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| The Mona Lisa at The Mind Museum |
Every art
student should at least pay homage to Leonardo Da Vinci for being the genius
artist and inspiration that he is. When I first saw ads about an exhibit of his works at The
Mind Museum I dismissed it for obvious reasons, the top being
disappointed with paying a Php250.00 entrance fee to see fake reproductions. I had to think
long and hard about keeping my money or missing the opportunity to see up-close
the reproduced works of thee Leonardo. When I read an article claiming that the
reproduced pieces were done by expert Italian artists, applying the same materials he
used back then and mimicking the brushstrokes Leonardo did, I immediately
scheduled for a visit. The experience was a bit disappointing…
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| This face scared me as a child. |
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| They have really bad lighting...lacking in spotlights. |
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| These are really small printed books. |
If you
think that Php250.00 is a bit cheap to see a revered person’s work on exhibit,
well that’s because it is. It claims that the exhibit holds 200 pieces of
reproduced works including the contraptions he used for theatre plays, military
tactics, aviation and musical instruments; it makes you wonder how it will
manage to fit in the museum’s gallery. Well…turns out majority of the
reproductions are interactive miniature pieces while those of actual size you are
not allowed to touch. They used the same lacquer finish and same materials for
everything that it gets quite repetitive all over. I suppose that’s because
there weren’t a lot of available materials to use back then…still, a little
variation on the wood stains could’ve made the scene less boring.
What I was
most disappointed in were the supposed ‘paintings’ meticulously recreated with
every detail possible. It turns out everything (otherwise corrected) was just
print-on-canvas, a cheap technique used by the likes of SM to sell bulks of ‘paintings’
in commercialized form. I got really close to the paintings, my eyeballs an
inch-far from the canvas hoping to see traces of brush strokes, but I saw none…not
even faint. I’m not saying I have expert eyes, it’s just that when you see a
slight pixilation on the canvas it kinda makes a turn-off impression on the
whole experience. The printouts are in actual size though. I could have been
more understanding if the large-scale paintings or his handwritings be printed
for background purposes…but sketch works like the 34cm x 24cm Vitruvian Man
could have been done by hand to take the experience to a more intimate level.
It’s quite sad actually, especially with praising claims of ‘accurately
recreated works’ being mentioned for publicity.
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| Actual-size paintings that are too few and printed. Not cool. |
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| The Anatomy area are also printed on big canvases but a little pixilated. |
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| One of his miniature interactive pieces. |
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| The only fun thing in the exhibit that involves thinking. |
There’s
also a BBC short film documentary narrating the life of Leonardo Da Vinci. It
got tiring on the back after a while, and it abruptly ended with the mention of
his rival Raphael. It's a series I suppose. The same film could be seen on the monitor on the Flight
area. They also have a touch-screen LCDs where you'll be able to look at the exhibit on a monitor screen instead...not my thing.
Bottom
line, is it worth it?
Well…if you
like art and cannot afford to see the genuine article at the Louvre, then
paying Php250.00 is your only option right now, though definitely not the next best thing
as it could have been better. Still, it will have to do. Easy to say I was underwhelmed by the experience.
Exhibit is at
the Mind Museum in BCG
Runs from September
1 to November 30, 2013
Tickets for
Adults is Php250.00 and Php200.00 for kids and students
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