For this assignment, I am to describe what makes a great work for me. The way I see it, there are several dimension to a particular work. These dimension include contextual, emotional, and philosophical. A great work of literature would touch upon, and have a message regarding all of these dimensions. My explanation of a great work would be better understood with a work that I consider being great, it was an exhibition in the Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA) called “Untitled 1989.”I believe this work includes all the characteristics that discuss each of the dimensions.
Before I explain how this exhibition demonstrates a great work, I will explain what this exhibition consists of. There is a mid-sized room with a wedding dress, cat litter across the perimeter, and yellow wallpaper. Upon a closer look at the wallpaper, one can see a pattern of 2 drawings. The first drawing shows a black person is being lynch, and the other drawing where a white male is sleeping.
Every great work will provide some information of the context of time period it depicts. For example, the drawings in the wallpaper of the Black male being lynched tells us that the exhibitor wants us to think about he societal context of it. The fact that the second picture of the White male sleeping tells us that there is a social injustice theme to it. Perhaps this wallpaper wants us to think of the Jim Crow era when the Blacks were unfairly treated and were deprived of some the basic rights (in this case Right to Life.)
This exhibition also shows how the emotion of the person sleeping in the background wallpaper is suppressed despite the social injustice committed around him. So in this case, it is absence of any emotion rather, that the exhibitor wants us to think about. If this exhibition is interpreted this way, I am sure that the audience will make similar connection with our current situations. Are there any social injustices that are happening today that we deliberately ignore in order to go about our lives? Even if the wallpaper is not interpreted this way, the audience will have emotions to the wedding dress that is placed in the middle of the room. Given that there is spotlight in the dress, it will invoke feelings that we associate with a marriage, such as joy, happiness, love etc. These feelings will eventually turn sour when the audience focuses on the wallpaper, which is rather grim.
The final dimension that I think this exhibition discusses is philosophical. Each of the objects in this exhibition shows something that has societal meaning to us even today. By putting these drawings onto endlessly repeating pattern, the artist made an attempt to say, that this was not an isolated event and that in some ways, has become our country’s background. The sculpture of the empty wedding dress is a vase waiting to be filled. It represents the supposed white purity that often triggered or justified the violence depicted on the walls. It also represents a vessel that is ready to be filled with all of the optimistic hopes and dreams of marriage. And to many Americans, Gay Americans, it is a reminder of equality denied.
The sculptures of bags of cat litter are the link between the sadistic imagery and the wedding dress. Cat litter is said to both absorb the stench of excrement in this case being the wallpaper whilst allowing for domestic comfort. This may be similar to the narrow mindedness that many of us have when dealing with various racial groups.
In conclusion, a great work for me is one that discusses an issue or has a theme in three main dimensions, contextual, emotional, and philosophical.