Great Works II

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum—popularly known as The Guggenheim—is home to renowned artworks by a vast array of artists. Displays are not restricted to traditional paintings by some of the more popular names such as Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, and others of their caliber; artworks of the modern age also have their fair share of space in the museum. Ranging from the common media of canvas and oil, the Guggenheim houses digital artworks, multimedia arts, and installation objects, among several others. The museum regularly showcases exhibitions throughout the year. Currently, The Guggenheim is holding an exhibition of four major ‘themes’: “Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today,” “Kandinsky Before Abstraction,” a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Thannhauser Collection.

What particularly fascinated me, of all the exhibitions, was the “Under the Same Sun” collection. The exhibition consisted of artworks of mixed medias by a number of Latin American artists. These artworks weren’t of the typical kind one would expect to see in a prestigious art institution; every single one of them was composed of anything but canvas and oil—plasterwork, light strips, and full-on blasting fans, to name a few.

What seemed to be the centerpiece of “Under the Same Sun” was the plasterwork that made a parody out of the famous Del Monte brand. The plasterwork started out seeming plain before it turned provocative. Where the brand name was supposed to be was instead the phrase ‘Del Montte,’ and underneath it was the word ‘criminal.’ This parody provoked my thoughts as I asked myself, “Why would someone criticize canned tomato paste?”

I was fixated on the plasterwork. After further observation, it wasn’t tomato paste that the artist was criticizing. The phrase “struggles for land” filled up the brand’s space, and the backdrop to the lookalike was a hand of bananas. The artwork was not a demand for tomato paste in Guatemala, as I had presumed; rather, it was criticism on Guatemala’s politics. The plasterwork represented the Guatemalan people’s resource—the bananas—being exploited by “corporate interests.” In my opinion, the plasterwork must be thought as ‘not politically correct’ by certain people; however, the outlet that the artist used to convey their message of political opposition couldn’t be more creative. Personally, it was the crassness of this conceptual Latin American artwork that lured me in.

All in all, this assignment—having to go to a museum—really broadened my perspective. Aside from the visual stimulation, this assignment made me realize that it is important to think critically; in this case, seeing what is hidden in plain sight.