Review: "Van Gogh Find Yourself"

The interactive show connects but struggles to maximize its uniqueness

I immediately spot Walter DeForest, the author and performer of Van Gogh Find Yourself, in the crowded lobby of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His once black leather jacket, now covered in colorful doodles, and his white patent leather Doc Martins, also artistically dotted with paint, loudly yell “artist” to observers like me. His resemblance to Vincent Van Gogh, not the least bit due to DeForest’s red beard and yellow straw hat, is uncanny. So it is not weird at all when he shakes my hand and introduces himself as simply “Vincent.”

I’m not alone in this interactive art adventure. A couple of New Yorkers, Miriam and Simon, as well as Miriam’s parents visiting from Taiwan, are my companions for this intimate experience. “We thought it would be an interesting way for my parents to be introduced to the Met,” Mariam shared. “And a chance for us to learn something new about Van Gogh,” added Simon. Indeed, there are 17 paintings by Van Gogh at the Met, so the location for the show seems perfect (an alternative version runs at MoMA with only 3 paintings on site). But before seeing the artwork, we get to spend some time with the “artist” at the patrons’ lounge.

Six of us sit around a table in the corner as Vincent takes out a small tray of drawing supplies and a thin stack of paper. We all order tea. Walter tosses his straw hat under the table and puts on a pair of red-framed glasses, so nothing is in his way as he draws. The reverse-costuming is strangely on point. DeForest uses his resemblance to the artist to the maximum, but his show doesn’t solely rest on a superficial likeness. Over the course of the show, and during our chat afterwards, it becomes apparent that DeForest shares a deep connection with Van Gogh and wants to do him justice by retelling his life’s story. I suspect DeForest has likely had struggles as an independent artist that help him relate to Van Gogh, struggles to which he alludes but never discusses explicitly, focusing solely on his subject.

That said, there is a lot of controversy surrounding what Vincent Van Gogh’s real-life personality was like. Thanks to the 1956 biopic Lust for Life (based on the 1934 novel by Irving Stone), the famous Dutch painter is believed to have suffered from self-destructing behavior due to his mental health issues. Popular opinion, in particular, is that he cut his ear in a burst of madness in 1888 and then committed suicide two years later. But DeForest tells us a different version of the events in Van Gogh Find Yourself. He presents the loss of the ear lobe as a result of a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, an artist with whom he desperately wanted to be friends, though they eventually grew apart.

DeForest depicts Van Gogh as a misunderstood man who desperately suffered from loneliness, save for his relationship with his brother Theo. He speaks of Theo only with endless love and devotion, but is also ashamed to be a burden to him. Overall, it seems like Van Gogh only found peace in his art and even produced a painting a day during the last month of his life. The creator of Van Gogh Find Yourself presents this fact as a sign of a blossoming spirit and will to live, a concept that doesn’t fit neatly with the idea of suicide. The show takes the side of a different version of events as presented in the biography Van Gogh: The Life (2011), that a (possibly) accidental homicide was the cause for the artist’s death.

Using Van Gogh’s fight with Gauguin (which cost the artist a part of his ear and his reputation) and his alleged shooting by a teenager, DeForest is trying to find Van Gogh’s potential inner motivation to protect his abusers. And I feel ready to believe him as DeForest looks into my eyes intensely, as if his life depended on it. It seems at times that the performer assumes not only the role of the artist, but also the artist’s advocate in front of the audience-slash-jury. Is it Van Gogh who tries to win the trust of the citizens of Arles who whisper behind his back, or is it just DeForest trying to protect his icon from misinterpretation? The two personalities are so closely intertwined that it is hard to tell.

For the duration of the show, which lasts about an hour and a half, DeForest shares Van Gogh’s biography in a first-person narrative, but not always in chronological order. He draws portraits of the audience members, pausing his story at a moment when the retelling becomes uncomfortable for him, as if hiding away in his art. The silence hangs above the table for a minute as he draws curls and pouting lips on a portrait of me, making me look somewhat like an anime elf (very flattering).

On the occasion when non-English speakers are visiting the show (which is often since it is broadly advertised on AirBnB), translations might be plugged into these pauses. But since everybody in our group speaks English, we sip our tea in silence, which turns out not to be uncomfortable at all. If anything, it makes me think that there are not enough situations in my life in which I can be silent yet feel in contact with other people. As the artist draws, I observe his technique and study the details of his punk outfit standing out against the posh interior of the patrons’ lounge. To think about it, this very discrepancy itself is a great tribute to Van Gogh, who was poor his entire life and now, after his death, his work sells for millions.

When the show is over, the group is led by Walter (on goes the straw hat and off goes the Dutch accent and drawing glasses) to the museum galleries. We admire the sizable Van Gogh collection that the museum possesses and happily take photos with both a 1887 self-portrait of the artist and his theatrical reincarnation. Our tour-guide shares some of his thoughts on the paintings, but mostly allows us space to soak in the art, within the context of what we’ve just heard. This strolling from painting to painting in the museum seems a little under-planned when it could have been a bigger part of the narrative, or at least more seamlessly integrated into it. Part of the attraction of Van Gogh Find Yourself is its versatility; it can be hosted literarily anywhere and travels easily. Yet it seems like a great opportunity to make it more site-specific depending on where it takes place: in this case, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In our conversation after the show, DeForest shared that sometimes he makes his audience members draw as well, and I immediately wished we had done so on the day that I attended. It feels like Van Gogh Find Yourself could be a perfect safe space for non-artists to try their hand at portraiture, since Van Gogh himself only started painting at the age of 28. In fewer than 10 years he went from being an amateur to an influential artist, and then became the most beloved painter of the Western world, post-mortem. I wouldn’t go as far as converting the show to a “Paint-and-Sip” type of activity while listening to DeForest narrate Van Gogh’s biography in the background. But having participants drawing during the experience certainly might have some relaxing and even empowering effects as well as facilitate compassion towards the artist, something that DeForest strives for.

Other than sitting for portraits and listening, the audience doesn’t really participate in Van Gogh Find Yourself and I found this lack of interactivity a little disappointing. Throughout the show I nearly opened my mouth to say something or ask a question. It seems like with a small audience (usually four people), a more conversational tone with elements of improvisation incorporated into the narrative, could make the entire experience feel more flowing and natural.

DeForest certainly knows his subject well and could handle any question from the audience members. But most importantly, he treats the famous artist with tender attention, making him feel closer to the audience than we are ever likely to get. Van Gogh paintings had a new meaning for me and I felt an emotional charge during our stroll through the Met post-show. There is not only a genius behind them, there is a person there who is, like many of us, struggling with his inner demons and trying to connect to others. It is easy to put a deceased person on a pedestal but what about treating artists with compassion and kindness when they are still alive, before it’s too late?

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Van Gogh Find Yourself continues through June 22, and will return in the fall. Tickets are $69.

(This review was published on noporoscenium.com on 6.07)