Colin DeLeo
Visual Analysis
Art 1010 Criticism and Interpretation
In the Benton museum exhibit, unfiltered; an exhibit dedicated
to water, multiple medias are used to portray the different states
of water. The exhibit is composed of photographs, paintings, videos
and even framed garbage. By representing water, the simple beauty
of it and the complexity of problems the attempt of clean water
faces today, onlookers of the exhibit are invited to look at water
in a new way. A way that leads to a new appreciation, and laso
leading to a response to the clean water problem. Upon entering the
room housing the exhibit, one is overwhelmed by the amount of
content and variety of such. When I first entered, I was drawn to
North Cove by Leif Nilsson, an oil on canvas painting. I believe I
was drawn to this painting because of the bright colors and the
fact that it happened to be on the wall that I was facing when I
first walked in the door. After reading the brief artist statement,
it is clear that Nilsson’s goal was to shine light on the natural
beauty of a river he grew up near. At the bottom of the statement
it says that the work is related to “climate resilience.” Nilsson
may have been trying to show his audience how an untouched body of
water can be so captivating and naturally beautiful. He uses vivid,
eye-catching colors to effectively show vibrancy and life. On the
artist statement page, there is a small ugly photograph of a body
of water filled with garbage. Nilsson appears to be fighting
climate change through the act of showing others what a world
untouched by man looks like, which is more desirable to most than a
world covered in trash.
The next piece that drew me to take a closer look was literally
composed of trash. Susan Hoffman Fishman’s mixed media piece Rising
Tides appears to be an abstract painting from a far, but after the
bright blues and deep reds of the piece invited me to take a closer
look, I discovered that the piece was mostly colorful painted trash
bags; and looking even closer, I was surprised to see what appeared
to be small clippings of old newspaper photographs depicting people
walking. My interpretation of Fishman’s work is that she’s crying
out for people to stop dumping garbage into the ocean. Fishman used
irony to literally make an ocean of trash. I saw the blue trash
bags as representative of a pure ocean, and the non-blue bags as
contaminated ocean. The clippings of the walkers were positioned in
such a way that they almost appear to be walking on the folds of
the ocean waves. I saw this as her way of saying that man is
walking over the ocean and abusing it. The photos may have a
purposeful vintage feeling to say that we have been mistreating the
ocean for some time now. The piece both upsets me and motivates me
to try and make a difference. This piece is a true call to
action.
Christopher Pierce Cranche’s piece Waterfall speaks to me
especially because it was actually sketched in Connecticut; likely
in the area of Cannan Falls, Connecticut. When I look at this white
charcoal sketch I feel a slight tinge of nostalgia for the times
that I would visit waterfalls in the woods simply to watch and
listen to them. The white charcoal almost adds a sort of sound to
the picture. When I look at the white base of the falls, I can
almost hear a deep steady roar of tumbling water. Cranche was a
Hudson River School artist—This sketch does not appear to be the
typical detailed masterpiece produced by most Hudson River artists.
This was just a mere sketch, possibly to reference while creating
something larger. Since the piece was never actually meant for
display, I believe that this sketch shows Cranche’s raw talent.
Cranche clearly had an intrinsic appreciation for water and nature.
He was someone who wanted to show others the beauty that he saw
himself.
Across the room, I saw three black and white photos that I
couldn’t quite make out, so I walked over to take a closer look.
They were monochrome photos of melting ice. In ornament, immersion
and incantation, Diana Barker Price captures the different states
and properties of water to create intriguing photographs. The
photographs of melting ice could be considered to be the readymade.
While the ice was melting, Barker Price found interesting angles
and compositions including water drops, sticks and leaves. Rather
than expressing the bad and ugly of the world, she instead shows
the simple natural beauty if melting ice. The photographs leave me
feeling refreshed with a taste of nostalgia for a long winter
teasing its end.
The last piece I chose to explore was Field Holler by Deborah
Dancy. If this piece was not in a water themed exhibit, I probably
never would have thought of water, but since I was pre-informed
that this was water themed, I found myself looking at an eerie bog
in the middle of the night. In my eyes, this piece is so mysterious
that it is uncanny. I often found myself trying to get into Dancy’s
head, wondering what types of dark emotions she was trying to
portray. I see this as the emotion of water through Dancy’s
unconscious mind, as it is unlikely that this is a representative
painting.
After leaving the exhibit I was left feeling somehow
responsible. I felt as though nothing in the world was more
important than the world itself, untouched by man, allowed to exist
in beautiful peace.
