Pokemon and Potential

above photo taken in Smithsonian Museum of Art - Washington D.C.

I did not always like museums. Most likely because my early exposure to them was usually to historical exhibits that I was dragged to on a school field trip. Just the fact that I HAD to go was a turn-off. Typically monotonous tour guides did not help with that either. But I got older and my interests matured. I learned that I liked art. The abstract thinking and the stories behind creative works sparked my interest. All of the sudden, I found myself cluing in intently when my aunt with an art-history major would talk about different artists and periods. I started jumping at the opportunity to go visit art museums when I could. I saw some incredible ones while being a congressional page in DC including the Modern Art Museum and the Smithsonian. Over the last Christmas break I found a few to enjoy in the Houston area not far from where my family lives. I truly feel that art has the potential to help us see things in a new way- with more depth and beauty.

The New York Times recently included an article on the numerous art museums in New York City, and I must say I am pretty envious of the quality and variety of different ones that are there. Sure New York has the numbers and the diversity that I know College Station lacks. The culture just simply isn’t there. However, the culture is all about A&M and the most well known artist in College Station, Benjamin Knox, got his fame from doing paintings of nostalgic Aggie scenes like Bonfire memorial, baseball games, or Kyle Field. He has a local gallery that displays his work perhaps qualifying as the closest thing C-stat has to an art museum of some sort.

Though I seem to complain about the scarcity of good art in the area, it could be a good thing in some ways. It’s kind of like my obsession with trading and collecting Pokémon cards as a 3rd grader. The more rare of a card I found, the more I appreciated and admired it. I would go back to stare at the card with all of its holographic greatness over and over. Perhaps, people tend to treat art in the same way. The fewer copies available or the more historical the artist, the more buyers will shell out thousands to obtain such a coveted piece. Admitting this could make me a hypocrite though as I have preached with a “more art for everyone” attitude through out every entry of this blog, and I still hold to that but looking at art from a more formal perspective does cause me to question that. Either way, I would still be more than happy to see a museum open in the Brazos County area that displayed Texas art or even prints of more famous works. But as I have discovered, more opportunities have been coming up in recent years with events like Fashion week and Rock the Republic. So do not fret art lovers, College Station and Bryan community has potential for a greater artistic environment as it continues to grow in interest, diversity and numbers!