WEBVTT 00:07.500 --> 00:09.500 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% - I'm looking out of the second floor window 00:09.500 --> 00:12.133 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% of the Minneapolis Institute of Art 00:12.133 --> 00:16.266 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and I can see my childhood church across the park. 00:16.266 --> 00:17.766 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Over the years, 00:17.766 --> 00:21.333 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% both of these buildings have been a place of salvation. 00:21.333 --> 00:24.500 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% When I was a kid, the church provided solace, 00:24.500 --> 00:27.500 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% a light to follow and other times 00:27.500 --> 00:29.633 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% by placing me within the mystery. 00:32.833 --> 00:35.833 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And there are days now when work or life get to be too much 00:35.833 --> 00:38.400 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and that's when I go to the museum 00:38.400 --> 00:40.833 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and it gives me a new perspective. 00:40.833 --> 00:42.966 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% There always seems to be a piece of art 00:42.966 --> 00:44.666 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% waiting there to help. 00:45.766 --> 00:48.800 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Today it starts with a white marble sculpture, 00:48.800 --> 00:52.166 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Kiss of Victory by Sir Alfred Gilbert. 00:52.166 --> 00:55.500 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% It's a life-sized warrior caught in the heat of battle 00:55.500 --> 00:59.466 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and behind him a winged angel at once pursuing 00:59.466 --> 01:04.566 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and urging him onward, the ethereal wings of victory. 01:05.700 --> 01:07.166 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% So I take my first lap around the work. 01:07.166 --> 01:10.333 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Now my college professor, Paul Grandlin told me, 01:10.333 --> 01:14.866 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% "A good sculpture is something you wanna walk around." 01:14.866 --> 01:18.000 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Every perspective brings a new story, 01:18.000 --> 01:19.900 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and it's remarkable 01:19.900 --> 01:23.233 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% how the marble seems to transfer the look and feel of skin 01:23.233 --> 01:25.166 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% but not real skin. 01:25.166 --> 01:27.300 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% It's beyond real, ideal real. 01:27.300 --> 01:31.400 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And the angel is how victory is supposed to feel. 01:31.400 --> 01:35.533 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Pure trajectory and momentum, no sense of loss yet. 01:35.533 --> 01:38.000 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% (calm music) 01:39.400 --> 01:43.033 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% The adjacent room features a Diane Arbus photograph 01:43.033 --> 01:45.900 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% of two nudists relaxing at home. 01:45.900 --> 01:49.300 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% The couple in the photograph stare directly at us 01:49.300 --> 01:52.133 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and have very different bodies 01:52.133 --> 01:53.866 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% than the ones in Winged Victory. 01:55.233 --> 01:58.566 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% They aren't perfect, and oh and they're wearing shoes. 01:58.566 --> 02:01.700 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Now, since this is a photograph and two-dimensional, 02:01.700 --> 02:04.733 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Arbus has chosen our perspective for us. 02:04.733 --> 02:08.433 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% The starkness heightened by the black and white print. 02:08.433 --> 02:11.700 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Her work will confront and challenge, 02:11.700 --> 02:15.633 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% but these folks in the photo, they're at home, 02:15.633 --> 02:19.133 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% they're in the world, they look content and unashamed. 02:19.133 --> 02:21.800 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Their front door is open, like, come on in. 02:21.800 --> 02:24.866 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% With Arbus' work, if there is discomfort, 02:24.866 --> 02:27.300 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% it seems to come not from the subjects 02:27.300 --> 02:30.266 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% but from what we bring to the work. 02:30.266 --> 02:32.600 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Now as I look at the photograph, 02:32.600 --> 02:34.466 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% somebody steps in front of me. 02:34.466 --> 02:37.700 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% This is my favorite part of being in a museum, 02:37.700 --> 02:39.066 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% other people. 02:39.066 --> 02:40.766 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% I mean, real flesh and blood. 02:40.766 --> 02:43.766 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% They unknowingly become exhibits 02:43.766 --> 02:46.700 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% The woman stands between me and the photograph, 02:46.700 --> 02:49.966 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and although she's in more ways closer in appearance 02:49.966 --> 02:53.033 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% to the Arbus than the Winged Victory, 02:53.033 --> 02:57.100 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% I'm reminded of how beautiful humans actually are. 02:57.100 --> 03:01.500 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% There's something that we really can't capture. 03:01.500 --> 03:04.633 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% So behind me is the perfection of Winged Victory, 03:04.633 --> 03:07.600 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% before me stands the woman, and beyond her, 03:07.600 --> 03:11.300 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% the Arbus nudes stare out of their normal day at home. 03:11.300 --> 03:14.266 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Oh, and through the window across the street, 03:15.633 --> 03:16.833 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% that's God's house. 03:16.833 --> 03:19.300 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% (calm music) 03:27.833 --> 03:30.266 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% - [Announcer] This program was produced in collaboration 03:30.266 --> 03:32.000 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% with the Center for the Art of Medicine 03:32.000 --> 03:34.500 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% at the University of Minnesota Medical School. 03:34.500 --> 03:37.833 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund 03:37.833 --> 03:39.666 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and the citizens of Minnesota. 03:40.600 --> 03:43.166 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% (calm music)