Saturday, October 16, 2010

A Different Exercise: Left Brain versus Right Brain

Tonight, 6:30 PM Boot Camp, also an invitation to a private art showing by Shirley Kern, a beautiful talented artist previously of Evansville, now living in Princeton, New Jersey across the street from the home of the late Albert Einstein.
I am racing home from an out of town job and deep in my heart I am torn between exercise for the body and exercise for the mind.
In the end I chose to exercise my brain and the art of appreciating art.
Getting your head around art is often as difficult as deep squats or dead lifts.
The artist’s web site, www.ShirleyKernStudio.com, is definitely worth a visit.
The event was held at The Begley Art Source, which is affiliated with the Evansville Museum.
I must admit, every joint, every muscle begged me to take a day off and I was looking forward to seeing old friends, having a glass of wine and letting my eyes and mind wander over new as yet unseen art.
I was going to be allowed to look into the soul of another person.
As I walked around looking at the works I was impressed with the colors, the bold stripes, the “Ordered Impressionism” of Shirley Kern versus my memory of the drips on canvas by Jackson Pollock and his “Chaotic Impressionism”.
To me it seems one painted from hope while the other from despair.
Some pieces, especially Wings Across Open Waters, kept calling me back, as it inspired serenity and peace.
But in the end, I had to admit, the art gallery ended up being much like the gym, a whole lot of people seeking to get and be just a little bit better and make the world better for it.
Now if only we can get the gym to serve Chardonnay and Merlot along with finger sandwiches, couscous on whole grain bread, then that would be a little bit of heaven.
I might never go home especially if they throw in an art show every now and then.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good one! also like the artist you mentioned.