Thursday, June 24, 2010

Short Transition

I went to see the Paul Emannuel exhibit "Transitions" at the Smithsonian African Art Museum today.  I'd never been to the African Art Museum- it's right next to the Castle.  
Paul Emannuel is a well known artist in South Africa and his art focuses primarily on the lives of white South African boys post-apartheid.  The main event of this exhibit was a 14-minute movie centered around new recruits of the army getting their heads shaved.  The movie switched from up close shots of boys preparing for the first buzz of the razor to rows of white shirts drying in the wind to fields of grain.  The boys faces were the best- trying to be brave and clearly biting their lower lips.  But, as soon as the hair cut was over they looked proud.  It was a ritual that was clearly institutionalized but also intimate.
The exhibit also featured 4 examples of Emannuel's photorealist work- Art that looks like a photograph but is actually a sketch.  They illustrated moments of transitions- the crown being placed on a new king's head, a jacket being put on at the end of the day, a baby unswaddled.
I enjoyed the exhibit but I wish there had been more to see.
The next exhibit I saw was called "Artful Animals."  It was examples of African art where the norm is to combine multiple animals in one piece to exhibit different traits (strength, compassion, knowledge).  I realized as I started to read the panels that I may not have been the target audience for the exhibit: "An antelope can jump 9 feet in the air.  How about you?"; "A snake can shed its skin.  Can you?"  Obvi.  But I did learn that elephants are right or left tusked and that hornbills can make a sound like a growling leopard.  Also, hornbills are lucky so I think I might have a new favorite animal.  

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