For our first involvement with the Indianapolis Chinese Community Center, our group leader Benny, who you probably met in class when he visited, took us to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now called “Newfields”. We walked around the museum, taking strong observations as to what events were occurring in history and with the development of culture at the time of each piece and type of art we examined. For me, it was really interesting to hear Benny’s perspective on what medias and styles spoke to him as art evolved alongside society and culture throughout history. Before this trip, I had been to the IMA a handful of times in the past year or so, but definitely had failed to appreciate some of the exhibits I was not as interested in. For someone who has amateur level knowledge of art history, I slightly appreciated neoclassical art, but not a lot. (If you have no idea what neoclassical is, feel free to click the link or see the pictures I included below, including Liberty Leading the People the famous Coldplay album cover – bottom.) I have never liked the large paintings with angelic depictions and porcelain skin everywhere, but I understand the history where Greek and Roman style art was revitalized with the columns and the grandeur of churches portrayed everywhere. Even so, hearing Benny talk about why he loved this style of art so much definitely increased my appreciation not only for the history and culture that gave rise to neoclassicism, but also greater appreciation for Chinese culture and Benny’s personal journey as a Chinese-American. Benny had a lot of really good commentary about things I had never really noticed with this type of art, such as the function of light and shadows, reasoning behind Biblical references, and reasons for subject matter selection. Hearing what was important to him and the others that were also on the IMA trip helped me to realize how your upbringing greatly affects how you see the world and how you see art. Even when forced to focus on a piece and talk about it critically, we all saw different elements and had different emotions in response. Overall, the experience was really fun and even though I had been before, going with Benny as our guide opened my eyes to things previously unseen.
