Monday, July 21, 2008

sorry, what were you saying?

It is funny how many of us medics get ourselves enclosed in the world of medicine. We eat and sleep medicine.

I visited a pretty cool art gallery at the Tramway, Glasgow, recently. They were having a special exhibition by the artist, Kenny Hunter. For those of you who were not familiar, he is a famous Glaswegian sculptor. His work of art included The Citizen Firefighter, a famous landmark in Glasgow. He also creates interesting phrases as shown below.

Anyway, although I am very much interested in art and craft, I have never imagined myself sitting down in a small exhibition hall listening to an artist talk about his work on a nice Saturday afternoon. I do not enjoy art galleries...especially those with drawings and paintings...I find them boring and really a waste of time! (my apologies to those who do not agree with me). A normal weekend for me would be either eating brunch, resting at home, shopping or catching up with friends....not sitting down in an art gallery?!

Well, I actually did quite enjoy it. =P

To be truly frank, I did not really understand some of the things he were talking about. He used quite a few "art jargons." He also tried to explain why he made a particular sculpture and how it was related to objects in nature and life. Right, have I confused you already?

I began to feel silly...and to make matters worse, one of the students from the Glasgow School of Art, threw Mr Hunter a question. The question was created using simple words...and yet, I did not catch what the question was about. It was really complicated.

I think it was because art is such a subjective and abstract thing that words are, sometimes, not the best thing to use to explain it. Art should just be left by itself, and to allow it to provoke our own thoughts. That was what I found really interesting about this art exhibition by Kenny Hunter. His sculptures were very simple, yet unique. His phrases were strange, but were throwing out strong emotions.

It was a good experience, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt as though I was introduced to this new world that I have never seen before, a world outside the domains of medicine.....


The citizen firefighter outside Glasgow Central Station.
Note that you can't see the face of the firefighter and you can't even determine the gender. I thought it was cool.

Pic on the (L): You would remember that the word "everlasting" has always been used with nicer words, eg, "love," "memories" etc. Everlasting Agitation is so true in this world. We get stressed and agitated throughout our lives.

Pic on the (R): Imagine this; if you make your stand fast (eg, if you have determined that this is how you're going to be for the rest of your life), you will dissolve in the world. Why?? Because people need to change....people need to adapt to their surroundings, and change their lives according to the events occurring to themselves. If you don't, then you'll just fade away in this world and won't survive. (ie, dig your own grave).

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