Photos from Bull and Wounded Horse
Abraham - N - Isaac Lambda Photo Print 80"x42" 2004. |
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Photograph from the Bull and Wounded Horse Exhibition |
in his new book Making Art, Form and Meaning. TerryBarett writes about Abraham - n - Isaac
"TEXTS" AND "WORKS"
Modernists talk about a work of art, and postmodernists prefer the term text, borrowing a word from literary theory. In modernist thinking, artworks are often considered unique creations made by gifted individuals. In postmodernist thinking, however, artworks and all artifacts are more collaborative in nature and highly influenced by culture-that is, other works-which is why postmodernists chose a different word to refer to them. Works are singular, speaking in one voice, that of the artist, which leads the viewer to look for the artist 's singular meaning; texts imply that any artwork is a network of references and citations of other works from many disciplines. Postmodernists believe an artwork is a confiuence of many voices that speak, blend, and clash, that images are influenced more by culture than we had previously thought. Elliott Earls' image Abraham-n-Isaae (11.7) is an artwork, but it is more fully understood as a partial text rather than a singular and self-contained work.
The image is part of a larger text called Bull and Wounded Horse that consists of an exhibition of photographs, objects, and large prints, and a performance piece that incorporates these objects. Making sense of the references in Abraham-n·Isaae requires knowledge of other text upon which it draws: the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew text at the base of the image, and specifically the image of Abraham following God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac without question. The image is set in contemporary hip-hop style, with African Americans representing the two Biblical characters, one barefoot and in overalls, with a revolutionary hat and hairstyle, and the other in dress pants and two-toned leather shoes. Their tattoos are signifiers that carry cultural connotations as well as the specificity of what they show. Bling is abundant around the neck of Isaac, and in the graphical symbols above the heads, which in turn reference the Star of David, a crucifix, the crescent of Islam, and a dollar sign. Blood spews forth. Through these multiple references to texts in sacred and popular cultures, Earls may be referencing black-on-black crime, as well as religiously based conflict in our post-9/11 world and greed for money. It is not a simple or self-explanatory work but highly dependent on references external to itself.
- Making Art, Form and Meaning. by Terry Barett, 2009. McGraw Hill.
ISBN-13: 978-0072521788