It is garish. It is massive. It, at times, protrudes. It seduces its viewer into examining every pulsating, changing inch of its black and yellow acrylics and it generates a subconscious, encompassing buzzing not unlike a pervasive television static.

No sound is literally produced. The canvas remains still.

This year in the WAM Collective, we have been focusing on wellness, a conscious, self-directed, evolving process of achieving holistic, mental, spiritual and environmental well-being. The Weisman's feature exhibition The Beautiful Brain and the Target Studio's exhibition The Talking Cure bring about the perfect opportunity to talk about mental health and the stigma surrounding it.

Experiencing mental illness as a college student is not rare.

One of my favorite things about working at the front desk of WAM over the summer was seeing first time visitors’ jaws drop and then form into a smile when greeted by Roy Lichtenstein’s  enormous “World's Fair Mural." Impossible to miss, this giant mural is proudly  displayed above the front desk of the building. In the dark night, when the interior is lit, you can see her radiant and glowing smile all the way from the Northrop Auditorium. From far away, I like to imagine that she is a giant human living inside of the building and the front door is her window frame.

Jim Denomie was a University of Minnesota art student when he began the work of re-claiming his tribal heritage and re-connecting with his Native identity. Nearly twenty years later, he is nationally known for his humorous, critical depictions of United States history and religion.

Rebecca Krinke’s artwork, What Needs to Be Said, is a project within the exhibition The Talking Cure, located in the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota. In this post and those to follow, I will be reflecting upon the work’s location within the larger field of museology as well as its implications within the Weisman Art Museum and larger university community.