Con(not so)temporary Art

Within the past couple of weeks, my high school's IB Diploma Programme (yes, programme) took a field trip to the local Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh.  More specifically, we were visiting the exhibit called Limited Visibility, where each artist displayed a lack of image, rather than a whole, to allow the audience to reflect upon perception. I thought it was pretty nifty, as we were able to watch videos and participate with the art.  The non-crowded, open atmosphere of the museum combined with modern architecture made the museum itself a work of art.

The exhibit:  Limited Visibility

One piece of art that I found interesting was titled "Blind self portrait listening to the beetles while scratching a notched stick so to invoke, the universal magic of the power of destruction," created by Abraham Cruzvillegas in 2013.  I couldn't believe the title when it was first dictated to me, so here are two pictures: the label of the piece, and the piece:

                        

To be frank, my initial thoughts were: I could totally do this.  All the art was composed of was acrylic paint on top of pages with images, cut into various quadrilaterals, and hung up on a wall (169 in total).  But, if I were to create this, I would not have created a meaning behind it (I would have made the curtains just blue).  In order to fully interpret this piece, the title must be analyzed. 

The "blind self portrait" portion could mean that the audience is "blind" to the "self portrait," and the "self portrait" could mean the secrets or life of an individual.  When sketching this piece, I decided to color it, and when I realized the yellow wasn't just pure yellow (I needed to add some brown), I had a revelation:  each of these squares symbolizes someone's life.  Adding some brown to the yellow made it look like an exotic skin tone; as a result each of these squares now symbolize a person to me.  This is a representation of how I look into a crowd of people: on the surface they all appear the same (or extremely similar), but in reality each of them has life story that is unknown to me.

To build upon my "every square is a person theory," these squares are various shapes and sizes, with no two identical.  This could be because each person has a unique shape, whether it is tall or short, or a little heavy or a little light.  It can also be observed that the edges of some of these squares are a little ragged or have an imprint of the image covered, people are the same way.  Distinguishing physical characteristics can allow some of a person's story to bleed through a thin cover.  A unique scar, a cool tattoo, or even a wild hair style could allow an observer to make correct assumptions about another's past.

The droop of the rectangles could symbolize the burden of life that each of us possess, but at this point I should just assume that the curtains are just blue.  

It's really strange how something that appears so simple could be that complex.

~

To close, I would like to show off my amazing drawing of "Blind self portrait listening to the beetles while scratching a notched stick so to invoke, the universal magic of the power of destruction."

Yes, I am the next van Gogh.