Art Critique

Taylor Olivier
February 23, 2013
Irene Neuro
ART106
“Pareidolia” Body- Art Critique
I went to the art exhibit in the Gallery at Southeastern University on Thursday, February 21. I chose a work of art called “Pareidolia” Body to write my art critique about.
This piece of art is called “Pareidolia” Body It was created by Maya Erdlyi, and is made from cut-paper collage and used for a Stop-motion film in 2012. This work is very unique because the artist used different paper materials to create a skeleton-like figure. The materials are placed beside, below, and on top of one another to create a three dimensional effect. This work of art is supposed to be an abstract human skeleton. The name of the piece plays an important role on the art work, because you have to know what it means. The word pareidolia means when a vague or random image is perceived as recognizable. So the meaning of the title is a random image that is perceived to be a human body.
This work is very random with the placing of things. Some aspects are consistent such as feathers for both the arms and the legs. Also, there is some sort of tree branch object placed over the shoulder blades, kneecaps, and elbows. Other than that, the piece is very scattered with the way the artist places things.
The placing of the objects is what really makes this piece interesting.
The artist placed the paper objects on top of one another a number of times to create texture and make it three-dimensional. The body of the skeleton is made of basically anything you could imagine: Feathers, flowers, paper umbrellas, etc. The head was created with the tree branch object, and also there are feathers and another tree like piece, on top of the head to resemble hair. The artist uses two different objects for each hand. A paper leaf is used to create on hand. And the other is simply pieces of paper put together to form an actual hand with fingers. I’m not sure why they used two different hands, but it makes the piece even more interesting. In my opinion, the torso of the body is the focal point. It is very busy, but still somewhat organized. Although this piece has many different things included in it, there is never one thing that you only see one time. They persistently use the same objects in different parts of the work.
Pareidolia Body is a very happy piece of art. When I look at this work, it makes me think of all the happy things in life. For example, the colors make me think of spring and summer time. Spring and summer are filled with colorful flowers and trees and the colors in the work are those of which you would see in the spring and summer. The materials used like the feathers, paper flowers, and paper umbrellas make me think of childhood. The colors are what make the work of art so happy and cheerful.
If this were made of black and white materials, I would consider it a depressing piece of art. I can’t relate this work to something I have experienced before, because it is so unique and different.
In my opinion, I don’t think anything about this work should be changed. I do think it is hard to interpret if you don’t know the meaning of pareidolia.
But if you look up the meaning of the word, it is very clear as to why the artist gave it the title. For others to judge this work, I think you have to have an open mind and think outside of the box. The meaning of this work is not going to pop out and punch you in the face. You have to really think about it and imagine this as a human skeleton. I believe this is a very successful piece because it is beautiful and it has a true meaning. Also, I like the fact that you have to think about what the art means, rather than just looking at it and knowing exactly what it means.
I chose “Pareidolia” Body because it is very interesting and has a lot going on. It also resembles my own personality, in the way that it is random and very colorful. I thought it would be challenging to critique this work because of how busy it is and how much detailing it has.