Absolutely Stunning
When I went to the Nevada Museum of Art to view the works of Chester Arnold I was expecting a moderately interesting collection simply because I did not find myself very interested in his works from what I had seen in class. I am happy to say that I was in awe of what I saw. The pictures that I had seen in books and on the Internet did the works no justice at all! His use of color, texture, and humanities destruction of the planet are outstandingly bold and vivid! Although I did not agree with all of what I felt he was trying to present, I became smitten by his art. So smitten in fact that I found it impossible to only choose one work to write about when three had fervently caught my eye.
The first of these three is Two Ravens, an eerie work in which two ravens sit and fly around a burnt down forest with only two trees still standing. This in particularly caught my attention because ravens are seen as signs of death, are known to be bad omens, and are used throughout history as symbols for both. I found it amusing when I read the description and it stated that the ravens seemed to be playing around the dead landscape. What an image, death playing amidst death and destruction. The work also caught my eye because in the sky were giant rolling clouds that ranged from a very light pink to a very deep, almost dark pink in front of a baby blue sky. It was destruction under heaven.
My second selection is Grubstake because it reminded me so much of the Nevada landscape. I have traveled all over Nevada and seen places that look like life could not survive, but trash could. Driving along and seeing empty beer bottles, black trash bags tossed from the back of a vehicle, bits of paper, and even old pipes. Grubstake, has the same imagery. A landscape littered with trash and old rubbish, a dump truck dumping garbage in the distance, animal bones scattered about, and my personal favorite a broken bridge. The broken bridge symbolizes the break between man and nature. The bridge is placed over a littered river, which would be very difficult, if not impossible, to cross without the bridge. I think that Arnold was trying to say that man has burnt his bridge with nature and that it will be a long while before we can return.
Finally, my third choice was Histories which just absolutely took my breath away! In the foreground are the rounds of a chopped down tree and in these rounds you can see the rings of the tree, showing it's age. Deforestation is a huge problem in our world today and Arnold caught that in this work with his use of color and texture. He is saying that we are cutting down our history and destroying our past through the demolition of forests and nature. The colors in this piece were what got me, using colors that you would typically see in nature, he made the tree rounds explode with vibrancy as they sat in front of a deep green background with scattered twigs, branches, and smaller rounds.
Chester Arnold is a brilliant artist and it does not surprise me that he became an art instructor at the College of Marin in California. With backgrounds from both the United States and Germany, he has dedicated his life to art and I for one am thankful for that. I did not think that I would enjoy the exhibit as much as I did and I would definitely recommend for others to see his work. It makes you think, it's enjoyable, and it is absolutely stunning!
