Assignment 5c

MoLAA is the Museum of Latin American Art that displays the work of contemporary Latin American artists from World War 2 to the present. What I have learned this semester enhances my understanding of the artwork at MoLAA because I have a much greater understanding of Latin American culture, history, and art. Latin American art is strongly influenced by its history from pre-colombian indigenous civilization, to colonialism, to independence. Now that I know more about what has happened in Latin America and how the countries and cultures have developed, I can better understand what the art is about. There is such a strong presence of history and culture in the art that much of the meaning and significance of the art is lost without a knowledge of Latin America.











(http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2004/Articles0904/CR0904.html)

This painting is called Cancion al Silencio, or Song to Silence, and was created by Cesar Menendez in 1990. Cesar Menendez is a Salvadorian artist who was born in 1954. His work is greatly influenced by his homeland and childhood in Sonsonate, El Salvador. I found his work while searching the MoLAA website, and thought the name of his most recent exhibit at the museum, "Hunter of Fantasies/o Cazador de Faantasiás," was interesting. I googled him to find out more about him and see his work, which turns out to be just as interesting as the exhibit name.

I see a lot of struggle and passion in the painting. It is dark, but there are also the bright orange, red, blue, and green areas that show passion and energy. The painting shows a woman holding the body of a lifeless woman, and she appears to be caring for the woman. I don't know if the lifeless woman is a part of the dressed woman, or if she is not even real. There is also a large dog and a bird cage that might have dead birds on the bottom of it. The art is a painting of oil on canvas, and Menendez used multiple layers of paint that he added and took off to create luring three-dimension. Most of the painting is filled with straight lines and 90 degree angles to create a tense atmosphere. The women, dog, and birdcage are the only curves lines in the painting, and they stand out because of their different shapes. There are so many parts of the painting, and the contrast between dark, bright, and some pastel fills the painting with energy and emotion.

I think that the painting is about life struggles. There are many emotions that I see in the painting, and I think that they are all coming together to show what people go through in life. The women represent life and death, because one of the women is alive, and the other is dead. Also, I think they represent fertility and motherhood, because the naked woman is curvey and her stomach protrudes a little bit, and the living woman is gently caring for her, like a mother. The dog is mysterious and aggressive, like a dangerous part of life. The bird cage represents the structure of life and how it can trap people and harm them, as it did the birds by killing them. The painting contains light and dark, like happiness and sadness, and many of the other most common emotions and struggles people face.

I chose this work of art because I saw Latin American history reflected in it. Growing up in El Salvador, Menendez knows about the struggles and oppresion of indigenous people and poor people. He has learned about conquest, colonialism, and independence since he was a child. With so much intense history and recent past surrounding him as he grew up, it makes sense that his art is so complex and emotional. I think that the painting shows the conflict and struggles that El Salvador has faced, and the new light that came from independence. In the past, indigenous people of El Salvador were killed, opressed, and had their cultures taken from them. The tense, dark, and aggressive parts of the painting seem to symbolize that part of history. After becoming independent, Salvadorians were better cared for by the government. The violence, passion, and dreams that have affected El Salvador for so long seem to be shown in Cancion al Silencio.

There is so much going on in the painting that it is hard to truly understand what is going on. The atmosphere of the painting appears very quiet, and it does not seem that the dog or women are making any noise at all. The silence part of the title probably comes from how quiet the room is, but I would like to know what it is called the song of silence. I don't know what the song is, and I think that understanding that would help me understand the painting better.