Confederate Boot Analysis

For my first art critique, I visited the Ormond Memorial Art Museum & Gardens. Much of the artwork presented at this museum focused towards war and veteran exhibits. The work I chose to critique was a C-print with the title Confederate Boot by Jeff Beekman. Analyzing this work of art first objectively, your eyes are immediately drawn to a figure in the photo; a torn, brown, worn leather confederate boot with three bright white ribbons evenly tied around it. The ground of the two-dimensional C-print, also could be thought as what the confederate boot is laying on, is a low blue piece of paper just big enough for the boot to completely lay on the paper. On the upper right corner of the paper, there is a three-dimensional shadow, suggesting the paper is lifted slightly revealing
the paper had been loosely placed on top of a hard white table. The additive color mixture between the white ribbons and brown leather seem as if each color is fighting to be the brightest. The most focused portion of the print, the focal point, is the tip of the boot where a human’s toes would go. The cross-stitching between the sole of the shoe and the leather are extremely clear as well as a tear in the first layer of leather just above the sole.
Jeff Beekman chose the tip of the boot to be the focal point to show fragility. The foot, though considered municipal, holds a large responsibility for a human. Without toes, balance throughout the human body would be completely thrown off. With these tears in the boot and loose stitching between the sole of the shoe and the leather covering the top arch of the foot, it shows the little protection and vulnerability the soldiers had while fighting the civil war. The vibrant white ribbons loosely tied in a bow around the boot resemble/give off purity and innocence of the people compared to the dark brown leather that shows the pain and suffering of the war. The emotion I felt when first seeing this print was sorrow. My heart ached as I thought about the soldier who once wore this boot whom most likely did not survive the war. The ribbons tied around the boot could also resemble present day military funeral; the American flag draped over the casket, a ritual known as the “honor cover.” The overwhelming emotion I felt while looking at this print was what drew me to this work of art over any other at the museum.
Walking outside of the museum and through the gardens, a sculpture by Gregory Johnson with no name but dedicated to the veterans of the Vietnam war quickly caught my eye.
The sculpture portrays a chair with a war helmet sitting on it, a cloak hanging on the side, and boots on the floor placed as if someone was sitting on the chair. When comparing this work to the C-print Confederate Boot, the theme of war is present in both as well as showing boots of the soldiers. Like Confederate Boot, this sculpture has a focal point. The entire sculpture has a consistent metallic gray color until you look at the cloak. Hanging from the cloak is two bright gold dog tags with the engravings unreadable. The 3-D visible texture from the various lines in all elements of the sculpture helps accentuate the “real life” feel compared to the 2-D print that did not have many lines contributing to its overall message. With the visible texture, this sculpture is freestanding, allowing for a 360 degree view whereas the 2-D print can only be seen from the one shot. Both works of art evoked my emotion towards sorrow and remembrance and most importantly, both works of art portrayed what the author strived for them
to.