“Head in the Clouds”, 2014

After viewing many beautiful works of art in many art galleries, I was finally able to choose the one most interesting to me. This work of art can be found in a small and serene art gallery in The Bronx. As one enters the gallery, this humongous piece of art is sitting directly in front of the entrance, begging its onlookers to take a moment and appreciate it. As any curious individual would do, I stopped and attempted to understand a little of what the artist was trying to say. This piece of art almost reached the ceiling, and although it was difficult to fully understand what was occurring, I understood that there was a man holding a house, possibly with a vision of something that he wanted others to know about. The man’s face seems thoughtful; as his mouth is ajar, it seems like he has something important he has to say but there is something impeding his ability to say what he thinks. The abstractness of his body may mean different things to different people but I saw this as society’s pessimistic view of this man, which would be causing his hesitation in relaying his thoughts. What I found interesting about this work of art, is that there are only two major colors: black and white. I took this as a symbol for dark and pureness. As the sculpture increases in elevation, white becomes the predominant color whereas black is only popular at the bottom. The artist might have chosen this color scheme because the abstractness of the sculpture was already too striking, but it could also symbolize the pureness of the man regardless of the abstractness of his body.

 

As I approached the sculpture and found the metal inscription plate, I learned that the piece of art is named “Head in the Clouds” and the house is actually the painter’s childhood home. The plate also mentions that the house could be pointing to Renaissance art in which important figures regularly held small houses in portraits to emphasize the importance of religion in daily life. Because this sculpture is placed in an art gallery and basically given it’s own exhibit, the environment creates an atmosphere of thoughtfulness that forces the audience to deeply look at the sculpture. On the other hand, if this sculpture was placed on a random city street, onlookers would not spend more than two minutes looking at it because of the fact that it’s abstract and can be confusing. Therefore, the environment shaped the perception of the sculpture because it force it’s viewers to take time and look for something that may not necessarily been present.

In New York City, it can be extremely easy to find a work of public art. Anywhere you look, you are bound to find public art. That’s why this part of this assignment was the most difficult, because I encountered so many wonderful pieces of art that I had difficulty choosing just one. After much deliberation, I choose to write about the most beautiful and insightful one I came across. It is a painting of La Virgen de Guadalupe on one of the most unlikely canvas–the metal overhead gate of a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She is seen praying, with a thoughtful or peaceful facial expression. I really appreciated this piece of public art because of the location it is in. This closed warehouse is located in a sidestreet, where wholesale warehouses are located and commercial business is popular. At first, I thought it was random and a little weird to see this icon painted so beautifully on a metal rollup gate but then I appreciated it because of the bright colors and peaceful ambiance around it.

In this case, I think the painting of La Virgen did change the environment it was in because the area around this painting was pristine. There were no plastered ads, littered trash or even people loitering around this area. The area was cleared of these things. I also enjoyed the fact that this was painted on a metal roll up gate, providing a sense of humility to the viewers.

Virgen de Guadalupe