Contextualize:
I see a smallish image of a single overlapping, organic shapes. There seem to be four, possibly five colors, all muted, dark yellows, reds and oranges (appearing as browns and army green colors). Each shape touches or overlaps others. Sarah signed this as a “variable edition” and was kind enough to allow me to see three proofs she made while creating her edition. Upon examining the four prints, I couldn’t seem to detect a real pattern in placement or negative space, but I did feel that there was a spiraling pattern created, which might refer to flight that made me consider the birds in flight context offered through familiarity with other works created by the artist in the past few months. The overlapping shapes and color palette also seem to relate to army camouflage patterns, which may have cultural, psychological and social implications. The third context that is presented to the viewer is through the addition of the title Public Transportation, and the didactic panel information offered by the artist. The context presented here is relational, psychological, and social.
In the art context, this work references abstract expressionist works by painters such as Ad Reinhardt and Franz Kline.
Here I refer to the definition supplied on www.artlex.com for abstract expressionism:
A painting movement in which artists typically applied paint rapidly, and with force to their huge canvases in an effort to show feelings and emotions, painting gesturally, non-geometrically, sometimes applying paint with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing it onto canvas. Their work is characterized by a strong dependence on what appears to be accident and chance, but which is actually highly planned. Some Abstract Expressionist artists were concerned with adopting a peaceful and mystical approach to a purely abstract image. Usually there was no effort to represent subject matter. Not all work was abstract, nor was all work expressive, but it was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds. The expressive method of painting was often considered as important as the painting itself.
The work also references the post-modern art movement of pop art, with its flat, graphic application of color and emphasis on repetition, with specific reference to Andy Warhol’s Camouflage Suite.
Theorize:
My previous experience with Sarah’s work makes me place the one repeated shape featured in the work in the context of a flying bird symbol. Through earlier conversations with the artist, she has indicated that the birds in her works refer to relationships. Having the personal experience of using public transportation, I see the chaotic composition of one reoccurring, overlapping shape referring to many unrelated figures, strangers, if you will, in each others’ personal space, but not in a deliberate way, rather in a forced circumstance of convenience, each on their own path. I think the colors could refer to the dingy environment found inside a COTA bus. I think the camouflage reference may not be about the U.S. military, but rather referring to camouflage in the animal world. It seems that people go to great lengths not to interact with one another socially on the bus, even though we are often forced into very close space, especially during busy commuter times. Perhaps psychologically we hope to blend in to protect ourselves from danger.
Criticize:
I think this is an interesting work formally and conceptually. Its chaotic composition, harmonious color palette and repetition of one shape forty times remind me of the gestural work of Franz Kline and the Camouflage Suite of Andy Warhol. However, the content I gather from the work somehow reminds me of the work by outsider artist Camille Rose Garcia, especially images from her Saddest Place on Earth series. To me, the piece has the melancholic feel of lonely people trapped in plain site. While I do get a lot from the work itself, I am not sure I would have gotten to this place in my review had it not been for the title and information provided by the artist.
I really appreciate the critique Brook wrote for my piece titled “public Transportation”. A lot of the things she pulled out were pretty accurate. The piece is about relationships as she suggested. I chose to use 40 layers because there are 40 seats on a standard COTA bus. I ride the bus almost daily. As I ride I find myself strangely connected to the other people on the bus. Not in personal way, but in a physical way. Here I am on a bus sharing this space with all these other people who are all strangers to me, and most of them are all strangers to each other. In the moment that we are in we are unified by the same activity of going to or from somewhere in our life. People get on and people get off, which is why I chose to do a bleed print. People are coming and going from all different places, which is why the birds are organized in this sort of chaotic pattern.
ReplyDeleteI find myself wondering who the people sharing this space with me are. Where are they going? Where have they been? Who have they known? Why are they here at this exact moment? I always love it when people talk to others they do not know on the bus. I find myself listening intently to the stories they are sharing. These moments always seem to affect me in some way, yet I rarely partake in the conversations. Most people on the bus don’t say much to other strangers. To burdened by social norms and comfort levels to break out of their box. I am guilty of this.
As Brook noted from previously seeing other work I have made, she was able to pick up on the fact that birds represent relationships to me. I often use birds to represent human relationships. To me the bird is a very mysterious animal. We rarely see the up close. Our main encounters with birds are from a distance. When we see birds there are several different responses we might have. Many times people are afraid that birds cary diseases and they try to distance themselves from them. Other people see birds as very beautiful creatures and are attracted to them and spend hours watching them from a distance, and then there are people who don’t even really pay much attention to this animal that we see so often. I find a direct link to these relationships, and the relationships we have with strangers.
I chose to use a camouflage color scheme. It doesn’t have any sort of military significance, it’s more to represent the fact that we all hide who we are in certain situations; especially around people we don’t know very well. We all want to blend in.
I would agree that this piece is slightly melancholy. I don’t necessarily feel bad for the silent people on the bus, because I do not know them. They could be perfectly happy in there moment of sitting there. But I do feel a sense of loss on a larger level. We are all so consumed in our busy lives, that we just pass each other by with out much thought. Our lives intersect in these small moments, which is why I chose to overlap many of the birds, but we are all in a flighty position. No one takes the time to stop or slow down. We are always moving, on the go, crossing the next line off our to do list.
This piece is intended to invoke this feeling of chaotic constant motion in the viewer. My hope is that the viewer will begin to wonder about the printed shapes, how they are all the same, yet some are different colors. Even if the viewer doesn’t get every single thing I was thinking about when I made this, I would hope that they would at least begin to question the repetition, shapes and color scheme. I titled the piece ‘Public transportation’ as a hint to the fact that this piece about a space; A space where people come and sit together where they are not together at all.