The problem is that, when you're in the hospital, you're distressed. In my case, because it was a lower-stress day, when my cochlear implants would be activated, I was in a fairly good mood and I could stop at things that struck me, and actually look at them. But that's rare. Most days I'm like the other people in there: worried; facing the fact that I'm declining fast; thinking about death around the horizon, etc. Not a good frame of mind for perusing art.
From Galesburg however I have learned two things. I learned them mostly by being stopped by trains, which interrupt us regularly. First, there is some fanatastic art out there in the world, which can really add to your life. Second, you may not always understand it, but you can usually identify how it makes you feel or what about it contrasts with its environment to give you a certain boost. All art happens in an environment, and UI Hosps' art is in some of these pictures very much in the Iowa place we all well know: Kinnick Stadium, the Children's Hospital, etc.
I am getting to know the place better. It is very intimidating to one or even three-or-four time visitors; it takes a while. Now that I'm a little more comfortable I can actually look at the art. I don't always understand it (what is going on behind the Old Cap, below?) but I can tell you what I like.
My apologies to the artists, whose names I tried to remember, but failed. These are poor pictures/representations anyway, and if you want the real thing just go to UI Hosps and you'll find them pretty quickly. I'm still looking to see if they have any Mario Lasansky (I'm sure they do somewhere) and ultimately I'd like to make a full tour and give you a much wider, more complete report. I like art now, and I at least want to identify the things that make me an impressionism fan.
The art was so fine, it popped my out of my gloom. And now, with my new cochlear implant, I hear tinny sounds and have lots of noise to make my life a little more full.
