– Mariam Kirvalidze
The first gallery we visited was the Sikkema gallery. What struck me was that I could not tell the subject of any of the paintings–truly abstract art. I did not really like this, but this is just personal preference. However, in the same museum were sculptures made by the same artist that I found intriguing. There was one with many blue sticks, each pair taking on a pair of sneakers at the bottom. In fact, many of the artist’s sculptures had shoes. What I liked about this specific sculpture was that the shoes got increasingly bigger along the lengths, which made me think of the universal progression of life. At first, the lovely blues of the “legs” made me think of the sea and the shoes of a moving ship but I do not think that the sculpture was meant to have a definite interpretation. The next works we were able to view were the paintings of Brice Marden. Apparently, his visits to China influenced his works. I could definitely see this in his paintings, which looked like convoluted lines, each painting having a different contrast of colors between the different lines and between the lines and the background. I could see how the painter thought these lines resembled Chinese calligraphy. I love how the different colors inspired different moods in me. The splashes of yellow and orange made me feel “lighter”. Also, the gallery exhibited two different rooms. In one, the background was lighter, which gave me more of a jovial feeling, while the room with the darker background gave me a more relaxed feeling and I couldn’t help thinking I would love to have something like this in my bedroom at home.
My favorite gallery was the one that exhibited the works of Kim Porland. I saw the common theme of evil men, forests, and gloomy birds. Although the art was gloomy, I thought it was beautiful how the artist created layers on the canvas with material such as feathers to show the birds. What I really liked about his paintings was the fact that I could actually tell what the painter was drawing. I got a real sense of the artist’s childhood in Canada, which comprised of time spent in the intimidating woods and I thought it was cool how the painter used this media to expose the teenagers of their wrong doings in the woods. I saw this right when I came in and thought that all the humans shown seemed to be evil, while the animals looked like victims. Being in this gallery, I really felt like I had visited a rural area in Canada. The next gallery of Kent Dorm also comprised of paintings of woodlands. But this gallery was a little less sardonic in its theme and left me with a cozy, “Hansel and Gretel” feeling. I especially loved the painting of the cabin and the one where there were multiple people gathered around a lake. The texture of their clothes really popped and seemed to invite the viewer in. Both of the galleries showed men in the paintings who looked like “rockers” with long hair and guitars, which I thought was interesting and gave a better idea of the setting in the sense of time.
We also visited the X-rated gallery. I thought this was good comic relief from the mellow galleries visited previously. I really enjoyed the splash of colors and patterns in the background of couples engaging in sexual acts. Lastly, we saw the exhibit of Nicky Nodjoumi. I dislike politics and war so the gallery didn’t really settle well with me, even though the subject matter was a criticism of such conflicts. The paintings were a lot more understandable than abstract paintings but I was still confused about what was going on in them. All I could make from them was the crimes on both sides of the Middle Eastern People and the men from America who looked like businessmen. I couldn’t see the chauvinism of the Americans because it seemed like both sides were to blame for any conflict. In fact the artist seemed to mesh both groups together (different parts of the body belonged to different people) and maybe this is because he is trying to convey that all people are the same and that with varying viewpoints, anyone can be seen guilty and no one group is innocent. Even though the paintings depressed me, I thought the artist’s skills were phenomenal. What I learned from all the gallery visits was that artists don’t really draw for the view. I think they draw more for themselves, because otherwise, what would be the point of making any paintings with unlikeable subject matters? The paintings that really caught my attention were the ones where I was reminded of home and pleasant settings I would like to visit.
Another enjoyable visit I experienced was the trip to the MoMA to look at abstract expressionist art. The first work that struck me was “Spring” by Hans Hoffman. It looked like the typical abstract painting, which usually has many streaks of color siding one another. Paula Struttman explained that the painting utilized the “push pull” theory, which means the warmer colors are pushed forward while the cooler are pushed back. I thought this theory was interesting because I often do notice that the lighter colors really pop out. We also explored many of Barnett Newman’s paintings. Most of the ones I looked at had a vast space of color and then a stripe. I noticed that many of the people in my group looked amazed by the immensity of the space such as one that was red and had about five lighter stripes. However, these paintings did not captivate me as other did because I saw them as bland.
In comparison, I really enjoyed the works of Jackson Pollock. This came a surprise to me because previously, I thought I disliked abstract art and I knew that Pollock was a great symbol of that. As Struttman explained, Pollock had a different way of using the paint in which the audience could really see the gestures with which he painted. I felt more connected to the artist in this way. To me, it looked like Pollock was choreographing a dance with the brush. I really like that Pollock believed there is no such thing as an accident in art and that an accident can be used as an advantage in art. I caught myself scanning the paintings of Pollock over endlessly because as Struttman mentioned, each area of his paintings was as eye capturing as another. One of my favorites of Pollock was “White Light”. There was so many layers of paint in it and yet, it didn’t look like a mess. When I saw this painting, I thought that it looked like a part of the universe cut off and put on canvas because it is chaotic but at the same time purposeful chaos. My favorite of Pollock’s work was “Gothic”. Looking at the swirly lines ,which were dominated by blue and sea green, I thought of the ocean but as I moved back, the lines actually congregated to look like figures. I thought those figured resembled snakes.
Looking at more paintings on my own, I discovered “Desert”, by Richard- Pousette Dart. The patterns and colors made me think the artist was influenced by Mexican or Mayan culture, which I find beautiful. I also saw many eye shaped figures and thus had this eerie feeling like the painting was watching me. Much of the painting was sectioned and coming out at the viewer. I find it remarkable that although the artist uses a canvas, he can paint so that the art adopts a tangible texture, which further engages the audience into the painting. Another painting that struck me and used color as an important quality was one by Sam Francis. I think he utilized the natural tendency for paint to drip because it is as if the paint if progressing downward. The dominant color of the painting is a blood red and there is some yellow and blue popping out as well. These colors made me think the artist was trying to paint flowers, but everyone has their own interpretation I suppose. Overall, I really liked some of the paintings and their use of color even though none of them could be interpreted in a specific way.
