“Our Town” by Kerry James Marshall
As previously posted we went on a road trip to Bentonville, Arkansas to see the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. There were of course lots of great art there by famous artists, there were many works by artists that I am not familiar with. The above work caught my attention for several reasons. First, there is no frame, it is on canvas but is not stretched into a frame. I have no idea of the significance of that but it is different.
Second, there is a lot of tension in the work, nice houses with yards and birds bearing ribbons and a nice cheery title on one hand and on the other the two kids seem angry about something. The boy is glaring at the girl who looks like she is on an angry mission and she has thought bubble popping out of her head going to one of the houses.
Third, there appears to be graffiti to the left of the boy. Overall things don’t seem to be all that great in the photo and much of that tension is due to the graffiti. The piece overall made me think a lot and try and resolve things in my head and figure it all out. I don’t know much about art but I am not one who thinks that art is just one thing. Some art is relaxing and makes me think relaxing thoughts. Some art inspires, other makes me angry, and some art makes me think. Art can be a lot of different things. This piece made me think.
Graffiti has a way of upsetting and unsettling things, it certainly does me in certain settings such as neighborhoods and office areas. Graffiti in hard to get to drainage ditches doesn’t bother me at all, nor does graffiti in Tulsa’s only “permission zone” (that I know about) doesn’t either. If only it were that simple? Since I started posting about graffiti I now see it everywhere.
To me that there is an interesting parallel between graffiti and my hobby geocaching. They both appropriate public spaces for unintended uses. One difference is that graffiti is meant to display and be seen where geocachers seek to hide their work from the general public (aka “muggles.”) Another difference is that most people are ok with geocaching (except for some bomb squad units in various towns and cemetery managers in South Carolina) but are not ok with graffit.
You can read about Kerry James Marshall by hitting the link. He is a very interesting guy.
Really intriguing capture/post for the day! I really enjoyed this!! Hope your week is going well!
Sylvia
often stretched canvas (vs canvas board) is not framed .. in this case I am see why. A frame would distract from the action in the painting .. if that was my painting, I’d put gaffers tape or black masking tape around the sides to cover the nails or pins that the artist used to keep the stretched canvas on its interior frame.
It is a very provocative painting and I like your correlation between geocaching and graffiti.
A lot of these so called “modern” paintings are not at all to my taste – possibly because I simply cannot see rhyme nor reason for them. However, give me a Turner or Russell Flint then I go all weak-kneed. Having said that, I do appreciate the time and effort you have taken to look at and see a lot of what the artist has painted – I’m afraid I would have walked by possibly missing something through my own narrow minded attitude.
Fascinating piece and thank you for taking the trouble to write it.
I love the correlation you make between geocaching and graffiti, too. That is fascinating to me. I never made the connection, and the idea that one is intended to be sun, but the other hidden. Makes me wonder what else is common among other groups of people/hobbyists and graff writers. Thanks for posting this, Yogi. I really love this piece of art. It’s troubled *and* colorful; the quaintness of “Our Town” and singing birds and the intimations of graffiti. Really wonderful. And, the red car metaphor applies, fer ser. Now that I’m driving one I see it everywhere. The same with graffiti. It is all around me. Who knew? Thank you!