The Soap Factory is an interesting place, not at all what I expected. The history of the museum is interesting. It first started out in 1892 as a storage facility for H.R. Carpenter's Union Railway Company. It was a Grant Storage Battery Company and owned by a syrup manufacturer until it became the soap factory National Purity in 1924. National Purity produced soaps and detergents to clean MN Dairy equipments, trucks, and cows until 1992 when it moved to a newer location. With no one up keeping the building, it stated to quickly deteriorate. In 1995, a non-profit group called No Name from No Name Gallery fixed up the place and reopened as the Soap Gallery in 1996. The No Name's mission was to feature "comtemporary arts in the city, showing emerging and unknown your artists"(The Soap Factory didactic). The enthusiastic group helped revitalize an old manufacturing building into a beautiful, historical place to fill with are.
The first piece of art that grabbed my attention was unlike any piece of artwork I have seen before. It is called "Memory Eternal" by Lauren Herzak-Bauman made with porcelain and light. As seen in the picture to the left, the whole artwork piece covered a huge room. Each circle of porcelain had square bigger pieces in the center of the ring that gradually got smaller to dust as it cascaded out. Four dim metal lamps hung from the ceiling in each center of the circles. The artist stated, "I'm okay and I'm not okay. Everyday I am one or the other...Making things from clay links these shifting states of emotional being to a materiality..the manipulation of clay to create a poetic gesture...I connect clay with ideas of strength and fragility. When used in the context of urban, detritus, old attic finds, and aged broken objects, clay becomes a metaphor for presency and absence, death and loss" (Herzak-Bauman, 2009). Herzak-Bauman's description helps to put meaning to the artwork, it would be impossible to understand her reasoning for the piece without reading that. Once I knew where her creativity was coming from it seemed suitable for this art piece was in the Soap Factory, representing the presency and absence, death and loss that has gone throughout the history in the museum.
The other piece that I found interesting was an untitled piece by Alison Owen made out of dust, dirt and adhesive on wall. I liked this piece because when walking into the room in looked like a fancy wallpaper decal. After finding the didactice did I find out it was made from dust and dirt. Looking closely one can see little fragments of the dust and pieces picked up from a floor, such as pink tinsel. The artist called this art "passive-aggressive. It appears to be agreeable, pale, retiring and yet is entrenched in its environment." The art was made from dust and dirt right in the art gallery. I do not know how much more a piece of art can be attached to a gallery and entrench a gallery.
When visiting the gallery people were actually there to set up for a wedding reception there. It seemed odd to have a reception in a cold damp place. But I bet people like the history and the art the building encompasses. I wonder if the tinsel found in Alison Owen wall decoration came from a wedding. It is like the art and the building both build off of each other. This gives the space an intriguing aspect. Once the person knows of the history and art inside, it does not feel like such a cold damp place.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Open Book
The Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Walking into Open Book, I first walked to the left to see The Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. The open layout, clear glass cases, and wood decor makes a person feel as walking through an airy loft. Quotes from artist/authors are on a few of the walls. The viewer can get up close to the artwork, which is especially nice to look at all the fine details.
A person can even touch the artwork at the None of the Above: Assembling, Collaborating and Publishing in the External Network. (See photograph for didactic, explanation, of the exhibit). The artwork is in protective sheets and clipped onto a string stretching across the wall. It felt rare to be able to walk into a gallery and to physically hold the artwork, it gave the museum a more easy going feeling.
The many different types of media and sizes made every piece interesting from the next piece. The smallest artwork I found was rolled up into a small, clear, oval casing just about the size of a Tylenol tablet. A few pieces were comics. I especially liked "The Green League" by Doug Kallberg featuring a few characters such as Kermit, Oscar the Grouch, and the Hulk.
The exhibit proved that artists do not always need big fancy canvases and oil paints to make art. Artists can take everyday utensils in any size to make something beautiful. It makes a person look at the everyday things throughout the day and wonder what they could be. I also especially liked the artwork Wipe by David Dellafiora, done entirely on toilet paper.
**Apologies for artists names that were not mentioned. The plastic coverings on the pieces of artwork in None of the Above caused a glare in the camera making the names blurry and ineligible.
The Rosalux Gallery
After going to The Minnesota Center for the Book Arts I walked past the coffee counter to the The Rosalux Gallery to view the Praisee and Punishment exhibit. The Rosalux Gallery feels a little more like a maze, being a person has to walk around corners to get to all the artwork throughout three floors. I think this make it interesting, a discovery and surprise around every corner.
