Leesandra Mendoza
The Museum Experience
Professor Nevins
Mattatuck Museum Art Gallery
I have lived in Waterbury, CT my whole life and never visited the Mattatuck Museum Art Gallery before. The Mattatuck Museum is an art and history museum that is located by the Green in downtown Waterbury. Before it was an art museum started out as a historical society in 1877. The Museum opened its first display hall in 1912 and has been collecting and exhibiting art, mainly focusing on artists of Connecticut, since then. The Mattatuck also presents more than 12 changing exhibitions every year featuring significant artist of the past as well as today’s contemporary artists. I was really excited to see the first floor about Waterbury's history from immigrants who came to this city, the environment, and the long standing history of business that ran Waterbury.
The first two pieces I want to talk about are not from Connecticut native but a famous artist I personally love. Yayoi Kusama (1929) is a Contemporary/ Pop artist from Japan. This was the first time I have been able to see her works such as Pumpkin (red and white) 2013 ink and resin (left) Pumpkin (yellow and black) 2013 ink and resin (right). Both pieces where a museum purchase from acquiring the proper funds. Kusama's use of polka dots has become a distinct artistic style within her work. Through her dots, she creates visually striking and conceptually rich artworks. Although looking at the piece at first I get this very playfulness from it with the colors, item itself, as well as the idea of using polka dots. Knowing Kusama though her work has more serious themes underneath it. She has spoken about her struggles with mental health, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder or known as OCD. She uses her art to help with this as a form of therapy. The repetitive act of creating dots reflects her compulsion to create order and pattern out of chaos. Through her dots, Kusama transforms her personal struggles into a visually arresting and deeply meaningful artistic practice.
More Art Works
Super... glad you got to the Mattatuck at last. Meeting up withthe pieces by Yayoi Kusama is also part of the joy of encountering works in person... There is a certain "Rock Star" back stage moment versus hearing recordings by the same rock star that is an important part of our emotional lives and very important to the entire experience of encountering art.
ReplyDelete