A visitor's experience at any museum or gallery is dependent on a multitude of factors. For example, the size of the gallery, the style or genre of its contents, the visitor's own prior knowledge and ability to appreciate, etc. The experience will differ greatly from person to person because of these factors. When one enters a museum dedicated to art, one immediately (in most cases; museum rules can differ) notices the atmosphere is one of restriction. People speak softly; a similar tone to what one would expect from a library. This silence is merely relegated to the visitor, however. The works themselves can and often do speak volumes.
Museums nearly always function in the gallery format; that is to say, works are grouped by collections - dedicated to a specific artist - or to specific genres or time periods. A museum will also house a collection of great works; pieces that have been attributed 'masterpiece' status; pieces made by famous, brand name artists such as Picasso or Monet. A facility as diverse as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has a huge ability to impact. In its variety lies its power to change minds; to intrigue; to impact.
Robert Longo's "Joe Test" for example is deeply impacting. It speaks volumes about the nuclear age in which we live. The mushroom cloud formed from the drop of a hydrogen bomb; the sky which has been stolen of its colour from the blast; the scorched landscape of what appears to be a field; - the knowledge that we as a species possess the power to literally end life as we know it in an instant; the reflection we make upon nuclear weapons themselves; those we entrust with their care. It is more than a painting made of charcoal. It is an inner reflection on the future. It says "look at what we have become. We possess these 'deterrents' in our arsenal and yet they fail. They do not deter those who intend to harm us from doing so and we in turn cannot use them given their moral weight; the knowledge that to do so would result in the death of humanity is the deterrent - it deters us, but not out enemies." The artwork makes a sociopolitical and military statement. One that exposes the delusion of our society.
Art is always more than what is seen at the surface. It is political, religious; an expression of self; a voice. Galleries then are merely homes; theaters of voices that go unheard but seen instead. Art is alive - it is immortal. Encapsulated in time through pigment, charcoal, colour, or lack thereof. It always tells a story.
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