The idea of controversial art is astounding. The specific controversies that stood out in my mind would have to be The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili and Sleepwalker by Eric Fischl. Thanks to the articles provided by professor Pacansky-Brock I had the opportunity to understand more into the ideas of interpretation and judgment. As a society we tend to believe that our lives our “perfect” or we tend to shy away from the idea wrong-doing is happening under our noses. We stand for what we believe to be the truth even if we have no clear evidence. With the paintings done by Ofili and Fischl we are forced to look back at ourselves, questioning what is wrong or question why we are having the thoughts or assumption we have reached about the artwork. For most people they do not have the chance to take an art class that reminds us not to jump to a conclusion based upon someone else’s beliefs; instead we begin to take someone’s interpretation as our own.
Controversial art forces to look within ourselves, making us yearn to know more or hear more about the current situation and why it is so upsetting to some. I love that my interpretation of either pieces of art could be considered controversial, but I have not seen either pieces in person, been able to take in size, color vividness, or any aspects as some might have. Benefits of controversial art are constantly being recognized, interpretation and judgment are two things that can change the more we observe art. Take Mayor Giuliani’s automatic response to Ofili’s artwork, without even seeing the piece in person he concluded it had to be sacrilegious since it did not fit his standards of what the Virgin Mary should look like or be seen as; or the person who wrote a letter to a local newspaper saying that he knew exactly what the Virgin Mary looked like and that painting was not it. It forces us to question who is right and who is wrong. But in the end no one is right or wrong; we can’t accurately say that the Virgin Mary was white, black, fat, thin, tall, or short. We can only confide within ourselves the idea of what type of appearance she undertook. To Ofili his depiction of the Virgin Mary was his own, he chose to share it with the world, so others may also take refuge in knowing they weren’t alone and maybe he showed the rest of the world in hopes of reminding us that we aren’t all the same and our vision of the world and everything we see is completely different and controversial. We can’t take the word of anyone without evidence; these artworks prove that we have to be able to formulate our own decisions with our own recognitions. Everywhere we turn someone is trying to censor what we see or hear, but what gives them the right or opportunity or do so? I believe that in most cases we give people like Mayor Giuliani the chance to be a vocal censor because we do not question him based upon our terms.
Fischl’s work allows us to be face to face with promiscuity in a sense, we are forced to look within ourselves and our lives to dig out deep thoughts we believed wrong or the ideas we hide or deemed unrealistic. His artwork made us face our demons in many senses, the pasts we denied even though they were right in front of our face. Looking at his work even on a computer screen it makes me think back to the times I used to block from my memory, when I was 9 or so and my biological mother had me sleeping in a car, because she had used all the rent money for drugs once again. But I would never admit to myself or anyone else that she was a drug addict no matter how bad the times were or how much I was in pain.
There are so many benefits to controversial artwork. Allowing us to see that someone else may feel exactly the same as we do, so we can “vent” into a painting, sculpture, drawing, or picture. Seeing a piece of Fischl’s work I believe that I could walk away feeling better about my past situations. His works force us to see what is wrong with not only our lives but the lives of others, without holding judgment if we can help it. Our interpretation of his work can be drastically different then the next person who looks at it, all due to our previous experiences and belief systems. Controversial art allows us the freedom to express ourselves through our own interpretations.
Imagine if all art was conformed and the standards every artist was held to be enveloped. The world might lose an important opportunity to get across independent, social, or political beliefs. I think if art was predetermined, it would be in a sense telling us to all bite our tongues. Art is an expression of self, allowing openness for interpretation and connectivity. Taking that away would surely conform most of the world, but who wants to be told how to live their lives and told how to express your happiness, sadness, hatred, love, and any of your beliefs no matter how different or alike from the “majority” of the world. I think it would be impossible for art to be cased or held back from the public view. Each day we step outside we have the opportunity to witness more art, even art that is deemed “tagging” hasn’t been able to be conformed, everywhere we turn there is something else added to the world as we see it. We can’t ask writers to stop writing everything they feel, so how we can we ask artists to stop creating art through their raw emotions. That would no longer be considered art, but something created with restrictions and constraints to feed what other people believe we should see, so they are censoring our lives.
After focusing my time on the art work for this week and the topic of controversial artwork, interpretation and judgment I learned that my ideas are my own. I feel that I need to make sure not to believe in someone or something without finding evidence for myself. I also learned not to judge anything, especially artwork without truly thinking about why the artist made it, and to interpret it to my own standards and not to anyone else’s belief. I am waiting for others to post about this topic and see if others are feeling the same way that I do, which I hope there are some. But overall my reaction to the artwork was my own, I believe after reading the articles it better helped me understand that controversial artwork has many benefits to help create different meanings and interpretations, that peoples judgment often clouds their response. I am happy knowing when I take a look at anything done by Ofili, Fischl, or any artist for that matter I can formulate my own unique response and judgment.
