Reviewing an upcoming show of Henri Matisse’s paper cut-out artwork the critic, describing the pieces, wrote ‘seaweeds wave and swallows soar’ – sending me off on an image search of the artist’s waving seaweeds. I hadn’t until this point been much interested in Matisse’s work – but have long been interested in the various shapes that seaweeds take. A quick search did not disappoint.

The seaweed reference was the hook, but what drew me in was the review’s (probably from the exhibit’s materials) descriptions of the artist’s thoughts and writings when creating these works. It felt almost like a personal introduction of the artist to the reader. No longer was it just ‘here’s an important exhibition and if you’re even a tiny bit culturally literate you should see it‘ – it was ‘here’s someone bursting with wonderful things he wants to share with you‘. Such as the delightful loopy cartoon-y shapes that seaweeds take. Or, to quote from the review quoting Matisse “the graphic, linear equivalent of the sensation of flight.”

Somewhere in here is an idea of how to interest more people in the arts. As a volunteer usher I’ve noticed the median age of volunteers and patrons is often quite skewed to the latter years in life. Managers of cultural institutions experiment with different ideas to draw in people whose free time is scarce, but, I dunno, haven’t encountered any yet that resonated. And while this is an unsatisfying end to a post, I haven’t any further thoughts until this tumbles around some more. To add grist to the tumbler, a final quote expressing Matisse’s desire that  “…anyone tired, worn down, driven to the limits of endurance, to find calm and repose in my painting.”