Chihuly

I'm hereby adding a new component to this blog: Art Shows. I think we come across them now and again and some of them are worth talking about.


This weekend I saw the Chihuly exhibit at the De Young. I was intrigued because half the people I know passionately hated it and decried it, claiming it wasn't art. The other half loved it, praised it, and thought everyone they know should see it.

As for me, I only want to add two things to this scholarly debate.


First, the presentation of the pieces, be them art or not, was awesome. Walking through dark rooms and discovering color made you feel like you were exploring the gemstone section of a museum or the phosphorescent fishes of the deep in an aquarium. But I especially loved the mirrors. You could see the reflection of the piece, but not your own reflection since the room was so dark! That gave it an even more surreal feeling. I also loved how vibrant the glass looked in the dark mirrors below each piece- the reflections were almost more impressive than the art itself. That was worth the price of admission alone.

In contrast, the plaques on the walls, with Chihuly's thoughts behind each piece, did everything they could to belittle the experience. "I called this 'Persians' because I thought it was a cool word but I don't really know much about anything to do with Persia." "I wanted to try using every color in my studio, so here it is." I wonder what would have happened if his thoughts had just been vague and obscure, saying simply "This represents conflict." Perhaps then the art world would embrace his work. In some ways, it's refreshing to see honesty on those plaques, but it was still hard to look at his pieces with the same respect after reading them.