Sunday, July 23, 2006

Life imitates Art

Sometimes, through maintaining a job and building up savings, we forget that we live in Southern California. Home to some of the most innovative and creative displays of art and entertainment in the world. Erin introduced me to one this week that absolutely stopped me in my tracks. The Pageant of the Masters, which is part of Laguna Beach's Festival of the Arts, is a sight to be seen. Completely unassuming, this show caught me offguard. I thought this was going to be a snoozer, but Erin insisted.

What they do is take famous paintings and put real people into them. It's like a living art museum, outside in the warm evening coastal air. The narrator guides you through time and art history of each reproduction among the background of a 20-piece orchestra. Over the course of two hours they displayed over 30 living pieces. It was amazing to see these images as two dimensional--and then they would move, breaking the barrier, sending your mind into a warp. All of the people in the paintings or statues were volunteers; there were over one hundred of them.

At the end I was hooked, I would see it again, but next time I'd be a little closer. It's hard for me to hold those binoculars steady. And if I were to volunteer, I think I'd want to do a nude.

http://www.foapom.com/

5 comments:

Rachel said...

That sounds amazing. I've always heard of that, but didn't realize what it was.

Jenna Hoskinson said...

funny, i'd heard of it too, but never thought about checking it out. Now I wish I had!

Jay said...

They have this thing called the "Cow Parade" going on in downtown Denver. There's all these life-sized painted cow statues sitting all over the place. There's a whole bunch of them in writer's square, where my office is, so every time I walk out of the building there's a brightly painted cow looking at me... Art is funny. denver.cowparade.com

Anonymous said...

"Do a nude?" What happened to my little brother who always corrected my racy vocabulary? I hear you... posing nude would be a sophisticated art form. I'd like to hear Erin's thoughts on your proposal.
Love ya little man!

Joshua said...

Okay, not really nude. Maybe I'd show a hand or foot.