From the first moment of observing Phil’s artwork, it was obvious to me that this work is coming from a context of the German culture. The text that seemed to be placed erratically throughout the print, was the tell-ell sign of the European roots for the work. Laid in behind the texts, seems to be a eagle like figure, and above is what I would definitely call a representation of an eagle. From the previous critique, I remember Phil being able to decipher the German text that was in Joshua’s print. This was also another clue with helped me come to the conclusion that this work had some type German influence. To me and my cultural experiences the eagle symbolizes boldness, honor, strength, and freedom but what does it mean to Germany? This I had to research. The Eagle was the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, and was later adopted by many of the countries that had once by occupied by the HRE. Therefore, we see the Eagle showing up on the German Coat of Arms, which leads me to believe that it hold similar symbolic means as my own culture, honor, and strength, in particular. Not knowing any German language, I had to research and dig to find out what the text might mean. I was only able to find the meaning of a few of the words.
Morgen is a unit of measurement, approximately 1.5-2.5 archers. Also sometimes taken for the word morning, because it was the approximate amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in the morning hours of the day. Over time its meaning has been slightly changed to something more standard and is understood as being 2500 square meters.
Warum, I believe is understood as “why?”
Verstehe, is to understand.
Ich liebe dich, is understood as “I love you”
Based on my understanding of the type of symbolism the eagle holds for the German culture, and my interpretation of the few words that I have been able to identify. I want to say that Phil is wanting to show pride in what might be his lineage. Telling it “ Understand I love you.” I choose to combine those two interpreted words because I know that the artist has been displaced from the place where his ancestors might have once lived. The eagle, similar to the one on the German Coat of Arms is printed on the top, in gold, which to me, shows that it is still valued, oppose to being printed in red, or brown, which would imply much different meaning to the viewer. The grey representation of a eagle in the back is more abstract and seem to not have a head. Metaphorically, to me, an eagle missing its head, is missing its very sharp vision, and very smart brain. This makes me thing that the artist, wants Germany to know that he is keeping those essential components, while he makes his journey elsewhere in the world.
Once I observed an image of the German Coat of Arms, I was able to see striking similarities, and that it was a unique way of using parts of it, in combination with the text to express his ideal. However, I was not very familiar with much of it without research, and would not have gotten the interpretation I have inside of a gallery. A short statement about the work, might help someone with little knowledge of anything German, come to a understand more like the artist intends. Even displaying it with a German dictionary, or something letting the viewer know where these words come from, could have a huge impact on the direction the viewer would go when looking at it.
Feb 12, 2010
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Josh,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate that you spent the time to deeply analyze, what I consider a quite complicated piece. I am not sure, that I have fully succeeded at expressing my "feelings" or "purpose" in this piece, but with the comments you gave me, I can understand better what I am conveying visually to others viewing my work.
First, I guess I will start by explaining my intention behind this piece. When starting this piece, I was going through a quite difficult, personal issue; and therefore, I feel that this image is somewhat represents a "regurgitation of my life." I feel that it is not important for the viewer to understand exactly what I was going through at this time, because I did not fully understand what I was going through. However, it may help the viewer to understand the feelings of love, protection, miss-understanding and confusion.
This is where some of the imagery comes in. I have three basic elements that make up this piece: the German text, the Eagle wings, and the German Eagle. The text came from a note, that I had written to a very close friend of mine during this time. I wanted to express communication difficulties, and the feeling of knowing what people are saying, but not exactly understanding what they "mean." I thought how it was interesting how this related to learning a new language; and how the meaning of things can be changed, or things can be "lost in translation." A famous German example of this is when JFK during a speech, during the cold war in West Berlin, said "Ich bin ein Berliner," wanting to say I am a "Berlin-er". However the way he said it, translates to, "I am a jelly-doughnut". These kinds of funny niches happen quite often when learning German, and probably most other languages, as well. So, long winded, but that was my reasoning for changing the text to German, to show confusion; and to add to that, I removed words at random.
For the "headless-wings": I have the headless eagle because, I feel like eagles are powerful, noble, smart, protector, ect. While I strive to be all of these things, I feel that I am immature and not quite there in some way. This is why it has no head; to show that it is blind, lost, basically useless.
Finally the "Reichsadler":
This figure is Germany's coat of arms. I stumbled across it while using the text on a German Mark, for reference. I was aesthetically drawn to this image, first-off. Then I started to realize how this may help "push" the feelings behind my piece. I thought about how the relationship between loving something such as you heritage, is much like loving another person. It is strong and nothing can break that bond. At the same time, there are questions and confusions in these bonds, that may never be answered, but it still does not change how you feel towards it.
This was a very hard piece for me to explain, because I am not sure it has a solid meaning. I feel that it was more of a therapeutic exercise for me, to get these emotions out, and organize them visually. Josh: I have to commend you on your translating. German is a difficult language, and most of your translations were "right-on". And I appreciate your extra research to further draw out meaning from my image.