Art Institute of Chicago

Art -- as in paintings, sculptures, print screen work, the kinds of pieces you see most often in museums and art galleries etc. -- has always been a huge part of my life. My parents have always tried to take me to see as many different art galleries, exhibits and museums as they could while I have grown over the years; and for this I have always been very thankful, especially now that I can add the Art Institute of Chicago to that list.
I was very excited about seeing the modern wing. I have looked up to artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Pablo Picasso, Grant Wood, Henri Matisse and Claude Monet my entire life; seeing new or repeats of their beautiful pieces is an incredibly motivating thing for me. It was also very relieving to see such gorgeous works in equally gorgeous surroundings. Renzo Piano, the architect of the building, definitely got it right when he tried to make the art within the building as well as the city outside of the building all a part of one another. The city reflecting through the large vertically paneled windows was almost a piece of work itself. Piano not only helped me to really appreciate the works inside more, but he helped me appreciate the connection everything surrounding them and the building and city around as a whole. I even took that suggested moment to trace a line from one side of the building to the other in the great Griffin Court. That concept alone made everything come and fit together within the building; even the lines in the bathroom lined up.
While we were browsing through the different galleries, we were asked to pause for several minutes in front of a piece that drew us in. As suggested, I took the liberty of writing through a stream of consciousness while standing in front of one of these pieces. I chose an oil on canvas called Dopo La Fine (After the End). It struck me at first because of a woman’s figure in the top portion of the piece. I could not look away. The following is what I wrote:

It looks as though this woman is lying on the bed facing me. Her eyes bearing into me as mine bear into her. We are becoming a part of one another. We are entering each others’ souls. Her mouth rests slightly open as if she has something to say, but she says nothing. “Why is she silent?” I wonder. Her arms lay behind her -- it seems as if she has none at all. Again I ask, “Why are her words and her limbs taken from her? Why does she have no limbs at all?” She is just a figure with a staring head. The brightness of the bed spread in front of her is a huge contrast to the dreary grayness of her dress and the near corpse-like look to her face. I cannot look away. Why does the bed sheet have a rumple in the same way as her dress? The exact same. Her hair is pulled up and braided. Is she Dutch? Is she German? Is she at all? I want to help her. I want to be the voice she does not have -- the limbs she was not given. The longer I look, the bluer/grayer her face becomes. Maybe this is social commentary. She is beneath the flowers, below the happy earth -- down below where it is dank and dreary.
But I do see hope. A beautiful solid blue surrounds her. The more I focus on that…the good…I can still see the glimmer of life left in her eyes. In this glimmer I know that she knows that I am here. That smile. Maybe she is happier than it seems on the surface. The closer flowers are not really in any physical form. They are blobs, liquid masses of color. She at least is a whole form. She is beautiful. More beautiful than the flowers. She is life. She is strong. She is not bound. She is every woman -- so strong. So powerful. So alive. The world may place burden, oppression, restraints upon you, but it is within you to carry on.
I can almost feel her breathing.

I could have gone on forever writing like that. I hope more opportunities present themselves in that same way so that I can really reflect upon what I am seeing and better unravel what I am thinking as I envelop myself with a piece of art. That was a wonderful assignment.
I did not go to the Cultural Center this past Thursday. I have already been there in the past and was actually interviewed there the first week I was in Chicago this past January. I think it is a great building -- an old library -- with a great café and reading/studying/eating area. The beautiful, large stain glass window is definitely a favorite of mine. I plan on going back in the future to really delve into some of the exhibits there, much like how I plan on going back to the Art Institute as often as I can.