Pueblo woman by Roxanne Swentzell - Essay Example

VISUAL ARTS AND FILM STUDIES Historical context and contemporal issues In Reality Check, the Pueblo woman wears a vertical striped swimsuit (presumably to make her curves less noticeable), and peers over her sunglasses in which the reflection of a thin white woman in a string bikini is visible. This figure looks on incredulously, challenging the notion that this is how women should look or that she needs to resemble this woman at all. Reality Check addresses the conflicting cultural frameworks and expectations for women and the unrealistic physical expectations for women presented in popular culture (Vigil, 2014) These shows Reality Check sculpt that was done by Roxanne a contemporary Native American artist in 2000.The artist revealed Native perspective or the cultural language in the artistic work. This is revealed as the present her work to show the classic eurocentricity of the modernist art world. This is a Pueblo woman who has put own vertical stripped swimsuit so as to make the curves to be less notised.This shows the social life and how the women should during leisure at the beaches. This has shown the physical expectation for women represented in the popular culture. The sunglasses show how the artist is blending modernism in her art work. The contemporal issues include the following: a) Conform to theoretical model. The artwork that fails to conform to the theoretical models fails to be recognized significantly therefore not recognized equally. The artwork must conform to the standards and this has made many artworks not to be recognized. There is a medium that the artist has used. She has endeavored to have a message in her sculpt. The artistic work shows the popular culture within the popular culture. b) Break from tradition. Masterpieces that break from the tradition of the Native American art make the work and the artist to remain anonymous. Roxanne has not observed the tradition as she seeks to pursue post modernism. This is evidenced in the carvings where she shows the how the modern woman is supposed to put on. The modern culture is shown by the use of the modern glasses and the stripped swimsuit. The artist is not geared to reveal history but shows the popular culture within the Pueblo woman. c) Political boundaries. The sculptor has avoided to be influenced by politics. She has endeavored in representing lifestyle and cultures especially in the women as she exhibits modernity. There is no political representation in the sculpt but she chooses to address the conflicting cultural frameworks and the expectation of the modern woman. Conceptual intentions and influences The artist chose to use clay as medium to do her sculpt. It has a smooth texture and the color is blended well to show essentialism and reality of the modern lady. There is no simplicity of form and color and thus reductivism has been avoided because people are gearing towards post modernism of contemporal artwork. The simplicity of the curving was associated to the traditional methods. The artist used medium that is easy to use and less expensive. This intern will make it cost to be affordable. The sculptures of Swentzell are expressive portraits. The artwork addressed issues such as identity, politics, gender roles and even culture. The work expressed emotions shown in their facial expression. The Reality Check looks skeptically, challenging the notion that this is how women should look or that she needs to resemble this woman at all. The space between cultures is a liminal space which means that it is “a socially ambiguous zone” (133) .All the artist including the Native American artists move around the long-entrenches” (131).The traditional art is romanticized in non-Indian circles which makes young artists avoid the traditional arts so as to prevent the commercialization and trivialization of those arts. The Reality Check took modernism trend and therefore there is no much trivialization of the artistic work. Many artists in the contemporal world are now ready to be associated with their artwork. Ghettoization has become a concern among different artists, not just Native Americans. The artwork should receive more attention that the artist. This is because tribalism may come as Lappard says, “if a woman artist makes a big reputation under a male name or Native artists never mention their tribal affiliation, nothing is gained for the constituencies we care most about” (133). Therefore, “the problem of too much attention being paid to Native identity and too little to art” (142) can be solved by bypassing romanticism and nostalgia and studying contemporary Native art in its indigenous art historical context. Roxanne in his Reality Check bypasses the romanticism by presenting modernism in the popular culture of the Pueblo woman. As Berger alludes, the hierarchy of the social classes has altered significantly the way the art is perceived. Modernity has brought change in people; the human mind has been transformed from the old regime to the new regime and thus many people are moving towards modernism and thus most artists are moving with the new changes. Roxanne has significantly embraced the use of modernism not only to show the popular culture among the Pueblo woman but also how the modern woman is influenced in dressing by the modernism Critique Though the artwork has revealed modernism it lacks originality. The artwork is a replication of the real picture of a woman at the beach and there is no modification to show originality. According to the creative class hypothesis of Richard Florida, artists are to mix the urban and cultural artwork so as to display professionalism and for easy contextualisation.According to Berger, the advancement in technology and the rise in education has made most contemporal society not to look much in the history but are now focused on the future and the beauty of the technology. They are driven in the world of fallacy and imaginative and aesthetic visions. The unity of all the artwork is driven towards technology. This has made the contemporal artist to show eorocentricity of the modernist art world as Lappard puts it. Works Cited Vigil. (2014). Roxanne Swentzell. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.iaia.edu/museum/vision-project/artists/roxanne-swentzell/ Read More