Overabundance or Scarcity of Food by Chris Suleski - Post #3

Chris Suleski

Professor Cacoilo

Art History II

11/5/19

Feast and Famine

The Circumstance Surrounding Food

     Food has always been a basic need of life, playing a significant role in the political and social roles in all cultures.  Currently, the Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark, NJ is hosting a unique exhibition, the "Feast and Famine", a collection of  artwork related to "the theme of food as a social, political, and bodily phenomenon. The exhibition considers food as a commodity; the relationship between food, death, sex, and the abject; " ("Opening Reception"). It goes without saying that food is an important aspect of nutritional relevance of survival. However, it significantly transcends itself into cultural identity. Food is the groundwork of economy and a dominant object in political tactics of countries and households. Food is life, and thus life can be studied through food and related artifacts, creating an artistic media for experimentation and expression. As the world succumbs to overpopulation, the demand for resources such as food, water and consumption of natural resources will diminish, creating an upheaval of social, economic and political dilemmas. This exhibit revealed to me how food related artwork exposes different issues in our societal  and political arenas; such as racial diversity, inhuman slaughtering of animals and the waste of food. I took away the impression that we are living today in a feast, but if things do not positively change in the near future famine will occur.

 Divya Mehra from left to right

Eating Right for your type 2015/2019 Chocolate Bar

Modernity at Large - Candy Hearts 2015

     Divya Mehra received her Master of Fine Arts at Columbia University, New York. Mehra’s  artwork often reflects otherness and the empty promise of diversity. In the above artwork, both the candy bars and the heart-shape color candy in the glass bowl are  imprinted with the phrase "Enjoy Diversity".  "Both works destabilize singular understandings of the term diversity - the unquestioned use of which can disguise differences in politics and policies" ("Between US"). Diversity is something that has to be valued, respected and accepted. Divya's art is a perceptive representation of how art can undermine our opinions of race and sexual identity thru aberrations of food. And in this example, Divya's represents races with the multiple subtle colors of the valentine sweethearts and their multiple ingredients, using the word "Enjoy" to emphatically state that we need to understand, dismiss racial discrimination and to make promises that are not empty.

Tamara Kostianovsky 

What It Once Was,  2011

     A fascination in Tamara's adolescent, working in a surgeons office, brought forth in the body of her work carcasses inspired by memories of butchered meat she saw while growing up in Argentina, representing the consumption of meats in the United Sates. Tamara "has cannibalized her own clothing in order to recreate the butchered parts, rendering them more visually digestible. She explains: I used the various fabrics and textures to conjure flesh, bone gristle and slabs of fat in live-size sculptures of livestock carcasses" ("Meat Carcasses").  Tamara uses her artwork to reveal brutal in-humane methods of  killing animals in the American Slaughterhouses, emphasizing this particular  work by introducing a chain to hang the meat. Her message to the global society is to cut back on the quantity of meat that is eaten and to incur improvement in the industry that would  eliminate animal cruelty, as well as finding different means of  food consumption.


 

 

Pieter Claesz - 1636

Still Life with Tazza 

     Pieter Claesz was a Dutch still life painter. Claesz "painted breakfast pieces, that is, meals of bread, fruits, and nuts. giving life to inanimate objects" (Stokstad 767), showing his skills of transparencies and reflections, eluding to the passing of time and human life.  The tilted silver Tazza certainly indicates the prosperity of his clients.  Does the painting suggest an interrupted breakfast or  a shear waste of food that is uneaten and will be discarded as rubbish? I believe his portrait reflects the waste of food represented in the art exhibit "Feast and Famine" and certainly would display well in its context.

  

 Clara Peeters - 1611 ( Stokstad 754)

Still Life with Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, and Pretzels 

   

     Clara Peeters was a famous Flemish female artist of the 17th century, specializing in still lifes.  This work was painted in Peeters later years due to the presence of fruits, nuts, and flowers.  Peeters goal was to make the scene look lifelike, using self-painted portraits on the goblet. "On, and near the pewter plate are biscuits and sugar candy. The half-eaten pretzel, like the miniature self-portraits, suggests that someone has been at this table, contributing to make the illusion represented in the painting seem real. It is sometimes stated that this still life has an implicit vanitas theme, with the wine, flowers and self-portraits alluding to the fragile nature of life" (HEN).  Other than representing the class of wealth, I feel this particular painting introduces a balanced alternative to eating meat, reducing the killing of animals and reducing the brutal in-humane treatment of animals, fitting well into the exhibit "Feast and Famine".

