Martha Rosler’s Diaper Pattern
When one views art, one typically asks themselves what it is they are looking at. They try hard to think about the art and what it is trying to representing and imitating or what it is a mimesis of. People do this to try to associate the piece of art with something familiar to them. If they could not associate what the artist is depicting with something they already know, they would probably drive themselves insane and their minds would be at unease due to all the thinking they would have to do just to picture what the artist is thinking. As I walked in Martha Rosler’s show at the Jewish Museum, though, I was exposed to a new form of art known as Avant Garde. Stealing from the powerpoint, Avant-Garde art is experimental art that breaks the boundaries of traditional art. Avant-Garde art broadens the spectrum of what we believe art is in that it is a type of art different from the typical conception of art that is a mimesis.
Rosler’s work of art that immediately caught my attention was the artwork depicted above, which is titled “Diaper Pattern.” This piece of art is not your typical artwork that is painted on a canvas or photographed, but instead it is a collection of statements made by American soldiers and civilians -some real, some fake- written on her infant child’s worn-down cloth diapers stitched together to form a quilt-like curtain. This work of art was created in 1973 as the Vietnam War was calming down and is a clear protest to the war. Although this piece of art may be a clear mimesis of a quilt, it is experimental in its controversial content, questioning the American motives of the war, and the way it is formed, through ragged diapers stitched together with written messages on them. The utilization of such an abstract way of presenting her ideas, allows Rosler to protest the war in an indirect way, to avoid cruelties such as censorship.
As this work of art was created during the time of very debatable conflict, the Vietnam War, the piece has a clear political statement. Through her art, Rosler conveys the clear message that there is no good reason to be at war and only racism and xenophobia are motivating the war. With statements such as “Ho Chi Minh was an evil old gooky gook who sent other evil gooks from the communist stronghold to sneak up on our boys and kill them before we could get the goddam gooks,” it is obvious that Rosler is criticizing the American motives of the Vietnam War, making the American words seem like excuses. By combining the elements of experimental art with political statements, Rosler intertwines the themes of war and domesticity. The fact that Rosler puts these statements onto her child’s used diapers makes the additional political statement that these motives are nothing more than merely crappy excuses.
This post was very well written and offers the readers a greater understanding into Rosler’s thought process in creating this particular work of art. As I walked through Martha Rosler’s show, I had also come across this experimental art too and did not understand the full meaning of the message until I read this post. The analysis you gave outlining the connection between the written statements and use of diaper cloth helped me gain an even greater insight as to how the material and message are linked. The art I chose to write about was made later in 2008, but the art work you chose was made earlier to protest against the Vietnam war. Rosler’s antiwar propaganda began way before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the details you included helped me learn more about Rosler’s work in avant-garde art aside from photomontages. I also found it fascinating in which you pointed out that Rosler’s way to present her message abstractly helped prevent issues of censorship. Overall, this post was very interesting and you did a great job!
This post was thoroughly written and very well detailed in its analysis. This was very thorough in that it explored Rosler’s overall critique of the Vietnam War through the very materials she uses. The use of diapers to create the piece definitely extends the overall message of how false political motives drove the war effort. I myself focused on another piece by Rosler criticizing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the same core message of poor leadership choices. Both our pieces are similar in that Rosler emphasizes how reckless decisions and motivations lead to destructive events. However, dissecting the use of such distinct materials (the baby diapers) greatly contributes to our understanding of her ideas. Perhaps it is not just “crappy excuses,” but just general poor judgement that accounts for matters such as war (such as how she conveys President Bush’s perceived lack of judgement as presented in Rosler’s Amputee). Ignorance and misguidedness are also factors, as Rosler also hopes to emphasize in her work. Overall, this was a very thought provoking post.