Impression

When I first arrived at the Hirshorn Museum, I was not excited because it was cold, I'm a country girl and don't like cities, and I had been there before. For some reason, I guess I expected things to be basically the same as they had been the last time I was there. When I got inside, my thoughts began to change and my negativity went away. The first thing that really stuck out to me was the exhibit called Damage Control. The pieces all appeared to be things like art or other objects that had been destroyed in some way. This really struck me because someone had taken so much time to make the original object, and then it was destroyed. This could say a lot about life and relationships. Sometimes you work really hard on something, only to have it ruined and sometimes you sabotage yourself. My favorite part of this exhibit was the writing on the wall. There were various sentences that essentially taught the viewer how to destroy something. One said; "Cut out any portion of a painting you like or a piece of paper and throw it off a high building." Unfortunately, we were not supposed to photograph these pieces in the exhibit. However, before I realized this, I did manage to get a few. 

After walking around a bit, I found a room that appeared to be somewhat of a resting area, complete with couches facing a large window overlooking the city. As I walked inside, I looked to the left and encountered my favorite piece at the Hirshorn. It was a Sol LeWitt piece titled "Wall Drawing #1113: On a wall, a triangle within a rectangle, each with broken bands of color." It was brightly colored and large scale, covering a big portion of the wall. Based on the title, you could tell that LeWitt had probably spent a lot of time making pieces like this and his labors paid off. It was very cool to look at.

It seemed as though most of the areas in the Hirshorn were camera restricted, which was frustrating. After viewing many pieces, I decided to get some lunch. After that, I made my way towards the sculpture garden at the National Gallery. I had been to the National Gallery before on a choir field trip in high school, but it had been a long time. I remembered the house that essentially played tricks on your eyes when you look at it because that had really struck a chord with me. It was cool to see it again because I had often thought about it when discussing other works in various art classes. When we got inside, I found significantly more works that I enjoyed and connected to compared to the Hirshorn. 

One of my favorites was Calder's Mobiles. They were large scale mobiles that hung from the ceiling and created various shadows all over the room. I thought it was really cool the way he used light to create shadows that were actually part of his piece. 

After wandering around a bit, I finally found the piece I wanted to use for my discussion. That piece was Roy Lichtenstein's "Painting with Statue of Liberty." After choosing this, it was almost time to leave. I reflected on my experience and realized that it doesn't matter if you had visited a museum before because there would always be new things and exhibits to view.

Description

Description

Perception of Object Phenomena: "Painting with Statue of Liberty" is a large, brightly colored painting that shows an angle of the Statue of Liberty's head on the right side and abstract paint strokes and shapes on the left side. The paint strokes and shapes are placed in random places on the work. In the center, slightly right, there is a flesh colored design with the black striped pattern behind it. There are a lot of bold colors in this piece such as black, yellow, bright blue, bright green, and bright red. The Statue of Liberty is viewed at from a downward angle. The colors used in the picture of the Statue of Liberty are black and yellow. Behind the posterized Statue of Liberty is a diagonal line patter that is also repeated next to the flesh colored design. 

Association: This piece reminds me immensely of comic books based on the diagonal line halftone pattern and bright colors. Since many of Lichtenstein's pieces have this aspect, it reminds me of his other pieces as well. The Statue of Liberty makes me think of America and patriotism. The brush strokes remind me of bacon based on the shape they have. Due to the random placement of these brush strokes, they also are reminiscent of someone who is testing out different colors or shapes. Sometimes artists use a separate sheet of paper when they are making a work so that they can try out different colors, shapes or strokes and the left side of this piece is reminiscent of that. The flesh colored design looks a bit like a vertical bed headboard due to it's long, decorative, symmetrical pattern. I have seen many decorative headboards that look similar to this. The bright colors and layout of the elements also seem reminiscent of some kind of drug induced experience. The bold colors also look reminiscent of the 1980s, when bold colors and shapes were popular.

