JUEVES, EL VEINTICINCO DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I'd been talking with a friend about where the chain is going in a recent painting I'm half-way through. (the She-Wolf with apt Romulus and Remus replacements) I like the mystery of ambiguity and like to open possibilities of 'reading' rather than hammer down the idea. Roy Dunningham summed it up pretty well in a statement from this article,
"...This diversity of sources creates a guessing game for viewers. When are the sometimes strange combinations of images truly impulsive as in pure surrealism, and when is there a deliberate agenda to be deciphered by the viewer? Sometimes it may be the sheer fun of creating visual puns and conundrums or some serious social comment to which the text gives a clue..."
I recently remembered a work that I had seen while over in Washington DC, a Martin Puryear sculpture that uses the same ambiguity or multiple reading - Le Prix (2005, below right) I think, is a fantastic allegory and analogy for being an artist. What is the ring of the chain being suspended by? What is pulling it? Where is it trying to get to? The title Le Prix, in translation can either mean the prize or the price - to me, commenting on the so-called muse of art-making, the sacrifice of the artist and the rewards of making art.
I'd been talking with a friend about where the chain is going in a recent painting I'm half-way through. (the She-Wolf with apt Romulus and Remus replacements) I like the mystery of ambiguity and like to open possibilities of 'reading' rather than hammer down the idea. Roy Dunningham summed it up pretty well in a statement from this article,
"...This diversity of sources creates a guessing game for viewers. When are the sometimes strange combinations of images truly impulsive as in pure surrealism, and when is there a deliberate agenda to be deciphered by the viewer? Sometimes it may be the sheer fun of creating visual puns and conundrums or some serious social comment to which the text gives a clue..."
I recently remembered a work that I had seen while over in Washington DC, a Martin Puryear sculpture that uses the same ambiguity or multiple reading - Le Prix (2005, below right) I think, is a fantastic allegory and analogy for being an artist. What is the ring of the chain being suspended by? What is pulling it? Where is it trying to get to? The title Le Prix, in translation can either mean the prize or the price - to me, commenting on the so-called muse of art-making, the sacrifice of the artist and the rewards of making art.
