Pink Cloud

"Oscar Wilde once wrote that an object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. Here is your opportunity to explore your own idea of beauty, and, potentially, ugliness. A variety of works from the permanent collection have been selected to represent the many ways in which we might find beauty within an art object. Confucius might have been right when he declared, everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. Viewers are encouraged to express their thoughts, and some of the most interesting responses will be added to the wall label text as the exhibition remains on display."

-Polk Art Museum Website Regarding The Beautiful Things Exhibit



This past Thursday our class went to the Polk Museum of Art. There were so many beautiful paintings. I could not help but wonder what the artists were thinking when they constructed such creative pieces. I encountered the ancient artwork of pre and post early civilizations, like clay and rock designs. This art consisted of mostly animal and people design. The next exhibit was child art. I was astounded by the talent of the children at so young of an age. This exhibit contained mostly jungle and animal art. Then I continued on into pre and post modern art and paintings. I think trying to understand and really truly apreciate art for what it is can become somewhat of an overwhelming task. The one peice that stood out the most to me, was a peice called pink cloud. It may be hard to describe, but I will try. It was an individual pink diamond on the end of a peice of wire.There were about ten of these diamond wires braided together into a design and then the other end braided into another braid strand. It was a large mass of braided diamond strands that hung from the ceiling about eight feet tall. It was so gorgeous. It must have taken hours to braid each strand into another and another and another. I could not help but notice that a general theme was beginning to show itself. This peice of art would have been not have been as beautiful if it was made of only one strand and diamond at the end. It was the community woven togther that made it so beautiful. For generations we have seen person after person try and stifle the beauty of community and the diversity that it represents. Hitler and his nazis tried to make a dominant race, but it was and is the beauty of the Jews as a whole that add to the vibrance of the world. We need community. We need unity. Community completes us. Even Jesus stressed the importance of community when he emphasized the body of Christ. How can the body walk without the legs and how can even the HEAD turn without the neck? We need each other. Every peice of art had some form of community or even a hint of it, from pre-civilizations to post modern.