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Significant Art

Art Prize was not only delightful because of the time spent with friends, but also because of the significance in each piece of art.
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There was a low, wooden, ten by five foot table which had hundreds of miniature people in all different colors and designs.  One man was all colors and was made of a shiner material then many of the others.  One was blue and red and another was yellow and purple.  Staring at this exhibit for a few minutes helped me to notice that there was a lone, black character in the middle, who looked to be kneeling and crying.  Right when I noticed this, my friend Josh asked my other friend Sang and I, “This is cool, but what is this about?” 

I had just then placed the pieces together in my mind and answered, “I bet this one represents racism in America.”

“You would be racist like that! But yeah, that’s probably what it’s about,” says Sang.

We walked outside to a stone patio to another exhibit which consisted of a six foot metallic mirror ball with a diver ready to dive on top of it.  The diver was in a swimsuit and even had fake drops of water all over her.  The most interesting part about this piece for the three of us was the huge metallic mirror with which we could make funny poses.  The mirror would bend our images, making parts of us look wider or skinnier or taller or smaller.  Sang had his camera and so we spent the next few minutes taking hilarious and unrealistic pictures of ourselves. 

Inside the building there were two life sized women both with open wombs.  The woman on the left had thorns all inside and out which were constricting a little lamb inside.  The woman on the right had green plants and flowers on the inside and butterflies flying out of it.  I observed it for a few moments and didn’t quite know what to think.  The little lamb first made me think that it may have some sort of religious meaning but it wasn’t explicit enough to help me come to any concrete conclusions. 

Sang then spoke up and explained, “The thorns are killing the lamb inside the womb and that probably represents a baby, so this is probably about abortion.” 

That made a lot more sense and the piece made me think for a few minutes about how life is supposed to be a blessing like flowers and butterflies are and how often the beginning of human life is actually seen as thorns and chains around the mother instead of around the child. 

We looked up and behind us and we saw a big sculpture of a big, fat, ugly lady head and hands sticking out of the wall which was overly glamorous with shiny fake fingernails and fancy, queen-like clothes.  At first glance I thought it was a picture of a middle aged queen who was overly glitzy.  However, when Josh and Sang saw it, they were immediately reminded of the show Toddlers and Tiaras and of the crazy moms who truly believed that their little girl was the cutest.  I didn’t really think that they would devote a monument like this to a T.V. show so I was left wondering what the overly glamorous toddler represented.

 

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