When I first saw this sculpture I wasn’t sure what to think of it or what I was even feeling. I guess the first instinctual emotion was awe? I have always been in love with classic sculpture and 3 dimensional works. Not as much the two dimensional unfortunately. There’s just something about the sculptures that resonate in me and that I can’t get enough of. Sometimes I just want to stare at it for several hours, because I almost feel like it deserves that much appreciation. I guess I’m weird for feeling that, but whatever. As for this specific piece, there was something special about it. I’ve been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City two times now, and each time I see this sculpture, it’s as if I’m seeing something new or it affects me in a different way. I guess it depends on what I’m going through at the time, or maybe how I’m feeling before I go? Maybe, since I have gone two separate times that have a fair amount of time in between, it is all about what happened between that. The first time I went and saw this piece, it almost made me sad. I can’t particularly pinpoint exactly what I was feeling, but it was almost as if seeing the piece had some kind of melancholy vibe that I couldn’t get over. I think it was all about what was going on at the time personally, so seeing that piece affected me in such a way that was characteristic of what was on my mind and how my emotions were kind of overwhelming me in general. As I said in class, my emotions play a huge role in my art and perception of it. The second time I saw this piece, it was something completely different. Instead of feeling sad or melancholy, I felt almost a sense of longing and in a weird sense, I felt content. Content to be there, content with the piece, content with myself and how my life was going, content with the future, and in all honesty, even a comfort that (here comes the cheese…) I might have what this piece signifies to me someday. When I see this piece I see something more than just a fantastic sculpture that’s a part of classical art history. I think about what it’s trying to say to me, and in being honest with myself, it was a lot more advanced than feeling that teenage, angsty sadness and melancholy that I felt the first time. Looking back, I felt almost like I should have just listened to a sappy love song and I would have gotten the same feeling. This made me feel almost ashamed. To me, this sculpture comments on the ideas of love, trust, and the complete sacrifice of oneself for another. I know that’s a lot, and it’s still on the verge of that sappy love song, teenage yearning for some deeper love or whatever… But this was different. This was something deeper and wasn’t revolving around my own needs or wants or thoughts. They did still play a part, but they weren’t the complete reason that sat there for a long while just staring at the piece even though I’ve seen it before. I have to admit that the first thing that went through my mind was “I hope to have that someday”, but it became even more than that after a while. Obviously, I saw love, because that’s the obvious theme of the piece. The first things you see are two lovers in each other’s arms, kissing, completely in love, etc. However, when I took the time to really look at it, I saw something else. I saw this sense of trust which surprised me, because in terms of these kinds of scenarios and the idea of love, I have little trust. This is for multiple reasons, but we don’t need to get into that. I think that’s why this statue made me hope for something. It almost was a sign for me that there are such things as pure love and trust and the comfort and this complete surrender that each gave to the other. Most other pieces have no captured something like that for me before, so for this one to capture everything and for me to have this kind of epiphany in the middle of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sitting on a wooden bench, was impressive and memorable. I now have a connection with that piece emotionally, and also in the sense that it relates on a weird level to me and to others that have taken the time to look at it for even more than just a great sculpture and a piece of classical art.