     The portraits herein certainly reflect societal and political concerns relating to discrimination, animal brutality, and the shear neglect of wasted food.  To ensure that a future will be forthcoming changes need to occur and they need to begin now, or our culture could face a future that could be undesirable for mankind.

Works Cited

“Between Us.” Banff Centre, https://www.banffcentre.ca/walter-phillips-gallery/between-us.

 HEN-Magonza. “Clara Peeters, Still Life with Flowers, Gilt Goblet, Dried Fruits, Sweets, Biscuits,  Wine and a Pewter Flagon.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 9 Dec. 2016, https://www.flickr.com/photos/hen-magonza/30691827304/.

 “Meat Carcasses Recreated in Fabric by Tamara Kostianovsky.” Designboom, 11 Aug. 2015, https://www.designboom.com/art/meat-carcasses-recreated-in-fabric-by-tamara-kostianovsky/.

 “Opening Reception for ‘Feast & Famine.’” Express Newark, https://www.expressnewark.org/events/opening-reception-for-feast-famine/.
 

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

Mini post 3

At Rutgers’ exhibit “feast and Famine” there is art that expresses modern day society. From environmental aspects to the societal aspects of our world. There is food exploring the idea of what our society has come to eat today. It will also explore what we are heading towards in a matter of the environment. The exhibit wants to bring awareness to the visitors. In this post we will tie together contemporary art and historical art and see the connections between the two.





The first art piece we are looking at will be Mike Libby’s “You are my sunshine.” What is shown is a dramatic representation of what is happening to our bee population. The bee population is at a potential of becoming extinct. That will have serious implications on our food chain. It could potentially disrupt the entire ecosystem and that will create a massive food shortage because some farmers rely on the bees to pollinate their fields. The idea with his work is to show what the future bee can look like. Some sort of nanobot that will act just as a bee would act a synthetic replacement to the bees.





Secondly, we will be looking at “The liberation of lady J and UB,” by Renee cox. This art piece is an outstanding scream at what our society is. The marketing tactics of the past which will racial motivated. In this work we see Renee in the middle liberating aunt Jemima and uncle Ben. Taking the two out of the racial marketing scheme that was apparent at the times and possibly still lurking today.





Thirdly, we take a look at “Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. In this artwork there are many different interpretations of what is happening. The piece takes us from heaven to earth and then to hell. What Bosch seems to be saying here is how he feels about the society today and the rampant sinning among them. This work was a direct critization of his society at the time.











Finally, we take a look at the “still life with flowers, goblet. Dries fruit and pretzels” by Clara Peeter. In this artwork we look at what some would consider at the time luxuries of life. The food and flowers depicted in an elegant matter to show wealth and prosperity. This is showing an excess of indulgence in life. What could be said is being shown is the excess in which some people are living.

Mini Post #3 Michael Matusz

I saw a lot of unique pieces of artwork while getting the tour at the Feast & Famine exhibit. A main theme that immediately came to my mind was the longevity of food in the world. A lot of the artwork had to do with different aspects of food and how people tend to get their food. People all around the world tend to eat meat and to do that, animals have to be killed. Eventually, the human population is going to wipe out all of the animals in which we get our food from. What happens after that? I believe this art exhibit was made to raise attention about how to find a more efficient and productive way to find food.

What It Once Was, Tamara Kostianovsky 2011

This artwork above is supposed to symbolize a carcass of an animal. The chains that are holding up the carcass gives it more of a barbaric look. The artist is trying to show people how we get our food and how it is not going to last in the long run. Humans are going to be looking frantically for food once we kill off all of our food (animals).

