This image is of a Josiah McElheny sculpture at the MFA, Boston. This is just one small part of a larger whole. It is clear to see why it is so dynamic...he uses reflective surfaces and two way mirrors so the reflections are splayed out in every direction. It is awesome to stand in front of it and see such depth, the infinite confined in a finite space.
I am a bit of a thinker...actually to be more accurate I am a reflector. I reflect on what has happened, how I could have done it differently; what didn't happen and why I didn't make it; what is going to happen and how I can either stop it or propel it forward...anyway you get the idea. Yes, it is exhausting. Through many conversations with friends that are similar to me, and different, we have yet to come to conclusion on whether this is a blessing or a curse. It is most likely both. I hope you see the totally obvious connection of why I would be drawn to this image. However, I think what I love most about this piece is not what is seen, but what is clearly absent. This sculture now sits in the new contemporary art wing of the MFA. There are often people surrounding it on a busy day. There are four sides, each with different shaped vessels reflecting parts of the whole. So what is missing?...any reflection of the viewer. Any sense that this visually exploding sculpture, made purely of surfaces that are meant to echo its surroundings, is being observed. It is self containing. The action of the piece is expanding only inward. The first time I saw this work I identified with this initial sensation: taking everything around me and pulling it inward, mulling it over, trying to see it from all sides... I felt drawn to it and yet claustrophobic because of it. But the other day I was back in front of "Endlessly Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism" and I saw something different, or that is I didn't see something. I was intensely aware of the lack of myself in this mess of internal and external reflections, and I breathed. For that moment I was able to be outside of myself as I stared into it. I felt light. This has come up a couple of times recently, and as I have come to learn, if a theme is reoccurring in life it is a little piece of grace (ie. meant to be listened to!). I reveled in this feeling of lightness, let go of whatever was jumbling around in my head and just let the moment rush over me, oh to be present. So in those moments of feeling overwhelmed by trying to figure it all out, past, present and future, I will remember to take myself out of it, realizing that 1) I have NO control over it 2) THANK God for that and 3) isn't it more beautiful when we let go of ourselves, surrendering to the crazy chaos that we find ourselves in?! At least at the MFA it is...
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