The first surprise was taking a left into the gallery and seeing "all the things I meant to say" by Joel Starkey. The artwork is about six-feet tall on the gallery wall. It appears to be drawn on with charcoal or a think dark pencil. It is of a man from the waist up right with his head tilted back and his mouth is open in a big O. The O is cut out and a big bucket full of cassette tape is pouring out of his mouth onto a heap on the floor.
Most of Joel Starkey pieces feature drawings of cassette tape within. He also draws phrases appearing to be written in cassette tape.
In the basement in the gallery, around the corner is another big surprise from the artist, "The cabin in the woods". A smaller room is draped in cassette tape. On the far wall a person can see a building, with chunks of the tape plastered against the wall and loosely scattered across the floor.
The interesting work by Joel Starkey was thought-provoking, although not quite clear what the artist was thinking in his own mind while creating the event. The image of the man spewing out the cassette tape reminds myself of all the times I had so much to say, spilling it out. Sometimes wondering what's the use, it all goes on the floor, but at least its all out.
Joel Starkey's artwork is alternated with textured oil paintings by Toni Galio. Most of the paintings are about 4 feet tall by 3 feet across. The paintings are of people, mostly focusing on just one or two people. There is no landscapes or scenes in the background, but beautifully blended dark colors of blacks and blue. This makes the people the focus of the paintings. Each painting really captures the emotions of the people withing it. And seem to fit into a category of praise or punishment. Such as in a series of three paintings, telling a story of wish bones. In the first painting "Over Half" a woman is holding a wish bone with a smirk on her face; she is in praise as to having what she needs. The second painting "Breaking" shows two different identical looking blond women each holding on to the end of the wishbone. The last painting, "Less Than Half" shows the first brunette woman again sad that she has the shorter end of the wishbone, as in punishment.
Walking into Open Book, I first walked to the left to see The Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. The open layout, clear glass cases, and wood decor makes a person feel as walking through an airy loft. Quotes from artist/authors are on a few of the walls. The viewer can get up close to the artwork, which is especially nice to look at all the fine details.
A person can even touch the artwork at the None of the Above: Assembling, Collaborating and Publishing in the External Network. (See photograph for didactic, explanation, of the exhibit). The artwork is in protective sheets and clipped onto a string stretching across the wall. It felt rare to be able to walk into a gallery and to physically hold the artwork, it gave the museum a more easy going feeling.
The many different types of media and sizes made every piece interesting from the next piece. The smallest artwork I found was rolled up into a small, clear, oval casing just about the size of a Tylenol tablet. A few pieces were comics. I especially liked "The Green League" by Doug Kallberg featuring a few characters such as Kermit, Oscar the Grouch, and the Hulk.
The exhibit proved that artists do not always need big fancy canvases and oil paints to make art. Artists can take everyday utensils in any size to make something beautiful. It makes a person look at the everyday things throughout the day and wonder what they could be. I also especially liked the artwork Wipe by David Dellafiora, done entirely on toilet paper.
**Apologies for artists names that were not mentioned. The plastic coverings on the pieces of artwork in None of the Above caused a glare in the camera making the names blurry and ineligible.
The Rosalux Gallery
After going to The Minnesota Center for the Book Arts I walked past the coffee counter to the The Rosalux Gallery to view the Praisee and Punishment exhibit. The Rosalux Gallery feels a little more like a maze, being a person has to walk around corners to get to all the artwork throughout three floors. I think this make it interesting, a discovery and surprise around every corner.
The first surprise was taking a left into the gallery and seeing "all the things I meant to say" by Joel Starkey. The artwork is about six-feet tall on the gallery wall. It appears to be drawn on with charcoal or a think dark pencil. It is of a man from the waist up right with his head tilted back and his mouth is open in a big O. The O is cut out and a big bucket full of cassette tape is pouring out of his mouth onto a heap on the floor.
Most of Joel Starkey pieces feature drawings of cassette tape within. He also draws phrases appearing to be written in cassette tape.
In the basement in the gallery, around the corner is another big surprise from the artist, "The cabin in the woods". A smaller room is draped in cassette tape. On the far wall a person can see a building, with chunks of the tape plastered against the wall and loosely scattered across the floor.
