Art Gallery Visit: 2

Gallery Visit 2

Orlando Museum of Art

The Exhibition

 
The title of the Exhibition is XX-XY/Gender Representation in Art. The pieces in this exhibition are feminine in nature, themed around representing women in unique ways. Some represent the female figure, others female clothing.

The Gallery

The gallery is decorated with white walls and wood panel flooring.  The lighting is focused on each piece of artwork, giving emphasis to the pieces. There is also some faint recessed lighting in the ceiling. The gallery is basically one giant room with small cutout like walls dividing the room and providing spaces to display artwork. The gallery has a clean cut, modern feeling about it. It is a wide open space allowing the viewer to navigate around in from many different points in a rectangular setting.


The Artworks

The artwork is mainly arranged in squared areas for the viewer to examine at each time. Each exhibition has its own squared area. Some pieces are displayed in the middle of the floor on stands, others are posted on the walls or the dividers. The pieces are a good distance apart of maybe 10 feet. Each piece is labeled with a small index card sized inscription somewhere on the wall or on the display stand beneath the sculptures. The artwork of this exhibition is all representational of the female body. Some of the pieces are a realistic representation, others are nonrepresentational. A few of the pieces are female figures missing critical body parts, such as a head or torso. Others portray the entire face and body. 

Art Criticism

 This sculpture was done by Lesley Dill. It is called  Dada Poem Wedding Dress, and was made in  1994. The artist used acrylic and thread on paper on a mannequin. It stands as 64 x 60 x 70 in. This dress is a style from centuries before that would have been worn formally. The dress is displayed on a mannequin as if it had just made or altered for an occasion. This surrealist style dress has a paper like appearance and has fragments of words done different sizes and styles of black font. Over the left breast, there is a hole that looks as if it were a gunshot wound in which the dress bled blue ink. The contrasting colors of the white and black add emphasis to the words on the dress. There are a variety of letters and fonts used, but together they create unity in the composition. The form itself is important as well. The 'fabric' of the dress reminds me of used newspapers, or even collage style ransom notes. The dress itself has an eerie feeling about it and sense of mystery. Interpretation: It can be concluded from the title that the fragments of words on the dress as pieces to a poem. However, we do not know what the poem is or what it's about. You can try to look at it from all sides and you don't find a complete word that can hint at the meaning. We can only get a sense of the meaning through looking at the dress itself. The dress looks as if it could be an old bridal gown, possibly. It has a mysterious presence that creates interest. The term 'Dada' in the title relates to the surrealism of the piece. Surrealism is created in the odd paper style of clothing and strange patterning of letters, along with the 'gunshot hole'.

This piece is done by Andy Warhol in 1967, entitled  Marilyn Monroe. It was created on screenprint on paper and is an edition of 250, sized at 36 x 36 in. This work is representational of the sex icon on the time, Marilyn Monroe of course. This facial portrait of the model is done in a cartoon style. Pink emphasizes her key famous facial figures, the lips, eyes and beauty mark. Her skin is done in an unnatural light shade of pink. The coloring is similar to expressionism styling. The piece comes together with color, form, emphasis, value and balance as the main elements and principles used. The dark shadowing of value creates the form of her face and her features are balanced by the shading. Interpretation: This work is a recreation of the sex icon Marilyn Monroe, who has been worshiped for decades for her exquisite beauty. Warhol captured her amazing features in this up close portrait. He up played her sexy features, creating more interest in the piece. The pink coloring is supportive in representing her feminine beauty.

This pieces is titled Inch by Inch, by Edward Ruscha, an American artist, and was done between 1987-1988. It is made of  acrylic paint on canvas at 36 x 36 in. This nonrepresentational form is the silhouette of a woman in a 19th century style dress. She is displayed on the canvas as if she is merely floating, with her arms in a presenting position close to her chest. The modified figure is done in an illuminating shade of white, as if she were glowing, with an orb of light beaming around her. It makes the figure seem as tho it is a spirit of some sort or divine being that is not mortal. During the 80's, artists were making a lot of color contrasting pieces, as seen here. The contrast of the white figure on the black background creates emphasis. The focus is on the form of the figure, rather shape since its two dimensional. The floating affect provides movement as well. This piece is iconic of a ghostly figure. The artist may have wanted it to resemble someone from the past as if they are visiting us as a spirit. Interpretation: The silhouette of the woman is done in a formal style of dress, as if she is returning to us from a an earlier century, possibly from the 1800's. She is presented in an iconic ghostly form, with her arms in a presenting position, almost as if she is before us from some purpose. Maybe to give something or provide some clue to a missing puzzle.