Many pieces of art in the museum i had seen before on past trips when i was younger yet there were many that I had not noticed or hadn’t been created yet. A half hour into my journey I stumbled across the piece titled Be Afraid by Ken DeRoux. The piece of art is seemingly an American flag.
Upon closer observation you can see that it has writing on it and various symbols. If i was to take a step closer I would see that the writing is from presidents both past and present. The piece of artwork was created in 2005. I found this very important, simply because the US is very critical of our current president; they seem to have forgotten what was handed to him.
Some of the quotes were above my head. Either I hadn’t paid as close of attention to politics as I should have or they simply were not well known. Reading them I felt anger, frustration, and sadness. I am angry at the conflicts our country has gotten pulled into over the last 10 years. I am frustrated at the way it has been handled and i mourn for the loss of so many innocent people on both sides.
One of the quotes read "North Korea's missiles can reach Alaska." This was a quote taken from Senator Lisa Murkowski. Previously I had never heard this and was amused at the fact that North Korea's long range missile tests had failed miserably within the last year.
Another point of interest for me in this piece of artwork was the Security camera in the corner. Im not sure what exactly the Artist meant for us to think about but I immediately thought about the patriot act. I have mixed feelings on "big brother" watching over us. On one hand I fear for the safety of myself, my family, and my country. I know that having the government listening in on our phone calls, screening us at the airport, and taking people into custody without actually arresting them is important. I just fear that it is a slippery slope. The tears around this section lined with red paint leads me to believe that the artwork is saying something similar.
While i haven’t learned anything about myself from this piece of art I do believe that it is important to think about where we are and how we got here. How our actions have reactions. Finally that the people we elect into government may not be the best people in the world but they do the best they can.
For some reason my post shows up as being put up at 12:13am and not 11:13pm.
ReplyDeleteJesse - this is great. I like that piece too and I think what you bring about about context and how it applies to art is fascinating. Nice work!
ReplyDeletegrade: 10/10