Art History 4/13/11 - Term Paper Example

Nauman, on the other hand, also represents an urban aesthetic, but from the distance of technology, the structured form of perfectly rendered geometrics formed into textual representations. In looking at the two pieces of artwork, Basquiat and Nauman represent different aspects of time and space in a discourse on urbanity. Jean Michel-Basquiat was an artist who represented culture through the translation of graffiti onto the canvas, his work being a bold set of commentary on the nature of life in the urban environment.

His work, Six Crimee, which currently hangs in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angels (MOCA) is done in oil paint stick on masonite in a triptych format.1 In that it represents the graffiti styled work of the 1970s and 1980s, it is typical for the time period, although elevated by its deeper context and meaning. The work represents neo-primitivism, the figures rendered in a wild and uncontrolled nature, but in this piece, Basquiat creates a structure of composition that is not necessarily consistent with his other work.

The piece presents six figures, all of whom have a halo over their heads. The figures in Six Crimee are haloed, providing an angelic, but angry narrative to the work as the faces can be interpreted as in shock, angry, or expressing aggression. The background is cool blue and green with a tinge of yellow and small amount of a pinkish tone setting the painting within an organic color story, which is in contrast to the geometric drawing on the lower half of the painting that has a randomness that can be seen to represent the chaos of the urban environment.

The numbers 666 can be seen in the lower left hand side of the painting, perhaps demonizing the city in contrast to the figural representations of those with halos. The use of paint sticks allow for a sense of control, but also creates the look graffiti style that Basquiat had brought to his canvases. It is a large scale work, measuring overall for all three pieces 72” by 144”, with each piece measuring 72” by 48”.2 The scale of the piece provides something of the importance of what it seems to represent as the counterbalance of the human element to the nature of urbanity is expressed through its primitive dialogue.

The control of the piece is most likely due to the period in which it was made. Andy Warhol had become associated with Basquiat and much of the work that was done previous to Warhol’s death was done through an artistic focus, where after Warhol died, Basquiat’s heroin addiction began to take control of his life, leading to his own death when he was 27 years old.3 The painting originally part of the artworks that accompanied the Warhol movement and was shown with the works from The Factory, it’s last appearance with the 2006 presentation Factory Work: Warhol, Wyeth, and Basquiat at the Brandywine River Museum.

4 As part of Warhol’s Factory, Basquiat was participating in a thematically centralized body of work that commented on society, most specifically, in the experience of consumerism as it related to urban life. In contrast to Basquiat’s piece, Bruce Nauman’s piece of work, Human Nature/Life Death/Knows Doesn't Know (1983) brings a technological aspect to its installation as it is constructed of neon lights, formed into representative text. The work measures approximately 107 ?“