I usually get my ideas for articles while showering. I don’t know why this is. When I was in college, I used to sing Neil Young songs in the shower, so I guess this shower brainstorming routine is an improvement. Recently, however, I received an idea from outside the bathroom. Skip Brewster, a colleague in the Rotary Club of Los Gatos, suggested I visit the New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) to view an exhibition of work by local high school students and write a column about it.
I visited the exhibit with great hesitation. Although I took an art history course in college (at the behest of a girl I had a crush on), have visited the Louvre, and have read The Art Thief and a biography of Vincent van Gogh, I hardly qualify as an art expert. In fact, when visiting museums, I often have a difficult time understanding the brief, dense explanations accompanying the art. Furthermore, when playing Pictionary, I am routinely disqualified at the outset because I can’t even draw a recognizable ear for “sounds like.”
With that backdrop (no pun intended), I walked into NUMU.
I was already in a particular frame of mind regarding today’s youth. I had just finished listening to the audiobook How to Rule the World by Theo Baker. I was completely blown away by the doggedness, maturity and intelligence of Baker, who famously took on the president of Stanford University when he was only 17. Because of his story, I was already convinced that today’s youth are miles ahead of where I was at their age in terms of insight.
The works I viewed at NUMU gave me yet more hope that things in our world are not as dire as I’ve been feeling. These student artists showed immense talent and a knack for capturing the chaotic, beautiful and complex reality of modern life with an emotional honesty that left me impressed.
As I walked from piece to piece, my hesitation dissolved. I didn’t need an advanced degree in art history, nor did I need to decipher any pretentious museum plaques. The art spoke for itself.
One painting featured an interplay of shadow and light that reminded me of the techniques I had slept through in college. But here, the style channeled the anxiety and hope of a generation inheriting a complicated world. Another piece used text and texture to explore identity in a way that was personal and universally relatable.
Standing in front of a detailed sketch, I marveled at the technical precision. My mind flashed back to my own Pictionary failures, and I chuckled softly. While I still can’t draw an ear, these young artists are effortlessly capturing the human soul.
What struck me was their technical proficiency and their insight. There was a distinct lack of cynicism in the gallery. Instead, the rooms were filled with a brave vulnerability. Much like Theo Baker exposing institutional fault lines with the sharp intellect of a seasoned investigative journalist, these students are using their brushes, lenses, and sculpting tools to interrogate the world around them. They are actively interpreting history.
As a member of a generation that often frets about the future, walking out of NUMU gave me a sense of relief. It is easy to look at the nightly news and despair, to believe that our best days are behind us or that the fractures in our civic fabric are too deep to mend. But the brilliance on display at our local museum tells a completely different story.
We are leaving the future in remarkably capable hands. These high schoolers possess a maturity, a depth of character and a sophisticated understanding of the human condition that took me decades to acquire. They are thinkers, creators and truth-tellers.
So, if you happen to find yourself stuck in a cynical rut, skip your next long shower brainstorming session. Take a page out of Skip Brewster’s book instead. Head over to NUMU, quiet your inner art critic, and let the extraordinary vision of our local youth restore your faith in what lies ahead. I promise you won’t need to read a single explanation on the wall to understand exactly what they are saying.
The ArtNow high school art exhibition is on display at NUMU, at 106 E. Main St., Los Gatos, until July 19. Admission is free for Los Gatos residents.
