Julie Norman and Jim Shaw
Julie Mehretu
Moganna (pt II) 2012
This is a piece of work that is 180x144 inches, made with
ink and acrylic on canvas. This drawing
contains several pops of colored lines that lead the viewer’s eyes across the
work, which is a nice detail going against the primarily used black and white
etchings. On the left of the work is a
perfect dot pattern, and on the right is a geometric pattern resembling a crossword
puzzle. The detail put into the fine
mark making is extraordinary and requires you to get up close and personal with
the work. Julie explains that this work
was a performative piece, and says that experimentation was used to create
coalesce ideas from her emotions and thoughts, such as pain and pleasure.
Transients 2006
This is a piece of work that is 48x60 inches, made with
acrylic and ink, on gessoed canvas. This
drawing contains pops of color in the shape of circles and triangles, and has
heavy contrast with the dark marks and the light canvas. To the top left of the canvas there looks to
be a faint tower-crane like figure, leading us to believe that she was inspired
by architecture. On the right, there are
harsh black lines sporadically used to show movement. Her marks are so detailed that it’s hard to
fully see them from afar. Although they
are so small, you can an idea of destruction and landscape.
Empirical Construction 2003
This piece of work is 10x15 feet, made with ink and
synthetic polymer paint on canvas. At
first glance, you wonder if the piece contains small flags with the perspective
of them being hung or displayed.
Especially the color choices she has made, it hints that this work is
political, which is exactly what Mehretu was going for. Many of her works represent her ideas on politics
visually and conceptually, then it is formulated to a perfect masterpiece that
she calls “DNA.”
Jim Shaw
Title & Date Unknown
This is a graphite drawing of Vincent Price, the famous
actor known from many horror films. His face is melting. The look on his face seems distressed, for he
is looking off to the side, downwards.
It is just his head, so the work is done in the center of the
paper. The hair shows strong highlights
and the skin gives off a melting affect.
The bottom of the head is stringy which adds a nice element of texture
and that this head could be its own entity.
Shaw uses a lot of pop culture in his works, and it is very hard to find
the titles, dates, sizes, and materials used in his drawings seeing that they
are not shown on websites, blogs or articles, and only shown in books.
Title & Date Unknown
This is an ink drawing of Donald Trump, and it is shown
hatching was used to create this image. Seeing
that the images of Trump are shown throughout, his face is being distorted and
seen as smeared throughout the page. It
is hard to tell whether this has a negative or positive connotation towards the
president, but seeing that there are other drawings of Trump done by Shaw, that
are displayed in a very unflattering way, you get the hint that maybe the
artist does not like him.
Title & Date Unknown
This is a graphite drawing of JFK. The face on has a
checkered pattern each with a part of the face that doesn’t go there. It is like a puzzle, where the pieces are
rearranged, but part of the face is still visible, so you are able to see who
it is. It is very interesting to think about how this drawing was done. Did he cut his piece and make the pieces out
of order? Did he individually focus on a part of the face and draw it in a
place it wasn’t meant to be? Without having to know the answer, you can tell
that it is a well rendered political piece, but the opinion on the person
showed is unknown.
Jim Shaw's work is really interesting. I like the way he distorts these famous figures. I really enjoy the Vincent Price piece. He is an actor known for horror and Shaw has made him into this somewhat terrifying creature. I feel that fact these pieces are in black and white give them more of a darker vibe.
ReplyDeleteYou’ve mentioned that finding Jim Shaw’s work records prove a difficult task, and thus most of his work remains untitled and undated. I am wondering whether this is intentional? My senses tell me that indeed it is. Without providing any working title, or statement being displayed next to these pieces in a gallery and museum the pervasiveness of the subjects in history is sufficient alone in speaking the thought process of the artist and the context behind every assembled piece. Therefore, there is no necessity to have any information accompany these pieces, because a person with high to little amount of info would be able to discern where these come from. For example, the piece of Donald Trump with the distorted and liquified faces gives an extreme accurate representation of what the subject is known for. Regardless of political affiliation, distaste or praise, one thing that both sides cannot deny is the objective assessment of the incoherence, narcissistic, and selfish nature of the current president elect, and the piece captures this notion, that is already in so many minds, perfectly.
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