Ashley Davis

Art Critique

After countless hours on the winding road, I reach my destination with

thanksgiving for the safe journey and excitement for the experiences ahead. The
monotony of sitting in the back of a van combined with the fascination induced by
watching the American countryside flying across my vision has sufficiently mesmerized
my brain to the point of hypnosis. I stumble out of the van and look up at the sprawling
city I’ve come to. Detroit, Michigan was originally the site of my 2010 family reunion,
but of course I couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the Detroit Institute of Art for this
research. It is June 24, 2010, and I immediately start walking towards my goal a few
blocks downtown to Woodward Avenue.

The choice of galleries is simply overwhelming. I have never been to a museum

of such wealth and stature. Hardly knowing where to begin in my search for the perfect
subject to write about, I walk through the towering white columns and immediately find a
guide to the specific galleries. White marble surrounds me as I take in the arrows pointing
every which way. Eventually I decide to head towards the General Motors Center for
African American Art on the recommendation of a desk clerk.

Being of African American descent, this body of work immediately piqued my

interest Founded in 2000, this gallery is an extensive permanent collection of the DIA (as
they call it in Detroit), housing over 400 works dedicated solely to the expression of
African American art. “ The Center was designed to enhance public knowledge of
African American contributions to the art community, while exploring American history,
society and creative expression from an African American perspective,” reads the
advertisement in my brochure.

Walking through the gallery, my first impression is of being surrounded by the

weight of history. Though most of the works were made in the late 1900’s, many of the
sculptures, photographs, and various objects look as if they could be old artifacts from a
different era. One such work, Field Section made by Richard Hunt in 1972, resembled a
mangled version of an old-fashioned plow. It is a sculpture made of steel and automotive
parts, and takes up quite a bit of space in the middle of the room. Though it is considered
a contemporary piece of work, both it’s title and appearance allude back to a time when
the plow and field represented a slave’s only livelihood whether they wanted it or not.
But this isn’t what inspired any particularly moving emotion within me.

I will not pretend to even think I have what some would call a refined and
cultured taste for art. I have rarely had the opportunity to exercise my observational skills
on professional art. However, I do have an idea of what I perceive to be beautiful, or at
least aesthetically pleasing and realize that all art is subjective to the viewer. Interestingly
enough, the work that evoked a singular emotional response from me did not at first sight
strike me as “beautiful”. In fact it seemed the opposite. From across the room I glimpsed
what, in the simplest of terms, looked like a large, round, off-white shape on the far wall.
As I continued to make my way around the room I kept glancing at the shape to see if I
could distinguish any sharper details. I finally faced the work with nothing blocking my

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view. What I saw then was more than a shape, but a very complex work made of several
different mediums. The texture of the painting appeared to vary between tempera and
many other materials. Upon further research I discovered that it was made with acrylic,
tempera, oil stick, blood, paper, polymer photo-transfer, and vinyl on canvas. This was
Autobiography: Air/CS560 made in 1988 by Howardena Pindell. Measuring 87 by 82
inches, the work sprawled itself across the wall as I stood in awe of the complexity of the
materials alone. After looking closer the textures and colors separated themselves into
the definitive shapes of people (colored in different shades of brown and gray) laid out on
the canvas as if they were held down or unconscious. Over these human shapes are words
cut out of vinyl. Violent and angry words like “death, beaten, slave market, and
assassination” are worked into and across the bodies displayed on the canvas. This
display is by no means aesthetically pleasing. And yet I continued to look at it. Though I
cannot say it was “pretty” or “pleasant”, every detail of the painting became beautiful to
me through the meaning behind the whole work. The more I looked, the more I realized
that the physical appearance of the work wasn’t meant to be “aesthetically pleasing”
because the message behind it has never been easy to take in.

After further research on Pindell, I learned that she was born in 1943 in
Philadelphia, PA. She knew she wanted to be an artist at the age of 12 and spent the rest
of her life working to make that goal come true. She studied at the Universities of Yale
and Boston as well as the Massachusetts College of Arts, earning degrees at all three. Her
artistic focus has always been towards addressing racism, inequality, feminism, and other
political controversies.

The emotion I receive when looking on Autobiography: Air/CS560 is hard to

explain. In fact my reaction to the painting includes not one, but many emotions: anger
that the words and figures in the painting are a fitting embodiment of the history to which
it represents, sadness for the same reason, bittersweet relief that such things are not an
everyday part of life for most people in this country, and lastly, awe that Pindell was
brave enough to create beauty out of such violence that cannot be erased. To put it simply,
I loved the painting and everything it stood for.

Another particularly intriguing work in this gallery is Night Ritual made in 1991
by Allie McGhee. My research on this artist yielded very little in the way of her
background. I was only able to find that she is an abstract artist who lives in Detroit and
has had dozens of exhibitions in the surrounding area.

Night Ritual caught my eye because it was so different, yet it seemed timeless.
The painting measured 60 ¾ x 48 5/8 x 1 7/8 in and was rendered in oil on canvas. I don’t
know exactly why this painting appealed to me. The inner meaning of it is lost to me as
applied to the fact that it is an African American masterpiece. However the color, balance,
and seeming simplicity of it kept me from turning away from it too quickly. It reminds
me of an ancient, primitive wall painting. This and the deep, rich colors McGhee uses
lends the work a certain mystery. Though I cannot say it was aesthetically pleasing, I
found myself hesitant to walk away from it. I wanted to contemplate it until I had broken
the mystery behind its title.

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I highly recommend the Detroit Institute of Art for any art buff. It is
overwhelmingly rich with a variety of artistic masterpieces.