Thoughts on: 8-hr Art show

This was not the first 8 hour Art Show that I have attended at Allegheny College.  I perused the gallery twice throughout the day - once about halfway through, and once at the very end of the gallery.  One thing that I did notice was how far (most of) the artists had come.  I think that progress I was least impressed with was the pixelated version of Abraham Lincoln (though this does not mean that I dislike the idea behind it).  This was also the one exhibit that remained unfinished for the gallery.  

One of the pieces that made me think was the balloon piece. With what seemed like hundreds of helium, brightly colored balloons, Daren Miller encourage the viewers to write down wishes, to be tied onto the balloons and set free.  I really liked this idea at first; I tend to be a very emotional person, and this metaphor (though a bit overused in my opinion) pulled at my heartstrings.  However, the more that I thought about this, the more that I became disgusted.  I had worked, for the past two summers in environments where the largest collective group of litter was balloons that had escaped and popped over virgin environments.  Letting loose all of these wishes - well, they are just going to end up as trash somewhere else.  Still, I came back for the release, and was once again disappointed.  They had tangled all the balloons in huge bunches (not what the artist wanted), and thus only a few were able to escape on their own.  

There were many other exhibits that I enjoyed at the show, but this one was the one that caught my attention the most.