It Caught My Eye From Across the Room
I’ve always had an appreciation for art, the way certain brushes can leave a unique strokes of colors behind is stunning. For example how a whale’s tale brush can create perfect layered petals. As a result a few years ago a group of friends and I decided to go see some art.
It was just an ordinary day far from being extraordinary. Four out of five of us decided to go to the San Diego Museum of Art and so we went.
The people walking around were all dressed to impress. The men were in suits and ties, while the women wore elegant cocktail dresses with appropriate 1 inch heels and among all that elegance was our group: 3 women and 2 men sporting skinny jeans, and t-shirts. We were definitely standing out among the crowd. At one point I felt like we were on display for all those nicer dressed people — that no doubt assumed we were amateurs that didn’t know art — to gawk at and criticize. Sure we were a group of 4 Hispanics and 1 African American, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t appreciate art or that we were at the museum to rob a priceless piece.
Looking back at it now my group of friends and I found it easy to just wonder into the museum thinking there was nothing wrong with who we were. But perhaps we shouldn’t have, we should’ve considered dressing nicer. It seemed as if that would have been one step in the right direction in feeling more accepted in the museum — less susceptible to racial profiling. We would've been similar to Amrit Signh. He wasn’t accepted by his peers; it wasn’t until he changed his appearance and cut his hair that he was beginning to see acceptance. Amrit’s physical appearance began to change the person he was, it helped his peers but not him personally. Had we worn different clothing it wouldn’t have made a difference because we were still our race — not white.
I loved all the art we looked at, but as I turned around, out of the corner of my eye I spotted something. It isn’t the most grand painting but for some reason I felt it calling me. The piece that caught my eye from across the room was Apollo and Daphne by Paolo Caliari.
Greco-Roman mythology has always been a fascinating topic to me. The way the stories tend to end in dramatic catastrophe or in some cases love is just so engrossing. When I saw this painting of almost two nude people wrapped only in smooth fabric and one of them turning into a tree I knew then that I was looking at a piece based on mythology.
When I started walking toward the captivating piece I clearly remember one of my friends saying “where are you going? The art this way is way better looking than those weird pieces of naked washed out people without arms.” I stood there shocked. Why would he express such distasteful words knowing that all forms of art are beautiful and different in their own ways? In that moment I couldn’t help feeling how the nicer dressed people must have felt towards my friends and I. Disappointed and confused. I know that just because I’m Hispanic that doesn’t mean a white person is necessarily going to know more about art then me. But my friend wasn’t helping break the stereotypes that white people make about us when it comes to art — that we don’t know about it. I gave him my ‘how dare look’ and walked away wanting my negative thoughts to dissolve.
Once I was standing in front of Apollo and Daphne I was able to fully appreciate Caliari’s work. I know that Italy is the homeland to a lot of beautiful exquisite art but this particular piece is what sold me on the country and its art. The piece was created sometime in 1560–1565 with oil paints. The whole thing was beautiful. Just by looking at it you could see the story between Apollo and Daphne playing out. He obviously is in love and wants to be with her and she is trying to get away and is turning into a tree in order to escape.
As I stood there for what seemed like forever an elderly white couple walked by. They looked at Apollo and Daphne and then turned to me and said “it’s always nice to see younger people like yourself appreciate art,” then walked away. That short comment was filled with warmth and pride. I will never forget that comment. They didn’t have to acknowledge me, and they certainly didn’t have to sound proud that I was looking in awe at Apollo and Daphne.
It was after this moment that I realized a few things. The first being that I had a friend that wasn’t mature enough to appreciate the art in a nude body and how if I wanted people to stop seeing my race as a group of people that didn’t appreciate finer arts then I needed to step up and let them know that we can appreciate art just as much if not more than them. We don’t need to change our appearances or be a different race to demonstrate our art knowledge. There is no need for change, we could all learn to get along if we just understood and accepted each other. To do so we need to find common ground. As Gadamer would put it,
“understanding takes place in common ground of language.”
In Azade Seyhan’s work we discover that the world has a structure of shared understanding, and the medium to all that understanding is language.
My second realization was my love for Italian art which later made me learn Italian. The third thing that I realized was that not all white people had it out for other races when it came to art. There are many that don’t criticize us people for being different colors but they simply acknowledge how all of us of different colors can come together to make a great piece of art.
