El color en el espacio y en el tiempo...

After work one afternoon, my boss and now friend mentioned there was a new collection she wanted to see, featuring over 150 works of Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez at the MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires). I am not usually a big fan of modern art, a red square on a white canvas or some paint thrown around may be art to one, but it just doesn't do anything for me, I just don't feel a connection to it. Maybe I have been spoiled by seeing the most breathtaking Renaissance art in Italy...staring up at the Sistine Chapel and tears filling my eyes and witnessing the faces of marble sculptures that had more true and real features than actual human beings. As I began to dread walking around looking at boring shapes and colors, my perspective completely changed as I entered the next room...

His exhibit, "el color en el espacio y en el tiempo" means "color in space and time" as the pieces seemed to come alive as I walked past, traveling through actual space and time. Using paint, plastic, cardboard, silk screen, light and shapes, Cruz-Diez creates the effect of the pieces physically changing form as I moved around them. If I stood directly in front, it would appear as a blur, but if I walked to the right or the left, I see different shapes appear and the colors change and sharpen. In fact, the yellow I saw within a specific piece, actually didn't exist, rather it was the retina's perception of the contrast of red and green stripes projected into space. The play of light and color appear as if they were living organisms in a constant state of transformation. It was incredible. It was moving. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. And yet, I couldn't help but notice the connection this art has to our lives. Sometimes, we see the picture directly in front of us. Blurry, confused, scary even. But when we change our perspective, when we walk around it and actually peer into it, our view changes, our attitude changes. And as the pieces change, we too can change. Morphing into the person we were truly meant to be. Through space and through time, we can each become greater than what we first appeared to be.

está sola

Most of us are at that point in our lives where we are discovering what it is we want out of our time here on this earth, and maybe you are not at that point right now, but trust me, you will be someday. Some of us face it head on, knowing what we want with confidence and conviction; others of us know what we desire, but for some reason the universe has shown us that it just is not meant to be, and some, are left wondering; left discovering. So here is my journey, to look fear in the face and move to Buenos Aires, Argentina for four months completely alone. I’ve heard it said that you should take chances in your life, to not live with regret, to follow your heart, and I feel as though I am doing all of those things, but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Leaving the familiar for the unfamiliar. As I stumble to remember the Spanish I learned over five years ago, figure out how the gas switch works in my tiny kitchen, and avoid stubbing my toes on the crumbling sidewalks, I learn to notice the beauty in it all. To laugh at my mistakes and actually stop to smell the flowers and marvel at the lush leaves that shade me from the intense heat. I see the beauty and reflect on how I have so much to be grateful for. I think of my parents, who encourage me and provide for me to have these amazing experiences, my boyfriend who is my best friend, who doesn’t care how many times I cry to him on Skype and who loves. Unconditionally. And my friends, you are my pillars and your words of support are written on my heart and mind. So today, I notice beauty. The old couple walking their dog down the sidewalk, the best friends sitting in the café catching up over café con leche and the kids playing soccer in the park. Through it all, I know that when I discover what it is that I want to do, I know this will shape my life in more ways than I ever knew.