Does The Art You Love Suggest Who You Are?
What Are Your Personal Favorites?
Although diverse and somewhat eclectic, my nine favorite pieces of art suggest, I think, something about who I am and what makes me tick. So my challenge today is for you to ponder and contemplate what you love to look at. In doing so, I would suggest you may discover parts of yourself you never knew existed. Try it. Look around and see what takes your eye; you may be surprised.
Port Mansfield Pier
Port Mansfield Pier, in Texas, is a photograph I took in February 2020. I traveled solo through the USA in my van, 'Bertram,' and spent many weeks on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico around Corpus Christi. It had been the first time in my life I was comfortable being alone. It was a time of reflection. It was time for assessment. It was a time to prepare for the next part of my life. A life without fences, barriers, and rules, without the constriction of religion, without politics, and a time to enjoy. A time of peace. I stayed parked by this pier for two weeks. I stared at it for hours. It was old and broken, no longer in use. And yet it was beautiful. Not fit for its original purpose and dangerous, but still beautiful to look upon. The stories it could tell. The weather it had endured. It reminded me of myself. What things around you do the same?
Skull Of A Skeleton With Burning Cigarette
This painting is part of the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It was painted in the winter of 1885–86 at the Royal Academy of Fine arts as a satirical comment on conservative academic practices. Van Gogh disliked his time at the academy. So why do I like it? I have always enjoyed skulls, whether painted or tattooed. I don't see skulls in any negative light but as part of our journey through life. Dark, mysterious, intriguing, and yet amusing. After all, a skeleton lies within each of us, but just like life, we never think about it often until it is sick and goes awry.
Evolution My Ass
Although influenced by Charles Darwin, this painting was painted by Gary Drew. The idea from Drew was, "if the monkey had not genetically evolved into humankind and, in fact, remained a monkey, would it have done a better job than us?"
I love the look and idea of this painting. As humans, we often take our position in our world for granted. A reminder is always helpful to keep us grounded and not as God-like creatures that kill other species and other humans at will. I love seeing the monkey with tattoos and wearing his cool t-shirt. Anything with a skull always gets my attention, and I'm always left with the question, would another species have made the same mistakes as we have done throughout history? Or, maybe, would there have been a significant difference? Lots of questions and no answers, but I like that.
The Scream
Edvard Munch painted The Scream or Shriek in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of art's most iconic images, symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition.
Munch recalled that he had been out for a walk at sunset when suddenly the setting sun's light turned the clouds "a blood red." He sensed an "infinite scream passing through nature." Scholars have located the spot on a fjord overlooking Oslo. They have suggested other explanations for the unnaturally orange sky, ranging from the effects of a volcanic eruption to a psychological reaction by Munch to his sister's commitment to a nearby lunatic asylum.
Why do I like this painting? I can relate to this painting on a personal level. As a child and later as an adult, I could not describe how I felt at my worst and lowest points. The Scream illustrates my condition in those dreadful moments.
Mural On Indian Red Ground
My favorite Jason Pollock painting is a 1950 abstract expressionist drip painting in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art collection. It is valued at a staggering $250 million. This classic is densely painted with rich tones of rusty reds and spirals of thick, dripped paint; and is unusually large and considered one of Pollock's most extraordinary works. So why do I like this controversial painting? At various times in my life, I have seen or experienced different emotions in Pollock's paintings. From madness and pain as a child to later times of homelessness and depression. To me, it depicts our complex lives: Socioeconomic, religious, and political control constructs, war, death, sickness, and madness.
Jack The Rippers Bedroom
This 1906–1907 painting by Walter Richard Sickert shows a dark, shadowy view of a bedroom seen through an open doorway. A wooden chair is in the foreground. A dressing table and another chair are just distinguishable beneath the filtered pink half-light coming through the horizontal slats of the blind that covers the window at the back of the room. The furniture items are so indistinct as to make it conceivable that a person is sitting on the chair, although no one is there. The bedroom is that of Sickert's lodgings at 6 Mornington Crescent in Camden. His landlady had told Sickert that she suspected the previous tenant might have been Jack the Ripper, the famous murderer.
Why do I like this painting? Because of the darkness. It is not only seen but also experienced deep within the image; the slight flicker of light ahead always gave me hope that things can change for the better. It helped me develop the granite-like determination necessary to carry on and on.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (The Lady in Gold)
This beautiful painting was by Gustav Klimt, completed between 1903 and 1907. The Nazis stole the picture in 1941 during WWII.
In 2006 after a seven-year legal claim, an arbitration committee in Vienna agreed that the painting, and others, had been stolen from the family. The painting was sold the same year for $135 million.
Why do I like this painting? The use of multiple shades of gold looks fantastic, rich, and intense. And yet, the artists' use of shapes, circular designs, and eye shapes also intrigues me. Are we looking into the picture, or is the picture looking out at us?
Gulf Stream
Many might not be aware that Hollywood actor, Viggo Mortensen, is also a painter and photographer. I love many of his works, but I wanted to pick just one of his paintings to illustrate why I enjoy his work. I love this 2002 painting because although it is vivid and yet it is also haunting at the same time. So mysterious to my eyes, and like many paintings, I see and feel varying emotions each time I look at it. Every time I view it, I have more questions than answers.
Head of J.O. (portrait of Iggy Pop) by David Bowie in 1976
Following the tumultuous period of Ziggy Stardust and his following albums, David Bowie and Iggy Pop left the craziness of California for West Berlin, then a divided city. Away from the pop hype, burn-out, and flashbulbs, Bowie re-found his way to himself. In 1976, he moved into an apartment in Schöneberg, hung out in discotheques, bars, and cafés made friends with Berliners, and stayed until 1978, during which time he produced three albums: Heroes, Low, and Lodger, which went down in music history as the Berlin Trilogy. At the same time, he painted.
I have always loved this painting, although many other Bowie paintings stimulate my heart and mind. Seeing Iggy Pop in a completely different light, I always ask, is this the actual, fragile Iggy, and is the one crazy manic Iggy we see on stage? Or, like most of us, is Iggy a compilation of many complicated experiences? The painting continues to ask me questions.
© Stephen G. Arrowsmith 2022
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