Click.

A puffy-haired woman leans against the wall. Her shoulders press the paint as her back arches slightly.

Snap.

A bleached canoe jumps from the monochromatic, grey sky. Rope knots hang like an octopus, suspended over the canoe.

Clack.

A little boy in a dark turtleneck and dark shorts runs along the street carrying an ice cream cone. A half black and half white street lamp interrupts the monotonous scene.

Davis, Heffner, and Smoot observe John Menapace’s exhibit “With Hidden Noise” at the Gallery of Art and Design in Talley Student Center. The black and white Rembrandt etchings may seem a far cry from Menapace’s contemporary black and white photography, but similarities run down their backbone. Both artists capture what they see as the essence of human existence. Trapped in a whirlwind of vision, the artists express emotions through lights and darks in the best way they know.

Rembrandt and Menapace are caught in a duel: Renaissance master on one side, contemporary photographer on the other. So who will win?

“I found this one a lot more interesting,” Davis said.

Smoot said she agreed with Davis, but Heffner shook his head in disgust.

“I didn’t like anything, I think anybody can take a picture,” Heffner said. “I’m sure the black and white had some sort of meaning to it, but it’s just pictures of [stuff]. But with Rembrandt, he had skill. I don’t think you can compare that to Rembrandt. I mean, Rembrandt is a master.”

Heffner said he looks at the art from a more technical side, admiring not only the result, but the skill it took to get there. Davis and Smoot said they looked further into the meanings, were whisked away by Menapace’s deep imagery and found themselves in the picture.

“I liked the ones with the buildings because it was very, very geometric and it was laid out top to bottom. It is an interesting look at the architecture,” Davis said. “Nothing is really perspective; it is all straight on, which is interesting.”

Smoot said she concentrated more on the human side, witnessing facial expressions and movements like she did at the Rembrandt exhibit.

“I thought it was cool how normally something simple, like the girl jumping, makes me think about something I wouldn’t normally think about,” Smoot said. “I can’t relate to Rembrandt at all, but these I can. There is something I can think back to. With Rembrandt you’re just like ‘wow, that time period sucked.'”

So Heffner said he liked the Rembrandt exhibit but hated the Menapace. Smoot hated the Rembrandt, but liked the Menapace. That makes Davis the tie breaker, and he liked both exhibits. Even though Smoot and Davis liked the exhibit, they disagreed about the message portrayed by the pictures.

“It was interesting how all the pictures were dead,” Davis said. “There was a picture of a loading dock — not that a loading dock could be alive — but even the pictures with the people in them were just like, ‘Ahhh dead!'”

Smoot said she liked the exhibit.

“I didn’t really think it was that dead,” Smoot responded. “I thought it was just simpler.”

It all comes down to taste. But students should not deny themselves an opportunity to expand their minds. So what if she hates it? The conversation generated makes each exhibit worthwhile. These three students had no plans to experience either artist, but now they said they have discovered something about themselves and developed opinions on art.

Rembrandt’s sad eyes lining the walls of the North Carolina Museum of Art need to be liberated, and Menapace’s sharp lines framed in the Center for Art and Design beg for interpretation.