Art + Kids = Good

Last night at the dinner table, three year old Iain said: "remember when we went to the Murakami show?" I don't know what made him think of Murakami while eating chicken burritos— especially since we saw ©Murakami over six months ago at MOCA—but, no matter. I'm continually amazed at how much a kid can take in and remember; I swear my little guy has a photographic memory, particularly for all things visual. He's seen a lot of art in his short life, but evidently he loves Murakami as much as mommy. I remember defending the ©Murakami exhibition to a colleague (is the term "colleague" even used outside of academia?) and this got me thinking about how academics and critics can kill the entire experience of art. There is no shortage of scholarly debate surrounding the merits, of lack thereof, of Murakami, and although I've read quite a bit of it, I can't say that it's made me more or less an appreciator of his work. For me, debating the merits of Murakami is a bit like agonizing over the nutritional value of the world's most delicious cheesecake. The consumption of perfect cheesecake is much too pleasurable to even consider fat, calories, et al, so why bother? Experiencing a Murakami exhibition is wildly, visually delicious, it makes me happy, and his total over-the-topness transcends the intellect and cuts straight to the heart (like most good art). Even a three year old could tell you that.