The interesting work by Joel Starkey was thought-provoking, although not quite clear what the artist was thinking in his own mind while creating the event. The image of the man spewing out the cassette tape reminds myself of all the times I had so much to say, spilling it out. Sometimes wondering what's the use, it all goes on the floor, but at least its all out.
Joel Starkey's artwork is alternated with textured oil paintings by Toni Galio. Most of the paintings are about 4 feet tall by 3 feet across. The paintings are of people, mostly focusing on just one or two people. There is no landscapes or scenes in the background, but beautifully blended dark colors of blacks and blue. This makes the people the focus of the paintings. Each painting really captures the emotions of the people withing it. And seem to fit into a category of praise or punishment. Such as in a series of three paintings, telling a story of wish bones. In the first painting "Over Half" a woman is holding a wish bone with a smirk on her face; she is in praise as to having what she needs. The second painting "Breaking" shows two different identical looking blond women each holding on to the end of the wishbone. The last painting, "Less Than Half" shows the first brunette woman again sad that she has the shorter end of the wishbone, as in punishment.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The MN State Capitol
It is amazing I have lived in MN my whole life and went to Saint Paul College almost daily for three years, driving past the MN Capitol each time, and I have never been inside. Of course driving to school down University, I could not miss the massive structure and note it was beautiful. But after visiting the Capitol I am in awe of its beauty and history inside, never will I look at it in the same passive way. Since my visit I have asked people if they have every taken a tour there, or even been inside, I have an excitement to tell people about the elaborate building in St. Paul and to make sure they see it for themselves.
Why is the MN State Capitol look the way it does and have such elaborate decorations?
Leigh Roethke does a very good job of explaining why the MN Capitol looks the way it does. "The State Capitol board of commissioners wanted a building that would announce to the rest of their country that their state was no longer a wilderness outpost; it had grown into a modern, civilized society" (2005, p.2). Since 1905 the building has attracted many people from around the United States and the globe to look in awe at the elaborate architecture and artwork inside and outside the Capitol.
The MN Capitol is an architectural design of Cass Gilbert, the same man that designed the Lincoln Memorial. He won the contest to design the Capitol for the "modern, simplicity" design (Kerry, 2009). Gilbert designed the MN Capitol in Beaux-Arts style, a popular style in America in the early 1900s (Roethke, 2009). The building looks much a building out of Europe, yet it does not copy any of the building designs. Gilbert borrowed architectural designs from ancient Greece and Rome and Renaissance Italy and France, because they represent republic and civilization (Roethke, 2005).
Beaux-Arts style must follow "strict rules of proportion and order" (Roethke, 2005, p.34). Good thing Gilbert was such a control freak and paid attention to every little detail. He looked over the shoulder of every person working on the Capitol. He made sure that columns that came in three parts were lined up exactly to his liking (Kerry, 2009).
Gilbert designed a functional building, yet beautifully designed with artwork. The designs, building materials, and the art work inside and outside are grand and elaborate. The artwork was done by by the best known painters, sculpturists, and muralists of the time (Kerry, 2009). Gilbert did this for the experience of the artists and to attract attention (Roethke, 2005).
The Rotunda
It is an impressive view to stand in the MN State Capitol Rotunda and look up at the dome and murals. Gilbert obviously wanted people to be in awe of what they saw. The sight demands respect and appreciation.
Echos bounce of the dome making it sound like a person a distance aways is close. It makes a person want to shout to here their voice echo throughout, yet it does not seem like a good idea in the presence of such beauty to scream out. Yet it seems to represent the voice of the Minnesota people can be heard all throughout the building.
Many murals throughout the MN Capitol are of Greek gods and goddesses. The murals represent Minnesota in artistic ways of telling a story. For a person with no prior education to Greek Mythology the four murals in the upper rotunda titled "The Civilization of the Northwest" may be difficult to understand. But Roethke's explanations help to appreciate what the artist, Edward H. Simmons, was showing. The murals represent Americans westward movement. It begins with a man leaving the East, held back by "Timidity" and "Convention," but is guided by "Hope" and "Wisdom". The second mural shows the man is caught up in a bit of trouble such as "cowardice, savagery, sin, and stupidity. Next the man makes it to the new frontier and finally praises his journey that he has made his destination (Roethke, 2005).
The murals are a good representation of what most Minnesotans had to endure to move Westward. Although the building is designed elegantly as if from Europe, it still does a good job in representing Minnesotans.