Taco, Shanthony Exum 2018

This artwork just simply portrays another source of food that people eat. It has a wide variety of food that includes: tacos, pizza, bacon, eggs, watermelon, etc. This picture has a more positive vibe to it because of the fact that we can get a lot of these items by not killing anything. For example, people can grow watermelon in their gardens and people can use chickens to take their eggs. This is a more reliable way to extend the longevity of our food supply.  

Still Life With Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, And Pretzels, Clara Peters 1611

This painting in our textbook really exemplifies what humans should incorporate more into our daily diets. All organic items that can easily be grown and can be reproduced without any drawbacks. This painting would fit into the art exhibit for that exact reason. The food items in this picture is what Kostianovsky is trying to incorporate more into our diets. Kostianovsky wants people to reduce their intake of meats and substitute it for more organic food.

Still Life With Quince, Cabbage, Melon, And Cucumber, Juan Sanchez Cotan 1602

This painting from Cotan displays a sample of food items that can be grown through agriculture. Back in the day when this painting was made, the majority of peoples' diets consisted of all agriculture. As time progressed, people started to stray away from that diet because of the easy access to other types of food. People were able to receive food with less work than planting seeds and then pulling up those crops when they are done being grown.

All of these pictures have the theme of longevity of food. As time went on and more and more people inhibited the earth, humans needed more food to survive. As a result, people developed processed foods that were a lot more quick and easy to produce even though they weren't as healthy for people. It was easier to produce and thats all that people cared about.

Works cited

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

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.

MINI POST 3 - Gengshuo Ge

Food is life 

     From the ancient human culture to the modern world, food is always a crucial part of human beings. People work for food; people adore food; people fight for food. When people have their cultures and thoughts, food becomes a resource rather than merely things to eat, and also, artworks can be the media to record how people treat food. 

The Harvesters
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
1565

     Food is the source of human beings' life. People live on food, so they will make sure that they have enough food to eat, and they will grow their own crops or let other people grow for them. Let us have a look at Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Harvesters, and we can find some people were harvesting grains on the left side, and some people were having a break under the shadow of the tree on the right side. These framers might work for their landowners or lords, so we can see that they were laborious that even a man felt too tried to fall asleep. It was quite interesting that these landowners sponsored artists to paint those farmers. However, the sponsors lived on the grains which those farmers grew, which was just like Stokstad and Cothren said, "the wealth of the patrons who supported the growth of an art market was dependent on the labor of countless others like them" (Stokstad and Cothren 718). When people face problems with food, there will be no classes and ranks, because all the people are the same, and they all need food to live.

Water is Life

Nicolas Lampert

2016

Furthermore, food is still a significant issue that people need to concern now. People always say that water is the source of life, because about 70 percent weight of human beings are water, and people can live without eating food for three days, but they cannot do that without water. Most people do not realize the scarcity of water, and they think that they just need to pay the water, but according to the statistics from United Nations, there are about 2.1 billion people live without safe water at home. Then, let us have a look at the poster above, a man was holding a feather in the middle, and below him was the slogan, "water is life", and at the bottom right corner, we can find the hashtag with NODAPL. The background of this poster was the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, and the leather showed that native Americans were fighting for their lands. Though the government said the impact on the water and nature was minimal, if the pipeline leakage happened, hundreds of thousands of people would suffer from that. Water is crucial for us, and no other things can deprive the rights of having safe water. 

Still Life with Flowers, Goblet,
Dried Fruit, and Pretzels
Clara Peeters
1611

Detail of Double Portrait of Giovanni
Arnolfini and His Wife
Jan van Eyck
1434

When some people have enough food to live, food will more value than just eating, and it becomes a resource or tool. On Clara Peeters's Still Life with Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, and Pretzels, we can find that the background was dark, which was the baroque style and can make the subject prominent. As a closer look at the painting, the various kinds of nuts were held on a big plate, which could show the wealthy of the patron, and also, the flowers and rare tableware can let people think that the owner was not a civilian. Like the portraits which were contracted by powerful and wealthy families, "a still-life painting ... could also document and showcase the wealth of its owner" (753). When people are not starving anymore, rare food became a symbol of wealth, and it became a tool to show off, which is just like the rare orange in Jan van Eyck's Double Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife. 

