Montclair Art Museum-Mariah Torres

(I have attempted to take as much of the mural as I could. It was huge!)

Constructing an identity is very complex. Society has different meanings of how each of us constructs ourselves to be the person we are today. It is how each of us are raised by our groups. We learn and develop beliefs and morals in order to pass it down from generation to generation. Identity can be through sexuality, gender, religion, ethnicity, anything that has to do with the self. It helps us recognize who we are and where we belong amongst society. Constructing an identity means to learn from others or through life experience and seeing if we can find our limits, desires, goals, and how we view the world itself. For example, in BellHooks’ Understanding Patriarchy, the author had been learning from her mother to take on the woman’s role in serving for men. However, the young author had learned to handle herself amongst the boys, due to her father’s violent behavior. She understood and accepted her roles as a woman, but she still expressed her feelings when it was necessary, allowing her to become successful today.

The works I chose really does not go for the male gaze. The themes I see when I viewed all of these pieces were about race, class, and identity because most of these artists and photographers have made memorabilia of their careers (such as Nick Caves’ Soundsuit and Dulce Pinzon’s Spiderman) or included designs from their culture and ethnicity (Such as Cindy Sherman’s Untitled 402 and Kehinde Wiley’s Matar Mbaye). These designs are really eye-catching and gives the viewer an idea of each artist’s background.  







Cindy Sherman, Untitled 402, 2000

In this piece, photographer Cindy Sherman is posed as an American woman, clad in red, white, and blue clothing. She exaggerates her face, with big overdrawn lips and a funky blonde bob cut wig. The photograph is a headshot, that is manipulated to look somewhat like a painting. I found it quite humorous when her piece was hung next to the famous President George Washington portrait. She was stereotyping America and it’s government; She poses like the presidents when they get their portraits done. 

Kehinde Wiley, Matar Mbaye, 2007

Kehinde Wiley is an African American contemporary artist who was known to be the first black artist to paint President Barack Obama’s portrait. The artist is painted in black and white in the center of the paper and is surrounded by vines and exotic birds. Splashes of red, black, and washed blue are seen in the vines’ leaves and in the feathers of the birds. The lime green background makes the color pop along with the artist’s self-portrait. I am slowly becoming a fan of Kehinde Wiley. His designs are very elegant and feel like there is life in his work.

Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2015
In this piece, Nick Cave remakes one of his dancing suits into a bright and whimsical art piece. According to the small description next to the sculpture, “Soundsuits are wearable fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical, and otherworldly”. When looking upon this piece, the bodysuit has different colored pieces that sparkle. From afar, it looks like the suit is made of stained glass. An intricate rack is placed around the sculptures’ head that holds vintage toys such as, trains, tambourines, and doll heads.

Willie Cole, Silex Male, Ritual, 2004

Willie Cole is a mixed media artist from Newark, New Jersey. He designed this piece as if it were “an illustration in an anthropology book”. He digitally manipulated his skin to have scorched iron marks. The marks look like tribal tattoos, which makes it a very interesting piece to look at. Like Sherman, Cole is stereotyping different cultures. In this piece, he explores the Native American culture.

Dulce Pinzon, Bernabe Mendez (Spiderman), 2007

Dulce Pinzon was born in Mexico City and had migrated to New York City to study photography. When completing this piece, Pinzon and another photographer had to hang high against a skyscraper. Pinzon created a Latino version of Spiderman whose name is Bernabe Mendez. His backstory is that he was an immigrant who worked as a window cleaner and sent money every month to his family in Mexico.

(Note: I forgot to take a selfie of me in the museum but I have the badge and the map with me).