Faith Ringgold, What Is The Proper Way To Display The American Flag?
Flags and Their Many Meanings
Art Appreciation
Final Critical Essay
By: Rachelle Goude
April 23, 2005
Critical Essay on God Bless America, Faith Ringgold, What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag?, Dread Scott Tyler and The World Flag Ant Farm, Yukinori Yanagi.
Flags and their Many Meanings
I will be describing and evaluating the works and artists described above. To begin I will describe each work and its symbolism. I will then summarize the artists and the times of their artworks. Afterwards, I will explain how the works fit into the time period and then compare and contrast all three artworks.
To begin, I chose the above artworks because of their symbols, the flag. Each artwork depicts a flag in different forms …show more content…
and for different reasons. The first, God Bless America was painted by Faith Ringgold. The painting's star is depicted as a sheriff's badge and its stripes are in the form of prison bars symbolizing that the United States has turned into a prison.
(Sayre, p.20) The white woman in the painting is pledging her allegiance to the flag but in the same breath she is being depicted as a racist denying blacks their civil rights. It is also depicting the struggles that her community and she were facing while trying to gain equal rights from the majority of white Americans. In this oil painting she uses only three colors, black, white and red which are indicative to her other paintings in the series. She uses rectangles and squares to depict the flag, even the woman in the painting has an elongated rectangular appearance to her. The second, What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag? is an exhibit by Dread Scott Tyler, a minority student at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibit is a 34 by 57 inch American flag on the floor underneath pictures of flag-draped coffins and South Koreans burning flags and holding signs that said "Yankee, go home son of a bitch". There is also a ledger where viewers can write their answers to the question "What is the proper way to display a U.S. flag?" Two problems with the setup of this exhibit where the flag draped on the floor and the placement of the ledger book. …show more content…
Viewers had to decide whether to honor the flag and try to sign the ledger without stepping on the flag, or honor their freedom of speech and just step on the flag. The third, The World Flag Ant Farm, created by Yukinori Yanagi. This is the most interesting of the three works. It is 170 8 by 12 inch boxes filled with colored sand for each nation's flag. The boxes are connected to each other by plastic tubing. Yanagi then placed ants into the exhibit and they immediately began carrying the colored sand between the boxes. This created a mixing of the colors which symbolized "the cross-cultural network of multinational symbols and identities."(Sayre, p.22) On page 22 of A World of Art Yanagi states that the only thing the traveling of the ants shows us is that they travel to resume a task they have been preprogrammed to do, not to acquire freedom.
In 1969, the Supreme Court of the United States upholded the Civil Rights Act, giving the African Americans back their rights as American citizens. The United States bombed Vietnam. Three civil rights workers were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. All of these "goings-on" contributed to the work of Faith Ringgold. Ringgold's art, at the time, focused on the Civil Rights movement, racism and a divided country because of segregation. She depicted all of this in her God Bless America. I'm not sure I could have survived those times. I am appalled by racism and prejudice. I believe everyone should be treated equally regardless of their skin color or religion or sexual orientation. We were all given the right to freedom
In 1989, the United States Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is a protected right of free speech. The Berlin Wall crumbles thus creating one Germany. United States troops invade Panama. Dread Scott Tyler's work was a tapestry of controversy. War vets would protest and people were arrested for walking on the flag. The very reason he made the exhibit was to show people that they weren't being treated fairly in their freedom of speech. Some people would step on the flag to sign the ledger feeling that they were actually honoring the flag while others wept and protested. One war vet even picked up the flag, folded it up and put it on the shelf with the ledger. I would have unfolded that flag and put it right back down on the floor. He is expressing his freedom of speech!
In 1990, Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, thus creating the start of the Persian Gulf War. Mexicans were dying in the summer heat trying to cross the border into the United States. Yukinori Yanagi was using boxes and sand to show the globalization of the many cultures of Japan. Yanagi's work depicted the many cultures that influenced his country's change in society. With the "invasion" of the influences of China, Korea and the United States, Japan's society was no longer an isolated culture. As the book states, Yanagi's Ant Farm works kind of like a microchip or processor from earlier days of computer processing. (Sayre, p.22) This work shows the process of information exchange that has become possible over the internet and the World Wide Web causing more cultural diversity throughout the world. I think more people in this world need to accept the cultural diversity that surrounds us. It is a matter of art in itself! Our world is made up of so many different people of so many different colors just like the rainbow!
These three artworks are similar in meaning, yet so very different.
