Art to heart

There are many ways to be entertained at UCLA ““ from
exploring the campus, enjoying the events at Westwood Plaza or even
sitting in your dorm room meeting new people. However exciting
those activities may be, there is still one experience that can
both raise eyebrows and entertain the masses: Daily Bruin blind
dates.

This week, our two blind daters included Candace Daniels and
Rohit Mahajan. Both second -years, Daniels is a theater student
while Mahajan is undeclared. Daniels’ friends describe her as
the life of the party and a dancer that will out-booty shake Ms.
Spears. Mahajan, best known for his fantastic dance moves as well,
was described by his friends as the one they tend to turn to in
times of need.

“When I first met Candace, she had a huge smile on her
face ““ I knew she was going to be a blast to hang out
with,” said Mahajan. “Besides her demeanor, she was
talking about Lil’ Kim, so we definitely had things in
common.”

The two started their date off at UCLA’s Hammer Museum to
see the Christian Marclay exhibit that opened June 1. Marclay is a
renowned artist best known for his ability to fuse together the
world of music and art, and create everything from sculptures to
videos, collages and installations. Marclay, a Swiss artist,
explores the juxtaposition between the auditory and visual through
different styles of art.

“The exhibit was extremely interesting,” said
Daniels. “What was most fascinating to me was his collection
of album records ““ especially the “˜Slide in
Easy.’ It had an interesting mix of bodies to represent
different musical genres.”

The exhibit furthered Marclay’s notions of the power of
music and art when fused together. According to Mahajan, the
exhibit was symbolic in nature, but also had a practical side.

“It was the type of exhibit that you would walk away from
thinking that it was really fascinating,” said Mahajan.
“It’s kind of like something you learn in class that
stays at the back of your mind so anytime you see an album cover or
poster, you analyze it like you did the pictures in the
museum.”

In addition to creating images that stay with viewers, the
exhibit also showcased some of Marclay’s signature
sculptures.

“One of his sculptures, an accordion, was about 30 feet
long,” said Daniels. “It was sort of freaky, but it
definitely caught my attention and kept it for like half an hour.
His sculptures are all completely distorted and mutilated
instruments ““ you can’t help but stare at
them.”

“The exhibit was a really good place for a date,”
said Mahajan. “It’s a place where even if you have
nothing in common you can just talk about the randomness of the
art.”

While it was interesting for the two, the show did get a little
repetitive at some points according to Daniels.

“Once you see something extremely freaky, you expect the
artist to top it off with something even more out there, but he
seemed to plateau at the end rather than hit me with something that
would make my jaw drop,” she said.

After observing the art, the two went to Moustache Cafe to talk
some more.

“Rohit was a really funny guy ““ he kept making me
laugh when he would make comments about all the people we were
watching,” said Daniels.

The two reflected on their first year at college, recalling
everything from crazy dorm parties and dances to cramming for
finals and learning how to write papers hours before they’re
due.

“We had a lot in common ““ we both hated writing
papers and liked to party,” said Mahajan.

From museum journeys to people watching, these first- years
started their academic careers off on the right foot ““ mixing
both love and intellect.