Detroit — The Detroit Institute of Arts beckons Super Bowl visitors and Detroit natives alike with its spectacular permanent collections and Camille Claudel and Rodin exhibits, but the cultural mecca's lackluster "Super Bowl Show" is certainly not its quarterback.
Crowds came primarily to see the Rodin exhibit, while hardly anyone knew of the Super Bowl collection, which opened Jan. 25. Visitors that happened to wander downstairs were not enthralled with the arbitrarily placed agglomeration of bowls, photographs, vessels, vases and still-life prints.
Many of the pieces are so loosely related that figuring out how the artwork relates to the Super Bowl becomes a game. Take a black-and-white photograph of two women watching a fashion show, for example.
They're clearly socialites, so they probably went out for dinner before at a chic bistro. They likely ordered duck soup — which, of course, came in a bowl. Bowl is the second word in Super Bowl and therefore must merit presence in the exhibit.
"I almost look at it like a game, 'Where's Waldo,'" said advertising senior Paul Wayner. "I can't find the significance of it."
Wayner and Kristin Buckless of Brighton came to see the Rodin exhibit. Buckless, who studied art at the University of Michigan and is a graphic designer, thought the show was bland and discombobulated.
"It doesn't really fit together all that much," she said. Still, she thinks that the Detroit Institute of Arts, or DIA, is one of the city's prized jewels.
The alluring possibilities for game play continue with round two — the wall of flowers in vases. Players receive flowers from fans and family members. That's one option.
The Super Bowl is in Michigan this year and Holland, Mich. is known for tulips. The most straightforward assumption: Flowers are in vases, which are merely elongated versions of bowls.
The fact that the exhibit is not cohesive should not discredit the collection completely. Notable are Brassai's intriguing "Bijou of Montmartre", a photograph of high-society woman turned street person, an Henri Matisse still-life, Pablo Picasso composition and Dale Chihuly's contemporary glass bowls.
Communications coordinator Peter Vandyke said the museum decided a few months ago to feature a mixed-media exhibition in response to the Super Bowl.
"We're doing it to attract anyone that's downtown for the next three months," he said.
The exhibit, which runs through April, boasts 100 works on paper and 20 bowls. The DIA has caught the attention of Sports Illustrated and other local and national media.
"Especially in Detroit; we're really the only museum dedicated to fine art. It's somewhat unrecognized by the local community, but is one of the largest museums in the country," Vandyke said.