God Bless America and Ant Farm are similar for an obvious reason they both are about flags. However, they both have totally different meanings. Ringgold's work is about civil rights and racism while Yanagi's work is about cultural globalization and nationalism. (Sayre, p.21) In a way, they are similar in that they both deal with political and social issues that African Americans and Japanese citizens face everyday. Racism is not only a black/white problem it includes people of ALL races whether it be black, white, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean or even Jewish. Racism doesn't just cover the color of your skin, it covers everything about an individual's way of life including their religion and the style of clothes he or she may wear. Ringgold's God Bless America is an expression of the emotional and physical torment of black Americans prior to and during the Civil Rights Movement. This piece of art movement had a lot of cultural ties to the population during the 1960's that also can be applied today. Yanagi is trying to show how cultural influences are changing his country's way of living which is also an issue in today's world. The cultural diversity throughout the world is changing the way everyone lives. In What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag?, Tyler is expressing to the viewers that they have rights given to them by the United States constitution. Tyler's work and
Ringgold's work are comparative in that they are both about a person's rights as a United States citizen. Tyler is expressing freedom of speech and Ringgold is expressing civil rights for blacks. Tyler and Ringgold's works are both extremely controversial. They touch on subjects that were, at the times they were made, the center of political attention. In 1989, there were dozens of people trying to express their freedom of speech and expression. In 1964, there were thousands of blacks trying to express their freedoms and their civil rights. Tyler and Yanagi's works seem to have no similar qualities. One is about freedom of speech and expression while the other is about cultural diversity. On the other hand, they are very similar. Even though Yanagi's work is about diversity, it still depicts his freedom of expression.
In conclusion, I have taken the time to explain three works of art that show the artists' expression of how they view their worlds at different times in history. Whether or not people agree with how they express themselves does not matter, it is the artists' way of telling the world how they feel. We have learned in this class that art takes on numerous forms and countless meanings. It is freedom of speech and expression, culture, racism, diversity, anger, sadness and everything else depicted in the form of paintings, sculptures, movies, dance, music, theater and several others. I feel the three works I have chosen are by far the most interesting I have encountered in the past five weeks. They have given me a better understanding and appreciation for art and artists. I guess that's why they call this class Art Appreciation!
Photos of Art Works
Reference Page
Book
A World of Art Chapter One, p.20-22
Sayre, Henry M. Revised Fourth Edition 2004 Pearson Prentice Hall
Internet Resources http://www.jhfc.duke.edu/ducis/made-in-asia/essays/randi/randi.html http://portfolio.iu.edu/rreagan/floor_flag.htm http://www.ncac.org/timeline/1989.htm http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/id/199 http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/bio.htm http://www.ndoylefineart.com/ringgold.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/arts/ringgold.html
Art Appreciation
Final Critical Essay
By: Rachelle Goude
April 23, 2005
Critical Essay on God Bless America, Faith Ringgold, What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag?, Dread Scott Tyler and The World Flag Ant Farm, Yukinori Yanagi.
Flags and their Many Meanings
I will be describing and evaluating the works and artists described above. To begin I will describe each work and its symbolism. I will then summarize the artists and the times of their artworks. Afterwards, I will explain how the works fit into the time period and then compare and contrast all three artworks.
To begin, I chose the above artworks because of their symbols, the flag. Each artwork depicts a flag in different forms …show more content…
and for different reasons. The first, God Bless America was painted by Faith Ringgold. The painting's star is depicted as a sheriff's badge and its stripes are in the form of prison bars symbolizing that the United States has turned into a prison.
(Sayre, p.20) The white woman in the painting is pledging her allegiance to the flag but in the same breath she is being depicted as a racist denying blacks their civil rights. It is also depicting the struggles that her community and she were facing while trying to gain equal rights from the majority of white Americans. In this oil painting she uses only three colors, black, white and red which are indicative to her other paintings in the series. She uses rectangles and squares to depict the flag, even the woman in the painting has an elongated rectangular appearance to her. The second, What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag? is an exhibit by Dread Scott Tyler, a minority student at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibit is a 34 by 57 inch American flag on the floor underneath pictures of flag-draped coffins and South Koreans burning flags and holding signs that said "Yankee, go home son of a bitch". There is also a ledger where viewers can write their answers to the question "What is the proper way to display a U.S. flag?" Two problems with the setup of this exhibit where the flag draped on the floor and the placement of the ledger book. …show more content…
Viewers had to decide whether to honor the flag and try to sign the ledger without stepping on the flag, or honor their freedom of speech and just step on the flag. The third, The World Flag Ant Farm, created by Yukinori Yanagi. This is the most interesting of the three works. It is 170 8 by 12 inch boxes filled with colored sand for each nation's flag. The boxes are connected to each other by plastic tubing. Yanagi then placed ants into the exhibit and they immediately began carrying the colored sand between the boxes. This created a mixing of the colors which symbolized "the cross-cultural network of multinational symbols and identities."(Sayre, p.22) On page 22 of A World of Art Yanagi states that the only thing the traveling of the ants shows us is that they travel to resume a task they have been preprogrammed to do, not to acquire freedom.
