Obscurity

I walked past a small art gallery today which was very unfortunately closed, as it is so nice to procrastinate in an art gallery and justify to yourself that you're 'working'.  Anyway, since I couldn't go in and look I propped my hands up on the glass and peered in, trying to make sense of the huge amount of smallish photographs posted up on the walls which were battling with the glare from the sun on the window and the reflection of my face and the street behind me.  Mostly images of faces, I wondered what the exhibition was all about.  Who were these people?  Why were their faces in an art gallery?  Are they somebodies or nobodies?  Are they all women?  No, that one is definitely a man.

It struck me how intrigued I had become by the exhibition.  The obscurity of the images through the glass and the ambiguity of the people in the images without having any knowledge of what the exhibition was, made the experience far more interactive than had I walked straight into the gallery, read about the exhibition, looked at the faces, nodded politely at my favourites, before walking out the door with my thoughts undoubtedly returning immediately to everything other than what I had just seen.

The experience got me to thinking that there is something important in leaving little clues for people while not unraveling the full story.  I've made up my own mind about the exhibition and it is likely to be completely unrelated to the artist's meaning but this to me is part of creating and experiencing art and design.  By not issuing orders on what your work means you let everyone who views it take their own story or experience away from it.

I could return and go in for a proper look but I think I might prefer the blurry faces that my mind has retained - window glare and reflections included.