring of emotion that was triggered by this significant dream that she had. Powerful with work that can be characterized as created with raw tools. You know how when you work or do something completely new for the first time? How is it…weird. Unwieldily. Awkward. You make big movements to express the unfamiliar idea. There is no subtlety just this raw output. As your eye continues to follow along the wall and through her work…you see the evolution. Of her ability to tap into the rawness of that emotion that she had. But it’s not so raw. It’s evolving. Still powerful, still emotional. But her ability to express is refining, getting better. More subtlety is coming out in the work…more and more as your eyes continue around. I just felt it. I GOT IT. I was like for a good couple of minutes CONNECTED to this artist. My life and it’s struggles of working on my “issues” post divorce. Filtering out the raw, getting in touch with the emotion, finding ways of expression, trusting myself to know what was right. I felt I was looking at a timeline of a physical manifestation of my inner mental journey.
She made an interesting comment about her current status of the work. She felt “complete about it”. Like she had come to an end of exploration of it, but that didn’t mean to me that she was leaving it behind. Maybe a projection, but my take was. I’ve learned from this. I have been absorbed in it for some time and I have taken it as far as I need to go with it. I got this sense from her that now, she ready for the next phase. Again so much alike my development. I have worked and learned these things about myself as well as skills to express and work out. I am done with this level. I am ready to move on to the next. The next deeper level of learning about myself utilizing the tools I’ve learned in this round.
When Caroline concluded her little speech, I was just standing there transfixed on her. I was feeling “floaty” as if my body and mind were on another plane. I felt connected to here. Not in a “boy likes girl” sort of way, but a connection with a HUMAN. Like that expression “you can only walk in your own shoes” DIDN’T apply. It was like a shared moment that I got without communicating. It was communication, just in a completely different way. When the crowd subsided around her, I walked up and introduced myself. I had to talk slow and metered cause I was still so shaken/touched/excited/floatin. I told her what I have told you. The look in her eyes. She got it. She understood. I think there was a few seconds of not saying anything. Just feeling it. I squeezed her arm and said thanks. She smiled and turned away.
So what is art? What does art do for us? Is it just these little one off experiences? Is it a medium for us to try to connect with people about transcendent expressions? Maybe it is a hope of expression to connect to someone else with something that the individual feel. And for that expression to be pure, real. All I know is that for that briefest of moment, I felt connection with another human and it was as near close as I could get There is something there about that feeling of awareness of that moment that was really unique and “awesome”. How can I continue to keep myself aware of these possibilities? How can I prepare myself for them? How can I bring them to fruition with more frequency? Are they a situation that should be experienced more? And I guess ultimately, are they helpful. How?
Heavy stuff. We’ll just have to see where this goes and evolves.
