Ana Mendieta was a Cuban refugee who came to America. She dearly missed Cuba and felt far away from it in an emotional sense. She was relocated to the Midwest, which she never fit into place in. She felt disconnected from her homeplace of Cuba and she wanted to connect to the land in her works. Ana Mendieta wanted people to connect to Earth and the land, to signify the connection that nature is us, and we are nature. Her story and identity was questioned because she was Cuban, but yet she felt like she wasn’t due to her being so away. She wanted to speak out on violence, she used blood in her work that demonstrated different wounds. She was a women and throughout her life she experienced racism, sexism, and in college a student was raped and kill. Her experiences inspired her to recreate tragic pictures. Ana herself used nature, she use flowers, mud, and other concepts found physically in nature to demonstrates the connection towards nature. They were important because how other way would we show a violent attack then blood? Ana Mendieta wanted to show a close relationship with nature and the land, that’s why she’s depicted nude quite often: “Clothes encumber contact and movement” (Berger, John. 56) Ana Mendieta in the sense that she is connecting to nature. She wanted contact with nature, she wanted to show the connection by being nude to depict that her and nature are one. Nudity shows vulnerability, but confidence. Ana Mendieta focused on people being in touch with nature and the land, just as she wanted to be with her homeland of Cuba. In John Berger it says, “But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it.” (Page 1) Nature and the land is everywhere, although places are industrialized and urbanized there is still nature. We are nature and it’s important to remember and Ana Mendieta did not fail to depict that.
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was from a poor family of immigrants. He suffered disorders in his childhood that left him excluded from school and from socializing with other children his age. He brought an era of pop art, and new commercial art, such as his famous campbell noodle soup paintings. He was an openly gay man, and he photographed a lot of drag queens, which weren’t so socially accepted in society. He put together art and advertising. His identity coming from a poor immigrant family showed a lot of determination to become somebody. He wanted to be famous, and he achieved that. His famous Campbell noodle soup work was a representation of how much he ate them during his childhood, he used these images to “remember or forget these messages but briefly one takes them in, and for a moment they stimulate the imagination by way of either memory or expectation. The publicity image belongs to the moment. We see it as we turn a page, as we turn a corner, as a vehicle passes us.” (Berger, John. 129-130) Images can bring up memories, which is what his art would do for him. Advertisements and art go together, so they can make you feel something: such as nostalgia, they make you miss and desire things. He wanted fame, therefore he drew these famous celebrities. He wanted to be part of that scene, which included fame and the money. In regards to his sexuality, He photographed the underground sex scenes which weren’t photographed or talked about much or at all. His work, tell a story but it’s not so obvious it’s simple yet complicated. He painted a lot of celebrities with a lot of fame, this included Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, as well as others. In the Art of Self Invention, Finkelstein writes, “We are in an era where impression matter, and where reputation is both an asset and a liability”. Celebrities all have a reputation, whether it’s good or bad, partier, or church goer, they all have one. Andy Warhol played around with reputation. When you make a painting with someone with a lot of fame, you’re trying to make a statement. Marilyn Monroe is one of the most iconic sex symbols in history, she was an actress and Andy Warhol depicted her.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was a young artist from New York. He moved out of his home at the age of 17, and hit the streets of New York City. He was able to survive by staying at different friends house night after night. He started out making tee shirts and postcards which he sold, and made a name for himself with his famous SAMO graffiti work which co
uld be found all over the streets of New York City. He struggled to sell his art and find an income for himself. He was rejected by his father due to his rebellious lifestyle of being an artist. Jean-Michel Basquiat was able to make art of anything he can find. As I mentioned, he did not have a lot of money so therefore he drew on old doors, on small printer paper, and on sheets. I feel since he struggled with his family, and with his income he was able to value the art of small things. He decided to make things people found useless and convert them into his famous Basquiat pieces. His cultural background is Haitian and Puerto Rican, as an artist of color-skinned, he was not able to be taken as serious as other artists would be. He drew a lot of black male figures, and this included: musicians, athletes, and writers. He was unique because he didn’t paint the traditional. He was one of the, “certain exceptional artists in exceptional circumstances broke free of the norms of the tradition and produced work that was diametrically opposed to its values” (Berger, John. 109) He didn’t draw as if he had a plan, but his things just worked perfectly. He wasn’t normal or traditional. People always doubted the value of his work, they wouldn’t understand what it was. Through fame, Jean-Michel Basquiat struggled to balance reality. He distanced himself from close friends, to hang out with more celebrities who were all part of the famous scene. Through fame, he lost himself.They all lived short lives, they all had their struggles they felt like outcasts, but they never gave up. They decided to continue going despite having obstacles. They voiced themselves through their art, whether it was nature, for commercial, or for fun. They were able to produce masterpieces because of their determination. They were all ambitious, their stories and backgrounds converted them to be who they were. I feel as if all of them struggled to truly be themselves. Ana Mendieta was a minority and a female who voiced violence towards women. She broke standards and made people uncomfortable through her art, which made a statement: if it makes you uncomfortable, why not do something about it? Andy Warhol created a new era of pop art and advertisements, his work seemed so simple but it opened up minds through various color and images. Jean-Michel Basquiat tested what it is like to be non-traditional, he made his own unique art. He recreated famous pieces and made them his own.
Works Cited
Andy Warhol’s Life. The Warhol. https://www.warhol.org/andy-warhols-life/
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin, 2008.
Finkelstein, Joanne. The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. Tauris, 2007.
The Art Story: Modern Art Insight. Ana Mendieta. https://www.theartstory.org/artist-mendieta-ana.htm
Renata, Nina. The puzzling death of controversial artist Ana Mendieta has long overshadowed her brilliant work. May 2017. Timeline. https://timeline.com/ana-mendieta-artist-death-e7bc8db233ec
White, Kathleen. 21 facts about Jean-Michel Basquiat. July 2018. Sothebys. https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/21-facts-about-jean-michel-basquiat
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