Why Don't We Encourage Kids to Mock Art?

Seriously. I am asking you to please, please encourage your children to make fun of art. Whether it's art on the street, commercials on TV, or in a museum. Everything is fair game. In fact, you should start mocking art, too.

Fresh from a museum trip to Chicago, I've returned with a small collection of photos orchestrated by a very good friend of mine. She loves to go to museums and take pictures of herself and friends imitating what statues are doing. Because we visited the Art Institute of Chicago, we abstracted the idea a bit further. Any art was fair game if we could think of an interpretation. This led to especially fun antics in the contemporary wing.

And only one security guard gave us any trouble.*

What I got out of it

Besides fun? A lot.

I'm a notorious museum browser. I loves me some art, but I move at a quick clip through exhibits so I can see it all. Kind of like flipping the channels on a TV. I move until I find something I like, snap a photo (no flash, when allowed), get a photo of the nameplate, stare a little more, and move on.

Even in the best museums (The Tate Modern!) and the ones I'm least invested in (The Louvre), all the art can start to look the same after awhile. That means I'm tired. Maybe not physically, but my brain just can't take any more art. Or history. Or science. Whatever kind of knowledge is in that museum, I can take much more.

Museum designers know this. That's why great places have great spaces. For example (because I'm also fresh from it), The Field Museum offers plenty of opportunities for kids to touch and play on exhibits. It promotes learning while keeping them engaged. The Art Institute, with its slightly older member base, is sprinkled with delicious and aromatic cafés. These engage senses that aren't already exhausted from the day. You can plan a route that lets you hit lunch at a reasonable hour and still hit coffee and dessert in the Mid-20th Century.

Mocking art between these artistic food oases helped me:

• Slows down the pace
• Break up the day
• Get the blood pumping and ideas flowing
• Help me remember art based on context
• Start conversations

What your kid gets out of it

My list of benefits is exactly the same as what you need to get your kid behaving (running in the galleries, really?). Teachers and parents note that kids don't pay attention, don't take their time, and don't have meaningful engagement with art on field trips. They want to wander around and have fun with their friends.

So why not let them?**

'Mocking' the art helps kids (and adults) stay focused on long days of learning and get more out of the visit. Posing next to art to mimic it helps them cooperate and plan as a team in an artistic context, talk about what they want to pose with and don't want to pose with, as well as helping them remember particularly fun pieces.

Mocking arts helps kids by:

• Making them take more time on a piece-by-piece basis
• Keeps them from getting bored
• Keeps energy and engagement up
• Provides lasting memories of artistic experiences
• Helps them talk to peers about art

Mocking is play; playing is fun

Similar to the NYTimes article 'In Defense of Teasing' from 2008, the moral here is that what kids already do is probably most beneficial for them. If it's fun, our minds get more out of the experience. Funny how evolution and socialization work.

Don't believe me? Try it the next time you're at a museum. Wait a few days, then try to remember pieces that you saw. I'll bet you mostly remember pieces that you imitated.

And please, please, please tweet your best picture at me (@MackWorrall). This is less of a shameless plug for my Twitter account and more an attempt to get an influx of funny art pictures to my daily social media rounds.

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* To be fair, there was some lying down on the museum floor involved. ** Depending on age, I don't necessarily condone letting your kid run free in the museum. First of all, stranger danger. Secondly, art is expensive. Third, I'd love for you to not be banned for life from any one institution. It's not fun.

Cruzamentos: Contemporary Art in Brazil [Wexner Center]

The Wexner Center recently held an exhibition of contemporary Brazilian art titled Cruzamentos. Sadly, the works are no longer on view at the Wex. I do encourage you to do research on some of the talented artists featured in the exhibition, though.

Initial Thoughts

Like most exhibitions at the Wex, Cruzamentos was a mixed bag of intriguing work and lesser works by more famous artists. The experience was more immersive and space-involved than some of their previous exhibitions. Walking up the main hallway, the ledge above was lined with cement and broken glass. Immediately, I assumed it was art chosen for its specific evocations of Brazil. Luckily, I was wrong. It was the Wex's (only) attempt at displaying Brazilian life with Brazilian art. With more thought and more thorough execution, this could've worked. But you are immediately put on edge by a sort of half-formed experience.

