Oscar Schlemmer “Triadic Ballet” 1972
Frances Bodomo “Afronauts” 2014
Stan Vanderbeek “Movie Mural” 1968
Bruce Conner “Crossroads”
One of the works that stood out to me the most when visiting the Dreamlands exhibit was Bruce Conner’s piece called ‘CROSSROADS’. The piece is a vast dark room in which the audience circles around a screen where declassified military footage of an atomic bomb test is projected in striking black and white clarity. The footage was taken in the Marshall Islands in 1946. Many different angles of the explosion are played over and over on the screen at varying speeds and closeness to the center of the explosion. While this is happening, a repetitive monotonous type of song is playing in the background, in harmony with the explosions. The sound is reminiscent of a type of siren or hurricane alarm, but somehow provides a sense of haunting beauty.
This work caught my attention so seriously because of my interest in the strange science of nature and our environment as well as my opposition to violence. As I watched the piece I found myself not to be horrified by the strength of the weapon as I should be, but instead hypnotized by the infinite symmetry within the explosion. Time seemed to stop existing, and I found a strange unity between the patterns of nature and science as I watched the explosion roll across the screen over and over. The explosion felt infinitely tiny and gigantic, and every detail and piece of dust seemed to have its own universe within it. I felt afraid but more so in unity with the explosion itself. It felt that everything existed within it and that the huge catastrophe also meant nothing.
Time is very prevalent in this piece of work, both because of the speed in which the explosion was portrayed (which was very slowed down) and because of the repetition of the explosion. At times I couldn’t tell if I was watching the same footage again or if it was from a different angle because of the combination of speed and repetition, so I just kept sitting there and watching the piece. The use of time is what made the piece so impactful and what allowed the viewers to be so struck by the power of the footage.
(Extra credit)
Jean-Michel Basquiat “Hollywood Africans” 1983
A piece from the Human Interest collection that I particularly liked was Basquiat’s Piece “Hollywood Africans”. I feel that within this portrait Basquiat was trying to capture his stream of consciousness while referring to a particular issue. Within the painting many words such as “Hollywood African” and “gangsterism” and “tobacco” as well as “sugar cane” are written across the painting. It seems to me as though he was writing words that people associate(d) with black actors in Hollywood and the limited roles available to them at the time and still in the present.
I feel that in this portrait Basquiat was trying to preserve his thoughts and ideas about the reality of Hollywood for black actors. I feel that he was trying to convey himself and his own mind within the piece as well, as the piece is presented in a relatively abstract manner.
While looking at a still image, one is able to examine more easily some of the tiny details within a piece. In addition to this, the way that the information is absorbed is very different. The viewer can choose when to look at what when they look at a still image, but when someone looks at a moving image, the artist has the power to control the audience’s sense of time and order.