Emotive Response: Viewing this painting gives the viewer a slight sense of unease. The off center intricate design would make anyone's OCD go nuts. The brush strokes are chaotic and all over the place making the viewer feel a sense of chaos as well. On the other hand, the right side showing the posterized version of the Statue of Liberty is very clean cut, contrasting the feel of chaos on the left. The bright colors could possibly make the viewer feel "energized" in a way. You don't know what to look at next due to all the bright colors and placement.

Context

Context

Lichenstein's work is very abstract and surrealistic. He was a founder and practitioner of Pop Art, a movement that countered the techniques and concepts of Abstract Expressionism with images and techniques taken from popular culture. Since he grew up in New York, he was not unfamiliar with the Statue of Liberty, his subject in this piece. Lichtenstein was very influenced by the American West and comic book art. These were both aspects that he repeated in many of his works. He spent an amount of time creating paintings for children of cartoons such as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. He greatly enjoyed comic book art which was a theme that he repeated in many of his paintings including this one. Many comic book artists used halftone patterns and stripes which Lichtenstein emulated in his pieces. Painting straight-forward, direct pieces began to bore him and he decided to incorporate real issues such as war, romance, and politics into his work. 

Due to this desire to make real art about real, current issues with bold colors and shapes, Lichtenstein's work was considered Pop Art. Other artists that were notable in the Pop Art movement were Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, and Richard Hamilton. Perhaps Lichtenstein was somewhat influenced by these artists.

He mixed a simple, cartoon style with deep, heavy issues. "Painting With the Statue of Liberty" was made in 1983. This time period could have influenced the bright, bold colors since that was a very popular trend in that time period. Fashion, movies, and television all seemed to use bright, bold colors at this time. Lichenstein may have also been influenced by events that were happening in the world. The American Iconography greatly suggest his statements on politics. America was in the midst of the Cold War. There was a great concern of a nuclear war. For decades, there had been this constant silent battle of countries to show who had the most patriotism and who was the best. A lot of people had a large sense of patriotism. This may have influenced him to use American iconography in his pieces in order to draw his viewers in. People wanted to see more of the country the took so much pride in. 

Analysis

Analysis

Artist's Intentions: In order to catch his viewer's attention, Lichtenstein used bright colors and American Iconography. His abstraction combined with his use of Pop Art are used to make the viewer really think about the piece. It is not something that you can look at and immediately understand. You need to spend a few minutes thinking about all of the elements and what they represent. Lichtenstein was most like trying to comment on politics and America, but also show his love of the brush stroke due to this repeated theme in his other works. The artist wishes to create contrast with his use of clean-cut bold lines and shapes and chaotic, randomly placed brush strokes.

Meaning: Lichtenstein is obviously trying to comment on issues in the United States. The Statue of Liberty is a representation of this. Perhaps the uneasiness of the off center layout represents chaos in America due to the United States being in the midst of the Cold War at the time this was made. The bold colors could suggest that despite the chaos, the country is still strong and united. Lichtenstein is also perhaps being satirical. Combining American iconography with bold colors is something he knew would draw viewers in, so perhaps he did this to prove that this is what people want to see; "idols" of their country. This means that people art more drawn to the iconography of their own country rather than another Also, the brush strokes may represent his love of art. In the midst of this chaos, Lichtenstein has art as his sanctuary. Painting may have been a good distraction amidst the madness and perhaps he wishes to inspire others to take the same path that he has taken.

Judgement: I believe that the work is very successful. The piece clearly evokes certain emotions from the viewer while looking at it; pride and chaos. The colors, large scale, and elements draw the viewer in. As I stated before, the piece makes the viewer think. This is something that many artists aim to do when making their art. He plays off of the American sense of pride and uses it to his advantage to capture attention. His clean cut lines contrasted with the chaotic brush strokes create variety and keep the viewer's interest.

Personal Preference: I am personally drawn to pieces with bold lines and bright colors so naturally, that is why I chose this one. I love the comic book style and use of American iconography. I enjoy using bold shapes and colors in my own art, so seeing this piece was inspiring. I also enjoy pieces that do not have a blatantanly obvious message and use bold, familiar imagery. Lichtenstein is a truly inspiring artist to look look up to.