Mini post #3

The artworks related the two chronic diseases in the earth

Jingsong 

    
    Recently, I had the privilege of visiting the Feast & Famine museum, a large room on only one floor, without expecting to be greatly impressed. The museum's theme, as its name suggests, is feast and famine. The diverse artworks in it all shine with different meanings. I couldn't describe them all, but some of them left a deep impression on me. Because these works reflect the two chronic diseases of modern human society -- extravagance and waste and destruction of the ecological environment. Let me classify and explain those into two points.  

    The first one is wasting and extravagance. Nowadays, with the continuous improvement of technology and knowledge, people's view of food has been completely different. Hundreds of years ago, the function of food was only to satisfy hunger and survive. However, modern society no longer limited itself to filling up the stomach but also required food to be aesthetic, intoxicating in color and unforgettable in taste. Gradually, with all kinds of food, snacks into the human society, those originally look not outstanding food used to eat, such as potatoes, tomatoes, but continue to appear in the garbage. Chris Thorson’s works directly show this problem, which named “OF WRATH”. In this work of art, you see a couple of spouted potatoes, which you might not think is much to admire, but the material used by the makers is directly cast bronze, which is then proportioned with oil and water to make the colors. Why did the makers want to use sprouted potatoes as a theme? The producers wanted to show that many ugly and cheap foods like potatoes are thrown away and wasted until they sprout.

Of Wrath (Adirondack Blue), 2015, Oil on hydrocal and direct cast bronze, Chris Thorson

    Similarly, as early as in 1548, the painter Bosch in his “GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS” in deep discussed the issue. We focus on the center of the work, it describes our man's world, which is filled with people, seduces and lust. Zoom in more detail, the elves pour the spring to a naked man by a strange blue strawberry, or several couples are enjoying other's nudity or appearance. Watching the whole object of central painting, people indulge in orgies, throw away food, and the uneaten fruits and delicacies can be seen everywhere. Then let us see the right side of the painting, it describes the landscape of hell, there is an interesting thing in hell that human beings should be hunters, but here is the animal tease, abuse the object. Mice, rabbits, fat pigs, birds, dogs, dressed in human clothes, seemed to perform the functions of punishing fallen human beings in place of god. There are two exactly different scenes, in the earth humans waste their food and infinitely expand their desire, while in hell they are tortured and sanctioned by their food.  

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, oil on oak panels, 205.5 cm × 384.9 cm (81 in × 152 in), Museo del Prado, Madrid

    Comparison of the two works, whether Bosch’s painting in 1548, or now Thorson’s sculpture I mentioned, the outstanding strength in the two artists is that both of them warned people not only not to waste food, but also not to fall into such extravagant waste way of life, maybe one day we will really like the painting of Bosch, tortured from suffering in hell.

    The second question I want to describe is the destruction of the ecological environment. When human beings become the predators in the earth. At the same time, those creatures on the same planet are slowly disappearing. In Catherine Chalmers’s “Food chain”, it reminds me about this worry. Food chain is a piece of pictures that describes the food chain from producers – the plants, to consumers—animals. The caterpillars bite tomatoes, then mantis capture caterpillars and eat them, and the female mantis swallow male mantis for reproduction, finally, the frogs finish the mantis. Maybe humans will eat tomatoes, frogs. Let us assume, what if the caterpillars couldn't find their food? What happened in the whole food chain? It will be collapsed and give more serious impacts on next level creatures in food chains, especially humans.  

FOOD CHAIN , MASS MoCA, 33 C-prints, 40"x60" each, CATHERINE CHALMERS

              
    

    I heard a story says that a huge tree needs 10 years to grow up, but humans can use tools to cut it down in 10 mins. This story reminds me of a painting we learned in class, which is Anna Maria Sibylla Merian's “PLATE 9 FROM THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE INSECTS OF SURINAM” in 17 centuries, it is a record of daily observation about how a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. In this painting, from right to left, it shows the process of metamorphosis of an insect, and under the insect is a pomegranate—the main food of this insect. I feel delighted because scientists focus on the research of ecology as early as in 17 centuries, and I noticed the how difficult a creature grows up. Going back to nowadays, I also hope that humans continue focusing on ecological environment and protecting the food chain like Catherine’s paintings.  

Anna Maria Sibylla Merian PLATE 9 FROM THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE INSECTS OF SURINAM
1719.  Hand-colored engraving, 187⁄8 × 13″ (47.9 × 33 cm). 

    

Thanks for the Feast & Famine gallery bring me a more mature opinion on human beings’ two major problems – avoiding wasting and protecting the ecological environment.  


Work Cited

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. Art History. Sixth ed., II, Pearson, 2018.