ASHWAUBENON, Wis.— John Johnson watched quietly as the projected scenes of Vincent Van Gogh paintings changed around him.
He would occasionally explain aspects of the images to his children. As an art teacher in De Pere, Johnson recently took in Beyond Van Gogh: The immersive Experience at Resch Expo in Ashwaubenon.
“I was amazed by it,” he said. “I just wanted to witness it myself because Van Gogh is one of those artists I grew up hearing about even as a young child and he’s one of the few I’ve followed throughout my life.”
Beyond Van Gogh blends education, art, and entertainment.
“It felt like it was in a dream they just kept transition from one set of artworks to another with the quotes in there. The presentation was spectacular,” Johnson said. I got goosebumps throughout just being able to see the artworks throughout his life and how he painted, why he painted, why he did what he did, and the times of when all this took place in his life.”
Beyond Van Gogh opened to the Green Bay area June 7 and is running through August 10.
Terry Charles of PMI Entertainment Group said this is a different type of event for the organization.
“We’re use to doing concerts and hockey games and large expo-type shows but they last over the course of a weekend or maybe four or five days,” he said.
PMI operates Resch Expo and partnered with Paquin Entertainment Group in presenting the exhibit. Beyond Van Gogh visited Milwaukee in 2021.
“This is museum-like, although it’s with a flair,” Charles said. “We think it can work and this company has other similar production out there. If this works well, why not bring in Beyond Monet or whatever else is out there. As always in the entertainment business, you always test to see what will work in a market. When a market does well with something stuff comes back. That’s how it works.”
Johnson said this kind of production brings something different to the community.
“The area, as we all know, runs on sports and having the music venues. Having things like that come through is spectacular, but don’t forget there are other things out there, such as the arts, that should be promoted. It’s a big part of life itself,” he said. “To have something like this come through is just an amazing experience.”
For information about times and tickets, click here.