Certain pieces were haphazardly displayed in areas you weren't sure to look at. One actual piece of video art was projected on a sheet high above tyne main corridor, but could only be noticed on your way out of the exhibit. This was unfortunate because a loudspeaker at ear level blasted its soundtrack on the way in. You're initially not sure what you're listening to or why it's there.

In spite of the technical shortcomings and the usual challenges of staging an exhibition in the trapezoidal galleries, Cruzamentos was a strong showing of intriguing Brazilian artists that many Columbus artists could learn from.

The selected works here are the more memorable pieces.

Gambiarras Mosaic (2008), Cao Guimarães

Guimarães's contribution was a series of photography capturing makeshift solutions for household problems in Brazil. It absolutely captured how alien the culture could be from the eye of middle class American. Once you learn that each photo is an image of an object being used in unexpected ways, the mosaic of photos becomes a game. What's unexpected in this image? Or this one?

Though clever, I'm not sure if I found it artistically satisfying. It didn't bring attention to the cultural differences for a viewer in a gallery. So, in that respect, it could be called ineffective. It's subtle documentary approach would be more fully appreciated with an article about the poverty levels in Brazil. Overall, the series felt complementary to something that the audience wasn't privy to. Leaving the exhibition, I still think of this series. But perhaps not for the reasons the artist wants.

Great composition, vivid colors, interesting use of line in the works selected by the Wex. I am focused on the message and impact of this series and I admit that. They are not bad pieces. I found the context lacking.

Polvo (2013), Adriana Varejão

Poorly photographed photos of a guidebook don't do this exhibit justice. I've found race to be a popular dialogue in much of the art that I've seen in the past few months (2013's strong showing of films including 12 Years a Slave, Available Light's production of We Are Proud to Present...), and none of them made such an impact as this series of portraits. Varejão explored Brazil's complicated colonial history and ideas of miscegenation in a series of eleven oil paintings.

Based on a 1976 survey asking Brazilians to self-identify the color of their skin, Varejão created 33 oil colors based on the most evocative titles. Then she painted portraits with them in a series reminiscent of color-by-number books for children. The room the Wex devoted to this series held a dynamic tension. Anyone entering could simultaneously feel vulnerable by the power of all eleven portraits staring at the entrance like a government council, but the viewer can also see the childishness in the semantics of race at play. It is a series that both reflects on the past and looks to the future. After all, it is the same woman painted in different colors eleven times.

Veneza do Brasil (2007), Laura Belém

(Pictured in the featured image for this post)

What may be most powerful about Belém's work is the element of surprise. It's very theatrical and not at the same time. How she weaves the viewer's emotions is typical of theatre, but her piece's 'performance' is without end.

At the end of the gallery is a tall structure made out of lumber. Household fans sit at each corner of the high box and a small set of steps allows a single patron at a time to ascend and view the piece. Expecting a deep diorama that one must look down into, we are instead surprised with a shallow pool of water. Handcrafted models of shanties float here, propelled in circles around the pool by the fans. It's mesmerizing and catches the viewer off guard.

The title of the piece (translated: Venice of Brazil) is a transient piece about the vulnerability of the most poor and their homes. It's eerily reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina without being informed by it at all. The context of this piece in an American setting evokes additional images that the artist almost certainly didn't intend, but add to the understanding of the piece.

Belém's work was the most successful at demonstrating the theme of the Cruzamentos show. It was a link between Brazilian and American crossroads.

Untitled (2013), Vânia Mignone

Aesthetically satisfying, Mignone's Untitled (2013) uses bright colors and a contrast in motion to draw the viewer in. The woman in a bathing suit implies that she is submerged, her hair drifting upward in the current. the flat circles in the background show a different direction of motion. What's happening isn't immediately clear. The throwback to classic French and Italian ads from the early 20th Century is a welcome addition.

I can't honestly say why I like this piece; I just do. It's very large. It feels very "in the moment" of art while also showing signs of modern design trends (flat color, hand lettering).

What to Take Away

• Context can make or break a piece. What is it saying? Who else is saying it?
• Bright, solid colors are the way to go.
• Race is visual. It's hard to talk about, easier to show and then discuss.

If you want to see more, the exhibition is closed. The Wexner Center sells their book in the store section, though. Good commentary and art. How can you go wrong?