A trip to the art museum

I found it especially interesting to view this exhibit in comparison to the exhibit of religious art depicting Jesus Christ that the BYU Museum of Art displayed a couple of years ago—that exhibit featured mostly straightforward images of Christ. I had the opportunity to attend that particular exhibit on multiple occasions, and while interesting and beautiful, I was surprised to find how much more I appreciated the “Types and Shadows: Intimations of Divinity” exhibit (which happily included some of the art I liked from the other exhibit). It was really neat to listen to the other students’ comments during the tour; like me, it seemed like everyone had their own interpretation of the art work. There were three pieces in particular that I really liked. The first was “The Rod and The Veil.” The idea of reaching through the veil, of being given something through the veil, is a powerful one to a Latter-day Saint. Likewise, the image of a rod simultaneously made me think of the iron rod spoken of in the Book of Mormon, and the staff of Moses. Catching hold of the rod, which is given (seemingly as a gift) from a source outside of ourselves is something that must be done carefully, as the rod is slender and could slip from our fingers if we are not conscientious. I also liked the Ron Richmond piece of the glass. Having first seen the work in the context of the “Types and Shadows” exhibit, I was surprised to find a similar painting of his hanging in a local restaurant. The images of circle and square, alongside the bold colors of the work, were arresting, and gave me a lot of different things to think about—all the different things that water symbolizes: newness, baptism, covenants—all backed by the image of a woman seeming to think about all of the same things. In some ways, the shape of the glass combine with the attitude of the woman made me think of the votive candles used by many of Catholic faith in worship. This juxtaposition creates a question (and I would argue also give an answer) as to what truly paves the way to our personal salvation. Finally, my favorite image was the photorealistic “Man of Sorrows." I was surprised that a lot of the student in my tour group found the image disturbing. They didn’t like the expression that the artist put on the face of Christ. However, I thought that it captured Christ really well. Instead of weeping, bloodied, and weakening, Christ’s face is given a stoic resolution and the necessary strength to perform the task ahead of him. His is a willing, freely given sacrifice.