Without one part, there won’t be a whole of something. This can be seen through things in our everyday life. Without a screw a frying pan won’t be a frying pan because the screw connects the handle to the pan. Without that little part, the whole will be incomplete. To have something that is fully completed, we need to have all the parts that make up this whole.
Going to see the exhibit “Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary” from the Museum of Art and Design helped answer the question of “What is the relationship between the part and the whole?” The exhibit showed very interesting pieces of artwork that were very creative and amazing. From looking at one piece to another, the idea of not having that one piece in the piece of artwork would ruin its whole, or it would be incomplete. This can definitely be said for Donna Marcus’ pieces, “Fall 2,” “Dodecahedron i,” and “Dodecahedron x.” Marcus’ three art pieces, all are of different sizes, were made from strainers/molds and they were all connected to form large round balls. There was also a design on them by having a few strainers/molds being positioned and connected to form flowers on the balls. The aluminum balls wouldn’t be complete if that last strainer/mold hadn’t been used to finish the connection to the whole piece. Without that piece there would be a hole and it might make the balls look odd and out of place.
Other pieces of artwork that wouldn’t be finished pieces if it weren’t for the parts that make it a whole would be Devorah Sperber’s “After the Mona Lisa 7,” Johnny Swig’s “Quarter Lounge,” Jill Townsley’s “Spoons,” and Long Bin-Chen’s “Reading Chair With Buddha Heads.” Sperber’s piece, “After the Mona Lisa 7,” was made with 5,084 spools of thread to complete the whole Mona Lisa painting upside down with her holding a camera. Many different colored spools of thread were used to form the picture. Through a clear sphere placed a few feet from the art piece, you can see the picture upright. The picture would not be complete if a spool of thread was missing. This can be can be said the same for Swig’s “Quarter Lounge.” The entire art piece is made up of quarters and also stainless steel. The quarters are connected and arranged to make the lounge chair look smooth all over. If all these quarters were not used, the chair would have holes, making the piece look incomplete and the feeling of smoothness will disappear.
Chen’s “Reading Chair With Buddha Heads” was a very creative and unusual idea. I have never seen anyone do such a thing as to cut the sides of books (phone books) and make the shape of a face or a whole head. At first when I looked at the piece from a distance, I thought it was made from rocks and stones because of the different colors that looked a lot like rocks and stones; looked almost sandy. But as I got closer and looked more closely at the artwork, I noticed it was actually made from books! I was truly amazed and wondered how the artist was able to cut the books so smoothly. All those books need to be stacked together and cut. If one of the books were missing, the face would probably not look like a face. The face would be missing eyes or a chin and it would look incomplete.
I have not been to a museum for a while and was glad to have gone to MAD and seen some really creative artworks. I really enjoyed it and prefer exhibits like “Second Lives” over exhibits for paintings.