The Story Behind Arts
Throughout my life, every time I look at a piece of art, it has acted as an enigma to me. In general, I never know where to start looking to understand any art piece. To understand art pieces I typically pick out what stands out the most, and make connections to have some interpretation. However, half the time, I never understood “what” the actual thing is. A perfect example of this dilemma is Nathaniel Mary Quinn “Mend” portrait.
When looking at the piece of art, there are a few notable things. The abstract design of facial features include the comic-like mouth with the photo realistic eye, and the abnormally long neck that makes the top of the head cut off from the frame. Although the person in question is wearing a bright colored sweater, the black background gives the image a gloomy abnormal tone. My initial judgment of this image is that it is unsettling to look at to the point a message in the image would be near impossible to express. It looked creative, but I didn’t understand the purpose. However my judgement changed after reading the Vogue UK article, Nathaniel Mary Quinn On Painting the Politics of Race in America. The article gave a lot of context to the art of Quinn, and also the connection as to why the art looks the way it does. Quinn grew up in the Chicago South side “notorious for its poverty and gang violence”. He remembers during this time his wholesome family in the rough area despite their later abandonment when he receives a scholarship. He uses his art piece to help reflect on his life and what he has been through to become more successful than his family and as a means to identify “where [he] was supposed to be at last, and… [he] had brought [his] family with [him]” (Quinn).
With this context in mind we can see the connection and unite the ideas as to why Quinn’s art looks the way it does. This changed my judgement to something more awe-like when looking at his artwork again. Throughout his life, he notes that there are good and bad things. For example, when his mother realized the value in his art, she passed from a stroke soon after. In his artwork, he decides to pick out certain elements to build his final product, much like how he chooses the good memories of his family to drive tooth and nail for his future. This further shows the values he decided to carry with him while moving forward in life. It is reflected in certain features of the artwork like the face: patched together with certain elements, but in the end represent one of Quinn’s closest family members.
This overall experience has helped reinforce a value that I have not considered a lot in the past which was to include context into everything. Prior to this, I believed that context was only needed for more logical things, however I realized context is just as important in art, as it is to deducing the answer to a problem.