Solidarity with Migrant Workers

Nicolas Lampert

2018

Moreover, food also can become a political tool, such as a bargaining chip, to change other people's life. The poster above is from the Feast & Famine exhibition, and the subject is that a corn-like missile was ahead on a fugitive family, and below that, there was a caption about the impact of the U.S.'s policy on subsidized corn in Mexico. Because of the high productivity and government budget of the U.S., the U.S. became the leader of NAFTA, and it did not keep the rules of trade, which was that developed countries exported high-tech products and imported labor-intensive products, such as grains, from developing countries within a trade union. The family in the poster embodied the trend at that time, which was they lost their jobs in farms, and they need to find jobs in the north, but it would increase the possibility of illegal immigrants. The illogical policy of the U.S. government on corn messed up the balance on trade, and it used food as a tool to impact other people's life to satisfy Americans'.

Food is life, and food changes life. Through those artworks above, we can find that food is essential for people when they are starving, but when they satisfy that need, food will become tools or resources to improve people's life or impact others'. Food should not be a weapon to make other people's life worse, and people should help other people who are in need. Only then, can our world be a better place. 

Work Cited

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

Mini Post 3: "Feast & Famine" Visit Darryl Guinto

The exhibit "Feast & Famine" located in Express Newark showcases pieces that explore the current status of our culture and humanity today. The gallery looks at food as a social, political and bodily phenomenon. The works that really stood out the most to me spoke about food waste and the use of representation in advertising. It is important to look at the dark side of our everyday products because awareness is what will bring change in our never-ending problems in society.

Chris Thorson
Harvest Fresh
2012

 The first installation that I really thought was very important and a problem that our culture was facing is through this piece, Harvest Fresh, by Chris Thorson. This construction shows withered and sprouted potatoes and the lonely grapevine on the right. This piece demonstrates how much food is being wasted in our world today, so much food is being produced and being thrown out because it doesn't look good enough or it doesn't look at all in it's the best shape. Throughout our lifetime, the food industry has been promoting that good food is something that looks beautiful and pristine, it has lead to a society that puts the superficial looks above a natural-looking product. For example, apples are given to consumers with a wax coating, food is genetically modified to look bigger, nicer and even brighter. In other words, food is being manipulated in a way to appeal to the eyes which leads to much more poor nutrition in our world and an increase in health risks.

Renee Cox
The Liberation of Lady J and UB
1998

The next contemporary piece is The Liberation of Lady J and UB, by Renee Cox. In addition to our exploration of everyday products, this art piece really stands out from many of the pieces in the gallery because it presents us with two very well known products of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's. It is really interesting because they are products that we may have used more than once in our lifetime. Advertising and branding came out of this society where it was produced so it is not an unusual thing, it is a reflection of the ideas and values that are prevalent in society. The branding on both of these is pretty offensive considering that "uncle" was used for black slaves and servants of the time and "Aunt Jemima" refers to a friendly black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile or acting in, or protective of, the interests of whites. Renee Cox does not like the fact that her representation is being used for that matter so she recreates herself as a superhero character and she is liberating Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben out of their dark historical dimension.

The Ambassadors
Holbein the Younger
1533

The Conversion of St. Paul
Caravaggio
1600

A piece that I find very provocative from Stockstad's textbook is The Ambassadors, by Holbein the Younger. We see within the painting that it is presenting the conflicts that are going on in England. The man on the left is Jean de Dinteville, the one who commissioned the painting. The top shelf contains objects that relate to the heavens such as the study of astronomy and the bottom shelves represent objects that relate to earthly things like arithmetics and the globe. What is really interesting here is what is placed on the foreground, a skull stretched diagonally, making the viewer tilt their head to change their perspective. It is what captures the viewers and it symbolizes death. This is a painting that almost looks like it celebrates earthly achievements and when you look in the top left corner, you can see the crucifixion of Jesus. Holbein creates this painting so we can see that humans can only achieve so much in life. He points to the limits of human life and the inevitability of death and the temporary human achievements.

