Contemporary Topics

One of the things that I love about art is that is has the ability to transcend the art world and enact real change in the real world. The way it does this is by infusing activism and critique into the artwork itself which then convince people to care more deeply about a problem that they may have not known about before. And then those viewers walk away and enact that real-world change by voting or protesting or doing a number of other things.
If you haven’t guessed by now that I deeply care about the environment, maybe you guessed it by two of my blog posts have centered around artists whose works have centered around environmentalism. The protecting and saving environment are important issues that need to be discussed on every level; in politics, in literature, and yes in art. Today I will review several artworks that have been found along our trip through Chicago and discuss why environmental issues are so important that artist of almost every genre are depicting it.
At the Museum of Contemporary art, Otobong Nkanga’s tapestry Infinite Yield points a specific issue that has arisen from human consumption: the falsehood of infinite resources. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the practice of mining the earth for resources has increased year after year with no sign of stopping. According to the National Wildlife Federation, mining practices damage the natural landscape that has long lasting impacts on forests and wildlife as well as creating enormous amounts of pollution. Nkanga’s artwork, as well as the surrounding exhibit, our art to tell us of the environmental dangers of mining practices. The tapestry reminds us that we do not have an infinite yield of natural resources and once we use them all up they will be gone and then we will have nothing but destroyed earth.
This oil painting by Alexis Rockman titled Cascade views the many different ways in which humans have used the ecosystem of the Great Lakes to their benefit, much of which has been harmful to the beautiful lakes. This painting also shows us how human interference with the ecosystem could damage it to the point that we no longer have it around for use in the future. The painting acts as sort of a timeline, moving from the glacial period the cut the lakes to the modern day with intense logging and boat pollution. The right most side of the image, with its sunken boat, smoke filled air, and downed logs clogging up the water is a grim reality comparied to the beauty seen just a few inches towards the left. Humans still have the power to stop this commercialism of natural resources. If we don’t however that green landscape might as well be as far back as the glaciers because we might never see them again.
Our next piece looks intimately at one of the side effects of using resources, such as through the process of deforestation. This installation into the Carrie Secrist Gallery by Chicago artist Alice Q. Hargrave depicts the bird calls of extinct birds in front of the backdrop of a forest scene. According to Duke Today, the Duke University newspaper, humans have caused the extinction of over five hundred bird species in the last five hundred years. Knowing this information, it is hard not to view the scene that Hargrave depicts as the tragedies caused by human destruction of the environment. Some of these bird calls are the mating calls of the last of now extinct birds calling out to mates that do not exist. The only forest they now live in is the picture of a forest that has probably been cut down. How many more species must go extinct before we realizing that saving the environment is more important than our human needs?
Though the last three art pieces we have examined have taken on the contemporary topic of environmentalism in a very negative manner, showing several of the ways in which humans have failed the planet, art taking on important topics does not need to just be chasizing of all the wrongs we have committed. Sometimes art can serve as a beacon of hope that can inform society on how we have the ability to be better. Nothing tackles this viewpoint through the lense of the environment better than the Aqua building by architect Jeanne Gang. This building is not only LEEDs certified for sustainability like the rest of new buildings in Chicago but it also is environmentally friendly in the way that it's unique balconies are purposefully shaped to help birds see it better to reduce birds collisions with it. Though the Hardgrave installation acts a memorial to those birds that are gone already, the Aqua building helps insure that more won't have to be built in the future.
Some people may wish that art was less political, that it could just be mindlessly beautiful without having an opinion outside of art. However the environmental destruction is an issue that eventually will affect us all drastically, if it hasn’t done so already. This means that it is important that artworks like the 4 discussed and more that have yet to be made continue to be viewed so that they bring attention to this important issue.

https://today.duke.edu/2006/07/nobirds.html

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