Art has the ability to make the viewer's mind wander and let’s them escape the boundaries of reality. Contemporary art is such a subjective form of practicing art because it makes the viewer question its purpose and ultimately its ability to be sanctioned as art. The artist, therefore purposely creates a visual rhetoric for their audience in the hopes of persuading them into understanding a concept of life in a different way.
One of the most vivid forms of visual rhetoric performed through art is through the installation. The installation allows the viewer to be engaged with the piece of art instead of just standing in front of a painting. The installation makes the viewer interact and explore the boundaries of the parameters of the artist’s work in the hopes of conveying a relatable message.
In the work of Japanese avant-garde artist and sculptor, Yayoi Kusama, one is able to escape the boundaries of reality and enter into the mind of the artist. Kusama’s Dots Obsession/Love Forever, 2000, was an installation piece that manipulated the minds of the viewers. The installation consisted of 11 oversized, giant, balloons in a white room covered in hundreds of vinyl dots shaped and coloured differently. The visual argument made here has a lot to do with Kusama’s health conditions as the dots represented what Kusama saw through her eyes on a daily basis.
The visual argument made here is simple, to disassociate ourselves from the realties and technologies of the everyday world and enter a fantastical world where there are no limits. Kusama’s installation allows the boundaries of our lives to be destroyed. The exhibit allows one, just for a few minutes, to feel free and powerless. The oversized balloons play with the notion of size and how something that is so mundane in real life is so overpowering in this form. Furthermore, the explosion of dots and colours obliterates our senses and makes us oblivious to the surroundings around us, as everything looks the same. This is a common motif used throughout Kusama’s work.
Analyzed as a whole, installation art is an effective form of visual rhetoric. Its ability to allow the user to engage and make their own assumptions on what the installation truly means is what makes this visual rhetoric so powerful. An artist, such a Kusama, thus has the ability to massage the minds of others by representing their feelings towards society without any words, but rather with art.
0 comments:
Post a Comment