Over this past weekend, my family and I ventured to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown. We had never been there, we like art, and we longed to get out of the house, so you could say that the stars were aligned for this trip.
Currently on exhibit at the museum is “The Janis Project” by Frank Hyder. Pictured above is one of this exhibit’s dozen or so installations of giant Moai-like heads– you know, the enormous stone sculptures that can be found on Easter Island and now have their own emoji icon.
Compared to the gray, voluminous, stone Moai, these creations are colorful, transportable, and much easier to take a selfie with, by virtue of their placement in and around museums rather than on a remote Polynesian island in the middle of the Pacific.
These giant noggins got me thinking about a line from “Opera Singer” by Cake, which always gives me chills when I hear it:
I am an opera singer
I will sing when you’re all dead
Art has an immortality to it. Something that is created today can last thousands of years from now.
These giant head sculptures will last not simply in the physical sense, but through memories, photos, drawings, and more.
They will echo into the future with yet-unseen variations on them, just as these creations are a variation of the Easter Island Moai, and just like those Moai undoubtedly echo some form of art from previous generations.
Living in a disposable, mass-produced society, we tend to forget that there is an eternity ahead of us and great art will last the test of time.
Pause for a moment and let that sink into your head.
And then create some great art. The world needs it.
Dangling Twine 