Newfound Appreciation

At first, I succeeded, but only until the man in front of me started telling the story behind the shapes and colors. He opened up to me a way of thinking I had never given myself the opportunity of trying before. I learned just because I can't recognize what the image is at a glance doesn't make it "bad" artwork. Most importantly, contemporary artwork challenges its viewers to think. The work of contemporary artists is open to all different kinds of interpretations, depending on who is viewing the artwork. What I thought was going to be forty-five minutes of complete boredom that ordinary school day ended up being one of those small, life-changing events. Because I viewed Michiko Itatani's America Blue on my trip to the Daum Museum that day, I now can now look at that piece of contemporary art and value it because of the story it can tell, in particular, the story of September 11, 2001.…