New Jersey City University holds these two wonderful art exhibitions and once you enter theses exhibition you can notice the types of theme that work provides. Every art piece has a background either it being visual or having to analyze the life of the artist. Being a junior on this campus and not ever stepping a foot in the Visual Art Gallery is kind of sad because I would walk right past it every week during my freshman year to go to my English class. Now that I'm in this course I had the opportunity to visit the Visual Art Gallery and to be honest I'm glad that I was able to experience the art that students and faculty/staff in NJCU and others. That wasn't the only art exhibition, but I had another opportunity to visit the Lemmerman Gallery. The two pieces of art that caught my attention the most are from the Visual Art Gallery.
Elizabeth Jimenez Montelongo, the artist of The Return, focuses on the "themes of identity, transformation, and empowerment." This art piece caught my attention because once I took a glance at it, I saw that it had to deal with a woman. From a distance, you can see that it's a diagram of a female's reproductive system with other features. As a female, I know that we go through many changes and that affects us physically and emotionally, but at the same time, those changes can make us mature and change us in a better way. A woman should be valued because of the one fact that we can bring a human being to this world and having to deal with the pain and discomfort of pregnancy. A woman might complain, but they do keep on going and always remind themselves that it's a moment of pain but a lifetime of happiness.
The Return which was created in 2016 has many small details but important ones, while I analyze this piece inside out, the main thing that stands out was the fetus. But let's start from the background, it starts with a black base and dashes with stars. Then it followed by the moon, some people say that the moon symbolizes purity and "youthfulness". On top of the moon there a sun, so I believe that image is taking place in space because of the sun, moon, and stars. Inside of the moon, there is an owl, owls symbolize wisdom which means being wise and having good judgment. The owl is standing on top of a female's reproductive system which also holds a fetus. When you look at the reproduction system you can see skulls biting onto the ovary as everyone knows skulls are a symbol of death. On the bottom of the moon, you can also see two cactuses, one on each side and as we all know if you touch a cactus you can get hurt with the thorns.
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| Elizabeth Jimenez Montelongo The Return 2016 Charcoal, acrylic and ink on wood |
As I put the pieces together to this puzzle, it seems like Elizabeth Jimenez Montelongo is letting us know that there a miscarriage happening. For some women it hard to carry a pregnancy and then it can lead to a miscarriage. The artist does have a daughter, she's probably relating this to her own life. Going back to changes and how some changes and other situations make you wiser as well some life lessons can make you stronger for the next challenge. This piece of art was placed in a Neo-Latino exhibition named Place: The Locus of Memory, which falls into the right category because Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo categorizes her work as "influenced by my study of ancestral indigenous Mexican concepts, particularly Aztec/Mexica philosophy." Not too long ago a newspaper article was the release where women were charged with a crime because she had a miscarriage. From my knowledge a miscarriage is not something plan, it's something that happens because your body is rejecting what's going on. This woman is being charged for murder because the prosecutor is treating this case of a miscarriage as an abortion. Activists also gave their opinion about this women's right, they felt they were "targeting women who had no intention of aborting their fetuses". The message of the art piece does create awareness and advocacy, by letting a woman know that transformation in any way can help you grow mentally and gain more wisdom in the long run.
The second art piece I will be analyzing is by Luis Stephenberg made in 2012. At first, I didn't pay close attention to the sculpture, to be honest, it was the last piece of art that I went to and it was by far the one that caught my attention. Personal History is created with sets of a wood tie-up with rope, creating a small hut-like a house. On the bottom of the art piece, there is mulch, which I'm guessing Stephenberg probably lived in like farm while growing up in Puerto Rico. On top of mulch, you can find two pairs of converses on each side, this can be either his or his sibling. Inside of the hunt, there is a small television that shows a group of people holding up a banner which says “Puerto Rico”. I guess that whoever was watching either Stephenberg or his family, could have been watching the news and there was a protest going on at the point of his personal history. On top of the television set, there was a lamp that had the letters USA cut out and that’s where the light would come from.
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| Luis Stephenberg Personal History 2012 Installation of wood, TV set, mulch, rope |
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