Allegory and Realism
The MN State Capitol has two different artistic methods, allegory and realism. Allegory meaning the paintings are symbolic representations and realism shows actuality of forms, colors, space, and events (www.dictionary.com, 2009).
An example of realism is any of the four paintings found in the Governor's Reception Room. Each painting depicts an actual event important to MN's history. Kerry, the tour guide, said that some civil war veterans that saw the paintings had tears when he saw a face of an actual solider he fought by (2009). The "Battle of Nashville" by Howard Pyle is a famous war painting. On a gloomy day with large dark cumulous clouds, hundreds of men charging forward. Their shiny spear-ended muskets point forward and their mouths are open as if screaming in rage. The blue dressed soldiers are running through high dead brown grass with a few snow patches around. Dust is being kicked up everywhere and powdering the soldiers clothes. A tattered American flag is held high to let the soldiers know where they are throughout all the dust. One man in the front of the painting has already fallen to his death.
Examples of allegory can be found in much of the throughout the Capitol, such as the sculpture "Minnesota, the Spirit of Government" by Carl Brioschi found high above the head seat in the House of Representatives so it everyone in the room is facing the artwork. The goldish appearing stone shows a woman in the center with a crown of light around her head shooting out rays of light. To her right are two Native Americans in the headdresses. To her left are two frontiersmen. Flowers decorate the ground below them. "VOX POPULORIUM EST VOX DEF" is written in the golden background telling the representatives in the room that their voice should be the voice of who they are representing (Kerry, 2009). In the woman's left hand she is holding a book, perhaps the bible or the law. Above the sculpture is Thomas Jefferson's famous quote, "We the people..." Not certain to the meaning of everything in the sculpture. It appears that the frontiersmen and the Native American are coming together to the voice of MN to be represented.
References
Kerry (personal communication, September 12, 2009).
Roethke, L. (2009, September). The Minnesota State Capitol. Retrieved September 13, 2009 from Saint Paul College Web site: https://saintpaul.ims.mnscu.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=876697
Roethke, L. (2005). Minnesota's Capitol: A Centennial Story. Afton, MN: Afton Historical Society Press.
www.dictionary.com
Why is the MN State Capitol look the way it does and have such elaborate decorations?
Leigh Roethke does a very good job of explaining why the MN Capitol looks the way it does. "The State Capitol board of commissioners wanted a building that would announce to the rest of their country that their state was no longer a wilderness outpost; it had grown into a modern, civilized society" (2005, p.2). Since 1905 the building has attracted many people from around the United States and the globe to look in awe at the elaborate architecture and artwork inside and outside the Capitol.
The MN Capitol is an architectural design of Cass Gilbert, the same man that designed the Lincoln Memorial. He won the contest to design the Capitol for the "modern, simplicity" design (Kerry, 2009). Gilbert designed the MN Capitol in Beaux-Arts style, a popular style in America in the early 1900s (Roethke, 2009). The building looks much a building out of Europe, yet it does not copy any of the building designs. Gilbert borrowed architectural designs from ancient Greece and Rome and Renaissance Italy and France, because they represent republic and civilization (Roethke, 2005).
Beaux-Arts style must follow "strict rules of proportion and order" (Roethke, 2005, p.34). Good thing Gilbert was such a control freak and paid attention to every little detail. He looked over the shoulder of every person working on the Capitol. He made sure that columns that came in three parts were lined up exactly to his liking (Kerry, 2009).
Gilbert designed a functional building, yet beautifully designed with artwork. The designs, building materials, and the art work inside and outside are grand and elaborate. The artwork was done by by the best known painters, sculpturists, and muralists of the time (Kerry, 2009). Gilbert did this for the experience of the artists and to attract attention (Roethke, 2005).
The Rotunda
It is an impressive view to stand in the MN State Capitol Rotunda and look up at the dome and murals. Gilbert obviously wanted people to be in awe of what they saw. The sight demands respect and appreciation.
Echos bounce of the dome making it sound like a person a distance aways is close. It makes a person want to shout to here their voice echo throughout, yet it does not seem like a good idea in the presence of such beauty to scream out. Yet it seems to represent the voice of the Minnesota people can be heard all throughout the building.