Controversial art forces to look within ourselves, making us yearn to know more or hear more about the current situation and why it is so upsetting to some. I love that my interpretation of either pieces of art could be considered controversial, but I have not seen either pieces in person, been able to take in size, color vividness, or any aspects as some might have. Benefits of controversial art are constantly being recognized, interpretation and judgment are two things that can change the more we observe art. Take Mayor Giuliani’s automatic response to Ofili’s artwork, without even seeing the piece in person he concluded it had to be sacrilegious since it did not fit his standards of what the Virgin Mary should look like or be seen as; or the person who wrote a letter to a local newspaper saying that he knew exactly what the Virgin Mary looked like and that painting was not it. It forces us to question who is right and who is wrong. But in the end no one is right or wrong; we can’t accurately say that the Virgin Mary was white, black, fat, thin, tall, or short. We can only confide within ourselves the idea of what type of appearance she undertook. To Ofili his depiction of the Virgin Mary was his own, he chose to share it with the world, so others may also take refuge in knowing they weren’t alone and maybe he showed the rest of the world in hopes of reminding us that we aren’t all the same and our vision of the world and everything we see is completely different and controversial. We can’t take the word of anyone without evidence; these artworks prove that we have to be able to formulate our own decisions with our own recognitions. Everywhere we turn someone is trying to censor what we see or hear, but what gives them the right or opportunity or do so? I believe that in most cases we give people like Mayor Giuliani the chance to be a vocal censor because we do not question him based upon our terms.
Fischl’s work allows us to be face to face with promiscuity in a sense, we are forced to look within ourselves and our lives to dig out deep thoughts we believed wrong or the ideas we hide or deemed unrealistic. His artwork made us face our demons in many senses, the pasts we denied even though they were right in front of our face. Looking at his work even on a computer screen it makes me think back to the times I used to block from my memory, when I was 9 or so and my biological mother had me sleeping in a car, because she had used all the rent money for drugs once again. But I would never admit to myself or anyone else that she was a drug addict no matter how bad the times were or how much I was in pain.
There are so many benefits to controversial artwork. Allowing us to see that someone else may feel exactly the same as we do, so we can “vent” into a painting, sculpture, drawing, or picture. Seeing a piece of Fischl’s work I believe that I could walk away feeling better about my past situations. His works force us to see what is wrong with not only our lives but the lives of others, without holding judgment if we can help it. Our interpretation of his work can be drastically different then the next person who looks at it, all due to our previous experiences and belief systems. Controversial art allows us the freedom to express ourselves through our own interpretations.
Imagine if all art was conformed and the standards every artist was held to be enveloped. The world might lose an important opportunity to get across independent, social, or political beliefs. I think if art was predetermined, it would be in a sense telling us to all bite our tongues. Art is an expression of self, allowing openness for interpretation and connectivity. Taking that away would surely conform most of the world, but who wants to be told how to live their lives and told how to express your happiness, sadness, hatred, love, and any of your beliefs no matter how different or alike from the “majority” of the world. I think it would be impossible for art to be cased or held back from the public view. Each day we step outside we have the opportunity to witness more art, even art that is deemed “tagging” hasn’t been able to be conformed, everywhere we turn there is something else added to the world as we see it. We can’t ask writers to stop writing everything they feel, so how we can we ask artists to stop creating art through their raw emotions. That would no longer be considered art, but something created with restrictions and constraints to feed what other people believe we should see, so they are censoring our lives.
After focusing my time on the art work for this week and the topic of controversial artwork, interpretation and judgment I learned that my ideas are my own. I feel that I need to make sure not to believe in someone or something without finding evidence for myself. I also learned not to judge anything, especially artwork without truly thinking about why the artist made it, and to interpret it to my own standards and not to anyone else’s belief. I am waiting for others to post about this topic and see if others are feeling the same way that I do, which I hope there are some. But overall my reaction to the artwork was my own, I believe after reading the articles it better helped me understand that controversial artwork has many benefits to help create different meanings and interpretations, that peoples judgment often clouds their response. I am happy knowing when I take a look at anything done by Ofili, Fischl, or any artist for that matter I can formulate my own unique response and judgment.
5 comments:
Great post. I had a lot of difficulty with this question because I see some art controversial because I take it personal and I know I shouldn't. It is not that I want to take it personal but my character has set a boundary on itself that makes me feel awkward when viewing controversial art to me. Controversial art is different for everybody based on their bias. My biases are toward x-rated painting. I don't mind nudity but slandered exposed paintings make me feel uneasy.
I do agree though that just because I am uneasy with that we should do away with it, I have control of myself to just not look. Thanks for keeping up with the posting to allow me to reply.
At the begining when I was reading the essay by professor Michael Davis about Chris Ofili's, Holy Virgin Mary, I thought that Mayor Guiliani was right. But then readingt the article by Terry Barrett, helped me see things in a different light.
Now I think that mayor Guiliani is closed minded and how can he comment on something he didn't even saw? Art is in the eye of the beholder. Artists can interpret images as they see fit. In reality nobody has known the Virging Mary. And if someone wants to paint her with oriental or black features, go ahead. I thought that we have freedom of speech, expression, etc...
I agree, GREAT post. Controversial art is more interesting, it lets us know that not everyone is going to agree on everything & we think that different things are beautiful, and others might think it's offensive.
Great post. I like your thoughts and self reflection. I feel the same way about many of the ideas in your blog.
I too was draw to Ofili's painting because of the color's, the flow of the blue gown, what I thought were butterflies. But most importantly it's representation of the Holy Virgin Mary as an African American women. I think it's wonderful that her image can be represented in many cultures.
Your posts have all been thoughtful, thought provoking, and personal. There is one thing that I disagree with. You are not a dork. I really like the images you have chosen to decorate your blog and I'm glad that you feel comfortable sharing so much about of yourself with the rest of the class. I plan to keep up with your special posts as well as your required posts. You write from the heart.
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