In Detroit. Also, rambling observations of art and Van Gogh

I am coming at you live from Slows BBQ at 2138 Michigan Avenue in Detroit--Corktown to be precise. I just finished eating a pulled pork sandwich called "The Reason" and a Moscow mule.

More later.

Okay, I'm back several hours later.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we drove down to Detroit today to see the "Van Gogh in America" exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). I have now been to so many Van Gogh exhibitions over the years that I might be accused of being a total Van Gogh "stan." We saw the "Van Gogh: Face to Face" exhibition at the DIA in spring of 2000 (I had to look up the name of the exhibition and through the miracle of Google, I actually found it.). Then, earlier this year, we saw the Van Gogh interactive Expo in Grand Rapids. So, though I wouldn't describe myself as a Vincent Van Gogh superfan, maybe I am. The man was an undeniably brilliant visual artist and had a unique, passionate, busy, tragic, and all-too-short life.

My experiences at art museums and art exhibitions always make me want to be more creative, but unfortunately that never seems to happen. Sometimes it will lead to a sudden burst of creativity, but then that tends to tail off. I also must admit that, after about two hours in an art museum--regardless of the beauty of the art I witness, I eventually hit a wall. Maybe it's sensory overload. At some point, I'll see a painting and just think, "Yeah, that's a painting...and that's another painting...okay, my feet hurt...and I'm hungry...and all these people here at the museum are kind of annoying." Sure enough, this happened today at the DIA. The Van Gogh exhibition was crowded today. It's more difficult to enjoy an art exhibition if you feel like you have to fight through a crowd of people to see the artwork and don't feel like you have enough time to appreciate and study the artwork. That said, I've rarely been the kind of person stands and contemplates an artwork for a long time. I don't look for symbolism and I don't generally look for meaning in the art. Let's just say that those aspects of art don't mean that much to me. I am far more likely to react emotionally to a painting or sculpture that is simply beautiful. Maybe the colors are brilliant, perhaps the landscape is stunning, or maybe if it's a study of a human or the human form, the person's expression or their eyes make me feel something in a way that I can't put into words. Some of my favorite paintings are Francis Bacon's horrifying Screaming Pope series in which the twisted and anguished faces appear to be melting, and Francisco Goya's viscerally disturbing Saturn Devouring His Son.

But then there is Van Gogh, whose studies of poor and working class people are so colorful and expressive. He was able to capture both the pain and dignity of these folks. I was particularly struck, in this exhibition, but Van Gogh's paintings of Madame Ginoux. He captures a woman who has "led a life" but displays wisdom and dignity. 

Also striking--and this might be a "no, shit Sherlock" observation--is that Van Gogh was able to capture both the beauty of landscapes AND people in a way that few other artists are capable. At least not in my observation.

By the way, I never took and art history class in my life so I may very well be completely full of shit. My formal artistic training ended in high school.