Went back into the Columbia Museum of Art last week.  They had a Rembrandt exhibition.

Nothing too big, just one little room dedicated to his many etchings.  Still, a worthwhile visit if one wanted to gaze in awe at Dutch artist’s attention to detail.  With a magnifying glass provided by the museum, my mother stood amazed at the lines Rembrandt created for his renderings of portraits and religious scenes.  They definitely felt awe-inspiring.  It also brought to mind one thing art classes never teaches a student.  Patience.  One must have patience if one wants to create detail.  I did gain one interesting factoid from reading the caption boxes of one of the works.  Long after Rembrandt’s’ death, other printers altered his various plates.  In other words, we lost a bit of Rembrandt’s authorship over time.  How very Roland Barthes and Walter Benjamin.  At the same time, I am not surprised.

The museum allowed artist Sigmund Abeles to create a big exhibition of his favorite paintings, photos, prints, and sculpture. An Artist’s Eye features some known and not very well-known artists of the Modern and Contemporary Era.  Chuck Close, Kiki Smith, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Beardan represent the many.  One work from one artist, Abeles also provided caption boxes about why he picked them.  Since he knew these people (as revealed above), this gives the show a sense of warmth and kindness.  Many of the artists featured hail from South Carolina, giving the show a very local feel.  Furthermore, the artistic depictions of industry and the working class pepper throughout the show.  He also put his work on display outside the room.  There, Abeles mostly captured people doing activities in painting, prints, and sculpture.

I adored the Venice photographs by Michael Kenna.  His black and white manipulations give Venice a somber, ghostly, and melancholic feel.  If you have visited Venice, you will appreciate how he captures the city’s quiet atmosphere.  In fact, he features no human beings whatsoever.  With only manmade light and the moon, the dark backgrounds feel almost oppressive and heavy.  He makes my photographs of Venice look cluttered and chaotic.

If anything, these exhibitions represent the artistic qualities of printing and reproduction.  From the days of Rembrandt’s incredible prolific talents to Michael Kenna’s photography, a lot of emotions just leap out from the monochromatic works.