Finding beauty in the details

Jerome Nakagawa

By Jerome Nakagawa
Spring 2003 Scholar

Posted: May 13, 2003

On the first day I arrived at orientation, fellow Chipsters invited me to go to the National Gallery of Art with them. I am not a serious fan, and my knowledge about the field is limited.

We viewed the works of noted artists such as Monet, von Gogh, Rembrandt and O’Keeffe, and although I tried as hard as I could to be moved by the paintings before me, I just couldn’t understand how one could derive emotion and feeling from the works.

"Pay attention to the details," Joanne Yuan, a fellow Chipster, whispered. "They reveal so much."

She glided away softly as if a baby were napping in the center of the gallery. She moved in the opposite direction of the group, always alone and always at her pace. If a work pleased her, she sat. Her face was aglow with admiration, wonder and a hint of contemplation.

I exhaled and took a couple of steps forward, drawing the ire of the security guard who stood only a few steps away. I studied a painting once more.

In the top left-hand corner, an angel appeared where the clouds made way for the sun. He couldn’t have been more than a few centimeters tall.

"The artist is a sneaky fellow," I thought.

I was moved.

Jerome Nakagawa, a senior at the University of California-Berkeley, is a Spring 2003 photography Scholar at The Santa Fe New Mexican. Reach him at ascnsion1x@yahoo.com.

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