The last piece that I really enjoy in Stockstad's text is one of the most famous paintings from Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul. The painting represents the travel of Saul when he was blinded and heard the voice of Christ who convicts him into St. Paul. Caravaggio uses this dark style to eliminate all the distractions in the photo to point us towards Paul's conversion. The painting is presented to us at the turn of the 17th century, so the art is coming from the Counter-Reformation. This beautiful painting brings us to a point in time where there becomes a challenger to the Catholic Church. This represents the battle of the importance of paintings in the Church at this time. It really symbolizes the belief that the human body is so very vulnerable to the divine by the creation of this painting, where the human body is at the bottom and is in a weak state while the horse is the one that is dominating this painting. 

All the pieces presented here are reflections of the creator's world, from Chris Thorson's view of the food waste that is prevalent in today's society, to Renee Cox's offense of her own culture from food companies and all the way to the Renaissance where religion is starting to compete with humanism and science. They all play a part in telling our cultures and history. In conclusion, art history is another outlet to help all of us learn about crucial times in history and helps us understand those experiences in a dynamic way.

Citations

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

Mini Post 3: Act Now For the Future

The exhibit Feast and Famine, from the Paul Robeson Gallery, exhibits many different themes and views on food and how it affects the world. A theme that I took away from the exhibition was, act now for the future. What I mean by this is that we cannot treat the planet and its resources without concern for the future. If we simply act/behave the way we want, it will be bleak for future generations. Many of the pieces of art in the gallery made were used to make a statement, a change from former art such as self-portraits. The materials used to create them are also very different. However, despite its differences, they do share some similarities with some of the art that we have covered thus far.

Mike Libby
You Are My Sunshine
2019

The first piece of art that portrays this theme is Mike Libby’s, You Are My Sunshine. This piece is made from solar cells, glass from a flower vase, and many other things. His artwork makes a statement about how the Bee population is decreasing at a rapid rate. This shows the theme act now for the future, because of the fact that without Bee’s to pollinate we would not have many of the foods we eat and we would have a drastic change in our food resources/supply. It makes a statement that we need to make a change to keep the Bee population up. The solar part also makes a hint at the fact of using renewable resources because if we do not conserve, we may run out of resources for the future.

Willie Cole
Clear Pool
2016

The next piece is Clear Pool, by Willie Cole. This piece changes as one gets closer to it. From far away it looks sparkly and beautiful, then as we get closer, we realize it is not what we once thought. It is made from disposed of plastic water bottles. Plastic takes years to deteriorate and when not recycled it pollutes and takes up unnecessary space on our Earth. This piece also embodies the theme because we need to recycle and protect our environment. Our environment is being polluted and we will soon pollute the entire planet if we continue at this pace.

Anna Maria Sibylla Merian
Plate 9 From the Metamorphosis
of The Insects Of Surinam
1647-1717

 Anna Maria Sibylla Merian’s, Plate 9 From the Metamorphosis of The Insects of Surinam, is from 1719. Stokstad explains, “Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717) contributed to botany and entomology both as a researcher and as an artist… Merian arranged her depictions of exotic insects and elegant fruits and flowers into skillful and harmonious compositions “(Stokstad 769). She understood the importance and beauty of insects and the effect that they had on plants, and in turn human life. This piece is similar to Mike Libby’s piece because they both used insects to make a point. They both show the beauty and importance of bugs in our society.

Finally, Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (open) (1450-1516), is a painting that can be interpreted to have many different meanings. One of the meanings that it takes in when observing this piece is a clear representation of how the past and present actions can have a drastic effect on the future. The first piece shows Adam and Eve happily in the garden. Yet in the final piece, we see a dark, scary, and gruesome world. Over time, the world has changed drastically and for the worse because of the actions of humans. Stokstad writes, “In hell, at the right, sensual pleasures—eating, drinking, music, and dancing—become instruments of torture in a dark world of fire and ice” (Stokstad 711). This symbolizes that humans doing whatever they please with no concern can lead the world to become a dark place. We need to conserve and cannot only search pleasure or it will lead to our downfall. It is almost a warning to humans. It tells us we must be careful of our actions or the world can become bleak. This embodies the theme of act now for the future, that both Mike Libby and Willie Cole show with their pieces.

Hieronymus Bosch
Garden of Earthly Delights (open)
(1450-1516)

Citations

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