In 1969, the Supreme Court of the United States upholded the Civil Rights Act, giving the African Americans back their rights as American citizens. The United States bombed Vietnam. Three civil rights workers were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. All of these "goings-on" contributed to the work of Faith Ringgold. Ringgold's art, at the time, focused on the Civil Rights movement, racism and a divided country because of segregation. She depicted all of this in her God Bless America. I'm not sure I could have survived those times. I am appalled by racism and prejudice. I believe everyone should be treated equally regardless of their skin color or religion or sexual orientation. We were all given the right to freedom
In 1989, the United States Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is a protected right of free speech. The Berlin Wall crumbles thus creating one Germany. United States troops invade Panama. Dread Scott Tyler's work was a tapestry of controversy. War vets would protest and people were arrested for walking on the flag. The very reason he made the exhibit was to show people that they weren't being treated fairly in their freedom of speech. Some people would step on the flag to sign the ledger feeling that they were actually honoring the flag while others wept and protested. One war vet even picked up the flag, folded it up and put it on the shelf with the ledger. I would have unfolded that flag and put it right back down on the floor. He is expressing his freedom of speech!
In 1990, Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, thus creating the start of the Persian Gulf War. Mexicans were dying in the summer heat trying to cross the border into the United States. Yukinori Yanagi was using boxes and sand to show the globalization of the many cultures of Japan. Yanagi's work depicted the many cultures that influenced his country's change in society. With the "invasion" of the influences of China, Korea and the United States, Japan's society was no longer an isolated culture. As the book states, Yanagi's Ant Farm works kind of like a microchip or processor from earlier days of computer processing. (Sayre, p.22) This work shows the process of information exchange that has become possible over the internet and the World Wide Web causing more cultural diversity throughout the world. I think more people in this world need to accept the cultural diversity that surrounds us. It is a matter of art in itself! Our world is made up of so many different people of so many different colors just like the rainbow!
These three artworks are similar in meaning, yet so very different.
God Bless America and Ant Farm are similar for an obvious reason they both are about flags. However, they both have totally different meanings. Ringgold's work is about civil rights and racism while Yanagi's work is about cultural globalization and nationalism. (Sayre, p.21) In a way, they are similar in that they both deal with political and social issues that African Americans and Japanese citizens face everyday. Racism is not only a black/white problem it includes people of ALL races whether it be black, white, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean or even Jewish. Racism doesn't just cover the color of your skin, it covers everything about an individual's way of life including their religion and the style of clothes he or she may wear. Ringgold's God Bless America is an expression of the emotional and physical torment of black Americans prior to and during the Civil Rights Movement. This piece of art movement had a lot of cultural ties to the population during the 1960's that also can be applied today. Yanagi is trying to show how cultural influences are changing his country's way of living which is also an issue in today's world. The cultural diversity throughout the world is changing the way everyone lives. In What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag?, Tyler is expressing to the viewers that they have rights given to them by the United States constitution. Tyler's work and
Ringgold's work are comparative in that they are both about a person's rights as a United States citizen. Tyler is expressing freedom of speech and Ringgold is expressing civil rights for blacks. Tyler and Ringgold's works are both extremely controversial. They touch on subjects that were, at the times they were made, the center of political attention. In 1989, there were dozens of people trying to express their freedom of speech and expression. In 1964, there were thousands of blacks trying to express their freedoms and their civil rights. Tyler and Yanagi's works seem to have no similar qualities. One is about freedom of speech and expression while the other is about cultural diversity. On the other hand, they are very similar. Even though Yanagi's work is about diversity, it still depicts his freedom of expression.
In conclusion, I have taken the time to explain three works of art that show the artists' expression of how they view their worlds at different times in history. Whether or not people agree with how they express themselves does not matter, it is the artists' way of telling the world how they feel. We have learned in this class that art takes on numerous forms and countless meanings. It is freedom of speech and expression, culture, racism, diversity, anger, sadness and everything else depicted in the form of paintings, sculptures, movies, dance, music, theater and several others. I feel the three works I have chosen are by far the most interesting I have encountered in the past five weeks. They have given me a better understanding and appreciation for art and artists. I guess that's why they call this class Art Appreciation!
Photos of Art Works
Reference Page
Book
A World of Art Chapter One, p.20-22
Sayre, Henry M. Revised Fourth Edition 2004 Pearson Prentice Hall
Internet Resources http://www.jhfc.duke.edu/ducis/made-in-asia/essays/randi/randi.html http://portfolio.iu.edu/rreagan/floor_flag.htm http://www.ncac.org/timeline/1989.htm http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/id/199 http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/bio.htm http://www.ndoylefineart.com/ringgold.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/arts/ringgold.html