"Rebellious Silence"

Shirin Neshat is famous and is known all around the world because of her outstanding art work. She is born in Qazvin, Iran but immigrated to America at the age of seven. Pursuing her life in America she started to see art as her passion. Graduating from the University of California in Berkeley in 1982 she decided to move to New York City and pursue her dream as an artist. The art piece I choose from her art collection is called “Rebellious Silence.” This is a picture that portrays Shirin Neshat as a Muslim women dressed in a black outfit called chador. This word refers to a black rob Muslim women wear that covers their entire body from head to toe. In the picture all Shirin is showing is her hands and feet while a rifle divides her face into two sides. On her face there is a poem written in ink from a poet named Tahereh Saffarzadeh. The verses of the poem express the deep belief of many Iranian women in Islam that are looked at extremely different and discomforting. Many women in Islam aren’t allowed to show any part of their body so men won’t see them as a sexual object.  Many of Shirin’s art work brings so many questions to the audience and can fill someone’s head with tons of thoughts and curiosity. Most of Shirin’s art work deals with women from her country or women in general and how men or other people portray them.  Most of her art work opens the perspective of how women get viewed like or how different they get treated. Being a woman myself makes me feel that much better knowing someone is speaking for all of us.

Here is a link to her art gallery: http://www.gladstonegallery.com/neshat.asp

Here is another link to a video of some of her art work with music from her country: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOjqX4rgS9c

Lastly here is a link to the picture I choose: http://maryamduale.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/071022_neshat01_p323.jpg

"Life In His Eyes"

    

Painting for almost three decades is not only amazing but incredible. Born in Santa Monica California, Chester Arnold started most of his famous paintings there. Following his education to the College of Marin, Chester Arnold started to see the world differently. His paintings weren’t just beautiful color mixed to make an outstanding picture but they all had a meaning behind it. Chester’s ideas didn’t just come randomly out of the blue; he wanted his audience to grasp certain issues of the world. For example, most of his art works come from issues that are happening around the world through his eyes. He sees issues like land use, environmental issues, impacts of human and industrial consumption, and accumulation and waste. All of his paintings issue with one of these problems that most human beings don’t see happening. He even sometimes paints with ideas of religious or political inflection. Chester Arnold’s amazing art work doesn’t just show people these issues but shows them in a way that can change someone’s perspective with just a painting.

“The Bridge Over Dover Beach” painted by Chester Arnold  himself was one that caught my eye immediately as I entered the Nevada of Art Museum. The beautiful colors he used made my eyes widen every inch I took examining the art work. The painting had a bridge that looked quite damaged but oddly had a piece of wood that held between the other pieces of wood and had a string hanging down to the bottom. The bridge was between two amazing looking hills that had rich grass on the top and brown thick soil on the bottom. Then between the two identical hills was the wonderful blue ocean beneath the clear blue sky. On the left side you could see the shore with a man walking on it. The unique contrast between all the colors he used was what caught my eye the most. This painting had a religious perspective behind it. It was religious view of life vs. death, of how many people don’t see the beauty of life as if it was held by a string. Looking at this painting and how great he did to involve life vs. death changed my view towards my life. Life is as great as if you were dipping your toes in the soft wet sand with the music of ocean waves behind it. Life can’t get any better than that!

Resources:

http://www.ten2ten.com/arnold/index1.html

http://www.nevadaart.org/exhibitions/detail?eid=157