Summary Of All Nations Have Their Moments Of Foolishness
Richard Notkin’s piece, All Nations Have Their Moments of Foolishness, is a complex and detailed ceramic mural that requires its audience to look beneath the surface and identify the flaws within a country. At glance the viewer can clearly recognize the former President of the United States, George W. Bush; his face is the center of attention that is from afar at least. However, when the viewer approaches the piece images that embody suffering and war are depicted. Each observer has their own perspective of what this piece is truly trying to portray, they interpret the purpose of each element in a distinct way from their peers, including Notkin. Prior to reading Notkin’s artist statement of this piece, I was convinced I understood the purpose
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It is easy to assume that the purpose of this piece was to depict the issues that America as a nation faced under Mr. Bush’s administration, I came to this conclusion after carefully analyzing the smaller pieces that constructed the portrait. Focusing my attention to the smaller scale of the piece. I was able to identify a vast amount of tiles with images that represented war and pain. Although, my interpretation of the purpose of this artwork was not far from what Notkin was trying to accomplish, it was very much so on the surface. Perhaps this was because I lacked the historical knowledge that prevented me from understanding each of the images on the tiles. For example, when Notkin incorporates the feet of Christ in a few tiles, “This image is intended to reflect on the self-proclaimed “War President” as an equally self-proclaimed devout follower of the “Prince of Peace” (Notkin). Upon reading this I understood that war and suffering were just a portion of what Notkin was getting at, that the themes and ideas extended much more from my previous single minded interpretation. That art worked coherently with history to create a masterpiece that embodied war, suffering, and destruction. In other words, Notkin relied on history to tell the purpose of the
It is easy to assume that the purpose of this piece was to depict the issues that America as a nation faced under Mr. Bush’s administration, I came to this conclusion after carefully analyzing the smaller pieces that constructed the portrait. Focusing my attention to the smaller scale of the piece. I was able to identify a vast amount of tiles with images that represented war and pain. Although, my interpretation of the purpose of this artwork was not far from what Notkin was trying to accomplish, it was very much so on the surface. Perhaps this was because I lacked the historical knowledge that prevented me from understanding each of the images on the tiles. For example, when Notkin incorporates the feet of Christ in a few tiles, “This image is intended to reflect on the self-proclaimed “War President” as an equally self-proclaimed devout follower of the “Prince of Peace” (Notkin). Upon reading this I understood that war and suffering were just a portion of what Notkin was getting at, that the themes and ideas extended much more from my previous single minded interpretation. That art worked coherently with history to create a masterpiece that embodied war, suffering, and destruction. In other words, Notkin relied on history to tell the purpose of the