Untitled,  Robert Gober (2000-2001)

This piece was displayed in the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea. Although most people chose some piece of art that was hanging up, I chose this one for its unique qualities and the way it would stand out amongst the rest. This particular piece that has no title was simply just displayed in the middle of a room with hanging pieces of art around it. It is also made of uncommon materials like human hair and beeswax. This pieces seems to be a sculpture that is encompassed in a wooden basket which represents the purposeful unity of all the parts of the sculpture ( body parts, shoes, cans, toothpaste), they are all meant to be together. The first thing that clearly stands out about this piece is the dismantled body parts, it half a woman’s chest and half a man’s chest put together to look as part of one body, and opposite each other. Between them are textured lines, that also seem to run throughout the whole work, to symbolize that the two sides are in a way being wrinkled together. There is a drain right in the middle of the work possibly to symbolize that whether it be body parts or shoes or chains, eventually everything is going down the drain. To the right and left of the combined chests are pieces of what visibly are shoes, cans, and parts of a toothpaste tube. These objects are opposite each other on both sides of the chests similar to the parts of the chests as well which are also opposite each other. In a way, this piece is a reflection of it self, because should you cut it down the middle, each side would represent a reflection of the other. Another notable detail is the shoes, cans, and toothpaste tube all look wrinkled and worn as if they have been discarded and considered garbage. The juxtaposition of the body parts with what looks like garbage really brings attention to that fact that whether its our body parts, or pieces of garbage, it will all decompose together and end up at the same place as part of the earth.

The environment of this piece was rather of a typical art gallery, the walls were white and the paintings were hung on the walls with just enough space for each piece of art to breathe and be unique.  However, because everything around this piece was hanging and this piece was just sitting on the floor, it added an aspect of estrangement. Usually, gallery floors are left empty so that spectators can walk around and view the art from different points in the room. As well, the floor is usually left empty to leave room for each piece or art to breathe or speak.  However here, not only was the floor black, a complete contrast to the walls but the floor also had this piece of art on it which helped draw immediate attention to it, as if the completely black contrasting color wasn’t enough. The piece being placed in this environment easily could make the spectator hesitant to approach it since, it looks like it doesn’t belong since the gallery floor is almost always left empty.

In this case, the gallery environment made this piece seem strange and out of place, which is adjacent to it’s subject matter. Had other pieces been placed on the floor it would’ve been different but, this piece was the only thing on the otherwise empty floor and amongst otherwise hanging pieces of art. The environment here distorts our perspective of the art because, before viewing it, it already gives us a sense of misplacement and discomfort. Before viewing the piece, we already feel weird about it, so we are naturally inclined to believe that the subject matter is meant to make us feel uncomfortable, which in this case, it does even if the environment didn’t set us up for it.

Drowning Liberty

The last time we had class, we were on our way to see a piece of public art titled Link. On our way, we encountered this piece that was used as an advertisement for the company Soda Stream but, was actually a brilliant piece of public art. Essentially, this piece is a rectangular metal, with horizontal and vertical lines creating a sort of barricade for all the garbage inside of it. Inside this box, are various containers of drinks, plastic bottles from water, soda cans, and many other drinks that we encounter on a daily basis. They were put their in such a way where plastic clear water bottles take up most of the space and there are pops of color from things like iced tea bottles with blue wrappers and red soda cans. On top of all this waste is the statue of liberty as it appears regularly just in smaller size, still holding her torch and her book as she always has been. However, the bottom half of the statue is immersed in all the waste. Essentially for advertisement purposes, it shows how we are drowning our land and most prized land marks in garbage from all the waste we produce. However, the meaning could be much deeper, with all the talk about deportation, building walls, and closing our borders to people coming in and out, it could represent that we are drowning our own values that the Statue of Liberty represents by saying all this “garbage”. Get it?

The environment was perfect for both purposes. Looking at the art as you see in the picture, behind it was the Flat Iron Building ( if you look from a slightly different angle, it will look like the statue is standing up against the building) as well as the stands that the Soda Stream company set up to sell their product, and many other New York City buildings that are structured brilliantly and add to the city scene behind the piece. In front of it was the plaza where people were talking, eating, and apparently filming The Bachelor in Paradise. To the left was Madison Square Park and to the left was the piece Link that we originally set up to see. The piece was in a densely populated public place which was perfect for the company and also perfect for showing that there is so many people and diversity to celebrate and encourage but we are instead now saying that diversity is not good for us and thus we should close ourselves off to the world, which of course drowns the virtues and values that Lady Liberty stands for.

In this case, the environment augments how we see the painting. The Soda Stream stands in front of it augment the view that we produce so much waste and garbage from our drinks that soon we will literally drown all of our space and precious land marks in it. The city scene behind the art and all the active, diverse population surrounding the statue augmented the view that we should celebrate our diverse population and embrace newcomers that contribute to it instead of drowning the values and virtues that our nation stands for with our actions.