Many murals throughout the MN Capitol are of Greek gods and goddesses. The murals represent Minnesota in artistic ways of telling a story. For a person with no prior education to Greek Mythology the four murals in the upper rotunda titled "The Civilization of the Northwest" may be difficult to understand. But Roethke's explanations help to appreciate what the artist, Edward H. Simmons, was showing. The murals represent Americans westward movement. It begins with a man leaving the East, held back by "Timidity" and "Convention," but is guided by "Hope" and "Wisdom". The second mural shows the man is caught up in a bit of trouble such as "cowardice, savagery, sin, and stupidity. Next the man makes it to the new frontier and finally praises his journey that he has made his destination (Roethke, 2005).
The murals are a good representation of what most Minnesotans had to endure to move Westward. Although the building is designed elegantly as if from Europe, it still does a good job in representing Minnesotans.
Allegory and Realism
The MN State Capitol has two different artistic methods, allegory and realism. Allegory meaning the paintings are symbolic representations and realism shows actuality of forms, colors, space, and events (www.dictionary.com, 2009).
An example of realism is any of the four paintings found in the Governor's Reception Room. Each painting depicts an actual event important to MN's history. Kerry, the tour guide, said that some civil war veterans that saw the paintings had tears when he saw a face of an actual solider he fought by (2009). The "Battle of Nashville" by Howard Pyle is a famous war painting. On a gloomy day with large dark cumulous clouds, hundreds of men charging forward. Their shiny spear-ended muskets point forward and their mouths are open as if screaming in rage. The blue dressed soldiers are running through high dead brown grass with a few snow patches around. Dust is being kicked up everywhere and powdering the soldiers clothes. A tattered American flag is held high to let the soldiers know where they are throughout all the dust. One man in the front of the painting has already fallen to his death.
Examples of allegory can be found in much of the throughout the Capitol, such as the sculpture "Minnesota, the Spirit of Government" by Carl Brioschi found high above the head seat in the House of Representatives so it everyone in the room is facing the artwork. The goldish appearing stone shows a woman in the center with a crown of light around her head shooting out rays of light. To her right are two Native Americans in the headdresses. To her left are two frontiersmen. Flowers decorate the ground below them. "VOX POPULORIUM EST VOX DEF" is written in the golden background telling the representatives in the room that their voice should be the voice of who they are representing (Kerry, 2009). In the woman's left hand she is holding a book, perhaps the bible or the law. Above the sculpture is Thomas Jefferson's famous quote, "We the people..." Not certain to the meaning of everything in the sculpture. It appears that the frontiersmen and the Native American are coming together to the voice of MN to be represented.
References
Kerry (personal communication, September 12, 2009).
Roethke, L. (2009, September). The Minnesota State Capitol. Retrieved September 13, 2009 from Saint Paul College Web site: https://saintpaul.ims.mnscu.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=876697
Roethke, L. (2005). Minnesota's Capitol: A Centennial Story. Afton, MN: Afton Historical Society Press.
www.dictionary.com
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum
The Weisman Museum
Driving to the museum, the Mississippi River glistened under the radiant sun. Steering around the bend, the museum’s reflective siding had the same appearance of the sparkling river, that shined the bright light right back into the eye. Although it does not totally stand out, the red brick in the back let it blend into the other buildings of the University of Minnesota campus.
It felt as if walking in a Dr. Seuss’s storybook, a whole new different world. This helped in the effect of viewing the artwork, to leave to ordinary life behind to walk into somewhere with a different perspective.
Abdi Roble
Roble’s photographs of Somalis portray the transitioning from Africa, during a time of war, to finding refuge in the United States. Through crisp black and white photographs, Roble captures the feelings and physical surroundings of the people throughout their everyday lives to create a historical document of a large social change for the Somalis.
The museum set up the photographs so the spectator can feel as he or she is walking through the same timeline of events. Spectators can see how dramatically the lives changed in all aspects of the Somalis daily life…
A photograph in the beginning of the exhibit shows a class of about ten children huddled in the middle of a hut, sitting on the dusty ground. The children are using loox boards as tools for memorization; the didactic explaining school supplies are a luxury. A later photograph shows two Somali children in a modern classroom reading, with computers around them. Another photograph showing five students outside a large school; the children are wearing backpacks probably filled with their school supplies.
“Fixing up the House” captures a Somali woman in Africa patching her house with water and dung. Another photograph taken in Africa shows a bedroom to the house, the walls are made of sticks with one stool for furniture in the room. One of the last photographs shows recent Somali family in their family room. Sturdy sheet rocked walls surround the room. In it is a three person, plush fabric couch, a coffee table, and about 32-inch TV with USA channel playing in the background.
