I would not consider myself someone who knows a lot about
art. I love museums and galleries and frequent them often and I’ve taken an art
history course in college (and loved it), but I don’t have extensive knowledge
or a strong contextual art background to legitimize the way art speaks to me
amongst the art community. But do I have to? I might not get it. I might see
something and say, why? But isn’t that what is most important? That the artwork
in front of me is making me think? While walking around the current show
installed at Gallery Aferro, there was art that I “got” under my own pretenses,
and there was other works that were, perplexing. Nonetheless, the space is
beautiful and the show as a whole, was provoking and inclusive to all types of
art. There is something for everyone. I think that art is a personal experience
and that everyone has their own individual connection or misconnection to each
piece.
I wouldn’t consider myself necessarily as a visual person.
When I see things, I don’t necessarily feel things. The pieces that spoke to me
the most had words and sounds, had an actual voice I could hear and read. As a
media studies major, one of the most thought-provoking pieces was located on
the floor in a black basket on the second story. Shani Peter’s Reagan, The Revolution, and Me explored
her own personal “socialization and understanding of blackness and family
through references to media and imagery I absorbed as a child.” Her piece
exposed how the black family was translated through media, and it was eye
opening. It struck a chord within me. I don’t necessarily know what chord that
was, but do I really have to? It made me feel.
So who am I and what is this post all about and why are you
reading it? My name is Brady Smith, a senior at NJIT in Newark and Gallery
Aferro’s new social media intern! I’m excited to join this great group of
people and learn in this new world of art that I’ve only topically explored. So
if you see me around the gallery, feel free and say hi, or tweet me at
@smithbradym (shameless social media plug).
