"I believe that Man's first real figurative experience is the recognition of his own image in the mirror: the fiction which comes closest to reality. But it is not long before the reflection begins to send back the same unknowns, the same questions, the same problems, as reality itself: unknowns and questions which Man is driven to re-propose in the form of pictures." -- (Michelangelo Pistoletto,1964)
http://www.artsconnected.org/media/cb/ca/35150125d33e05b280c64732c9fd/1024/768/20816.jpg
Michelangelo Pistoletto created this work; it is at the Walker Art Museum. It is titled Tres Ragazza Alla Balconata, which translates to Three Girls on a Balcony. I was given a tour of the museum as a part of my Orientation to Art and Design class’s trip to the Walker. The tour guide did a great job of explaining many of the works of art to my classmates and me. Some things I learned about this work were that it was made as part of the Arte Provera period during World War II. Arte Provera means “poor art”. This is because artists would take things used in art and make them inexpensively. Artists during the Arte Provera movement would use metal, wood, sand, twigs, and other found materials that they could get cheap. The artwork Tres Ragazza Alla Balconata was made using tissue paper and metal. The mirror is actually highly polished stainless steel. The girls on it are painted tissue paper pasted onto the metal. I found it to be very interesting that Pistoletto’s art was all made so inexpensively. This made it more impressive.
I have seen Tres Ragazza Alla Balconata by Michelangelo Pistoletto multiple times on my trips to the Walker. It has always interested me and been one of my favorite pieces in the museum. I enjoy that the art is always changing. The feeling of the work is constantly being altered by where the art is located, changing amounts of light due to what time of day it is or the season, and the people looking at it or who are near it. If a person chooses to look at the art they can't help but become a part of it.
In the work, Tres Ragazza Alla Balconata the backs of three girls leaning over a railing are pictured. They are pasted on a reflective mirror-like piece of metal. It is like the three girls are looking at the viewer as he is reflected in the metal. I have tried and have often see other people trying to pose in front of the mirror like they are leaning on the railing with the three girls, but it is simply not possible. It is only possible for the viewer to be on the other side of the railing with the girls looking at them. The body language of the three girls looks to me like they are relaxed and at ease. That they are neither impressed nor disgusted by what they are looking at, just indifferent. It could be possible that the girls are an inner reality while the things reflected in the mirror are real. It is also possible that it is the exact opposite. It could be showing that all our actions are done as a show for the viewing of others. That nothing that anyone does is original. That everything is all a mirror image of things already done. Life is a monotonous performance put on for the others around us, but not for ourselves. The three girls could also be a representation of god. They seem to be looking down at all the people who happen to walk into the view of the mirror. They passively watch, but they do not interfere with the things in their view, their environment changes, but through it all they remain the same. This relates to what I said earlier about people trying to lean on the railing with the three girls. It is not possible to be pictured in the same way that they are yet people still try. This is similar to the way that people over history and in the present have tried to seek a godly status, but always find themselves unable. There is no way a person could ever stop trying to please others around them and just passively watch as the girls do.
This piece had to be my second favorite. I like the fact that the artist made it seem like the image was painted on a mirror but it was actually pasted on some sort of sheet of metal. I also like the fact that so many different interpretations can be made by looking at it. It really shows that you can make art with any materials, expensive or cheap.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of late, you probably won't even notice that I commented but I'm going to do it anyway... Part of all art is the viewers individual interpretation, but here the piece literally changes based on the viewer. Your theory about the artist trying to prove lack of originality definitely got me thinking. I would have never seen it that way, but then again that was the artists intention.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post, and I can see you really gave some deep thought to what was going on with this work, and what its relationship with the viewer does to our interpretation.
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