When I first walked into the exhibit, I felt as if I was walking into someone else’s mind/life. I felt as if the artist,Kai Althoff, wanted me to be him for the day. Honestly, I believed that the set up was beautiful and pinpoints every part of Kai Althoff’s brain. He pointed out every part of his life – from early childhood until the present. You can tell this artist was very troubled growing up. The exhibit itself was very emotional for me, but the one piece that stayed with me the most was the burnt down community.
When you walk towards the back, there is a black, burnt down town on display. The town was clearly attacked and I feel like this was symbolism for a lost of innocence or a war in his mind. Whether this be a real event in his life (which I believe this must be, considering the era he was born in), it was clearly a pivoting movement he had to endure. For me, the viewing of the town burnt down made me feel numb and destroyed. The house was destroyed, the church, everything. I was in shock – but if you look clearly into the rooms and other surroundings, not all have been destroyed. Jesus Christ was still intact within the church, as well as the white flag (which was only slightly burnt). I believe for this to be a sign that not all hope was lost – but this was still a beginning of what was to come.
After leaving that section of the exhibit, you walk into the back of a whole different setting. I feel as if Kai Althoff suffered from PTSD from such a traumatic event in his life. Everything was really messy and unkempt once you stepped passed the burning house. You can tell he lived a difficult life (and most likely a lonely one) with the way everything was set (hoarded, items all over the place, his makeshift bed). There was even a burnt large doll with a little doll hanging from the hand. I felt as if that was his mother and him, struggling to hold on, especially after the traumatic event.
Overall, the exhibit was beautiful to me. I loved it so much and you can clearly see his heart and an array of emotions went into making this. The music as well pinpointed every emotion he had, not just the physical items itself. I would love to go see this again.
Before i first walked into the exhibit I didn’t know what to expect. What kind of artist is Kia Althoff,or who he even was, besides being an artist. Walking into the exhibit I felt as if I walked into his mind, his past. With the music in the background it felt as if i can hear his emotions. The emotion he put towards his art work. My cheerful smile turned upside down, I too became enveloped in his what seemed to me as a dark past. Only because his art work reminded me of a holocaust museum i went to recently.
Seeing torn furniture, clothes, burnt dolls nothing else could’ve popped into my mind any quicker. Which made me feel very emotional having that piece of history running through my mind. However, I believe Kai Althoff was aiming for this reaction. Mixing darkness into his art work made me question where his inspiration came from. For all I know I could have easily assumed anything and I could be wrong every time. Questioning every piece of work he ever made, that’s what every artist strives to accomplish within his/her work.
Although, There was one art piece that stood out to me. The name of the piece is “A Palm Sunday” The only reason this piece stood out to me was because it made me feel hopeful and happy. One of a very few pieces of work he had lying around the exhibit. It’s a very colorful painting with what seems to be a nun at the corner of the piece which is probably why the title of the work is what it is, but that is only a guess, nevertheless it also shows what also seems to be a priest. The people in the art work seem happy, which what made me feel happy as well.
Seeing it made me even question why it was apart of this exhibit being that a majority of his work seemed dark and mysterious. The painting also has people on one side of it with what i thought to be were halos. And halos represent holiness which is what a nun and high priest have in common. Halos also signify divine influence and power, even though the priest and the nun did not have halos surrounding them, maybe the people who did represented that.
To sum up, I was very nervous being in that exhibit, it not only freaked me out but made me very uncomfortable being around his art work. Yet, his work only pulled me closer to try and see the real reason behind them, the music as well helped portray his emotion, even though it also made me uncomfortable that could also be what Kai Althoff was trying to convey.