Roble also depicts in his photographs how accomplished the Somali people are in the United States in careers and politics. A few photographs capture Somalis at their jobs, as a dentist, working for IBM, and a pharmacist that started the first Somali pharmacy in the country. Photographs show Somalis at the voter’s booth, a young woman talking to a political man (the didactic stating she was once worked with Wellstone), and the former prime minister, now a current professor at the University of Minnesota, happily sitting in his chair in front of a full wall covered bookshelf.
“Walking” taken December 2005 in Africa captures a mother and daughter carrying “grain, cooking oil, and water back to their hut across the dessert” (Weisman didactic, 2009). The work looks gruesomely difficult as they carry the heavy packs on their back. Their triceps must be burning with pain from holding their hands above their heads. The sweltering sunrays are reaching out of the photograph. The couple probably looks forward to the darker clouds every so often to cover up the sun, in hopes for a few minutes of relief from the heat. The rippled sand below them does not make the walk easier, with each step they sink down a little more causing them to pick up their feet more through the scalding hot sand. The boring landscape of bush after bush and flatland do not make the walk anymore interesting. But the shadows are getting longer, evening is approaching, and they must get home.
“Somali Style Wedding” was taken June 2005 in Columbus, Ohio. Five women hold hands in a circle. Each one is extravagantly dressed in long, loose fitted, jeweled fabric; not one of the patterns matches the others. A later didactic stating that fabric is very important to the Somali people. Their hair is neatly pulled back and curled on top of the head, hidden by headscarves on the two older women on the right. Each woman is wearing glistening chandelier earrings that capture the ceiling light above her and many metal bracelets on each wrist, covering up henna tattoos that travel up the arm. The second woman on the left has her eyes shut and lips tucked in pursed together, perhaps leading the group in song of prayer. Mirrors behind the women show they are in a large room, perhaps where the wedding will take place, but no one is there yet.
Robert Rauschenberg
Rauschenberg’s artwork will grab the attention of many Americans. From those that lived through the events to one who did not live through it but learned it in history class. Now the younger observers can now see the actual historical documents. The artwork reminds spectators that history repeats itself. Many of the headlines from forty years ago are much like modern day headlines. Such as, “Pollution Fight Gains Colleagues Here,” relates to modern “Go Green” campaigns and fights against global warming. “$25 Incentive to Take Cars to Junkyards” is almost identical to the current “Cash for Clunkers”.
One of the simpler pieces of Rauschenberg shows just two pictures. On the left is a lit candle. The stem of the candle, the wax, is painted to be appeared as a rolled up one dollar bill. The candle depicts that then, as it is today, there were worries about the economy and the worth of the American dollar. On the right is four spiders lined up from top to bottom, with no real good guess to what they represent except the sometimes the sneaky spider like activity throughout politics.
A particular piece really stuck out to current affairs. The piece had the large headlines “Arabs Boast: We Bombed Jet” and “Arabs Ambush U.S. Tourist Bus”. These titles are common in today’s newspapers, especially after September 11, 2001. The headline, “Nixon adds Toxins to Banned Weapons” is also another scary part of modern life for people worldwide today, living with the threat of biological warfare. On the bottom of the collage shows a blueprint picture of an empty small like apartment. The picture below it shows same blueprint, but with the house filled with furniture; it shows couches, chairs, rugs, hutches and etc. Consistent with the fact that Americans live in a consumer age, always wanting more stuff. This ties in with the above headlines of war; because this selfish nature of Americans is the reason many countries do not like “American Pigs”.
Untitled, 1991-93 by Douglas Argue
When walking into the Weisman Museum this large piece of artwork, covering the whole wall, cannot be missed. It depicts hundreds of chickens in wire cages, just big enough for the white chicken. When standing right next to the painting, one can look up the thirty-five rows of chickens and look deep into the painting to feel like one is actually there, almost giving a vertigo feeling. The ceiling fans painted on the top look like they are spinning on full speed. The bold red combs of the hundreds of chickens stand out from the otherwise subtle colors of the painting, that almost looks like longer strokes of pointillism. One feels like he or she could step onto the boards of the walkway between the chickens and walk for miles into the sea of chickens. A sad feeling encompasses the observer, feeling sorry for the chickens in such living conditions that so not seem to have such a good end fate to come. It is a similar feeling as the day before at Minnesota State Fair walking into the poultry barn.
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