Essay #1

Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (2012) is a two-dimensional oil painting on linen by Kehinde Wiley measuring ninety-six inches by seventy-two inches. This representational painting grabbed my attention among all the other paintings because of the vibrant background featuring a black body dressed in a rather designed attire in the middle. The black body is of a woman standing, showing her lovely back as if she’s looking forward facing the future, leaving us spectators behind. She’s wearing a glamorous dark green colored long sleeve gown with cutout shoulder offering an alluring glimpse of skin which is the most noticeable area striking value. The gown is implying texture as if it’s kind of flowing.  She’s also wearing a golden colored belt which has horizontal pattern. She has her black hair in a voluminous bun which also strikes value in this painting. So to speak, the figure is stylized. The whole space surrounding the figure is filled with mass of green leaves and there are flowers emerging from them. There is plenty of negative space visible between the layers of leaves and flowers. The flowers are painted with primary colors (Red, Blue, Yellow) and secondary colors (Orange, Violet). All the colors used in the painting have a warm tone.

Eyes of Time (2014) is a mixed-media wall mural by Chitra Ganesh. This is a temporary abstract installation on a wall inside the Brooklyn museum. The wall is the canvas and there are 3 main areas- the 3 figures taking up the positive space and the rest of it is more like the background or negative space. The background consists of shading of the primary colors- blue, yellow and red from top to bottom.  The first figure is of a blue haired woman wearing a locket of tooth covering her right eye with a black object with her left hand. I feel like she’s part human and part spider as she is stylized with broken pieces of mirror which look like spider legs. The figure is outlined with blue colored paint. The second and the middle, black outlined purple figure is a rather odd figure of a woman with three legs, three hands in both sides making total six hands and her head shaped like a table-clock without its hands. The clock is golden colored. The upper part of the figure is nude revealing three breasts and the lower part is covered with cut off real looking plastic hands which gives an appearance of a skirt. She’s holding a metal like blue colored object with one of her feet. She has long wild black hair. Some words are written with her flowing hair and wires which connect to the first figure. The hands of the skirt and her hair have real texture. She has an eyeball in one of her hands in the left side just above the words. The eyeball only makes sense when you connect this figure to the first one. She’s also carrying a sickle weapon which has an eye drawn on it and blood is dripping from it. Texture is implied here. The other hand is making some kind of gesture. In the right side, two of her hands have bangles one of which looks like it’s coming out of a mouth. It also has stitches on it. The other hand is connected to the third figure’s lips with wires. This figure is also of a woman, drawn side-faced with violet colored paint. The back of her head, her hair consists of the inner parts of a clock and teeth. This only makes sense when connected to the middle figure. The middle figure is bigger than the side figures as if she has the most control over them.

Both art work I chose symbolize empowering women.  In the artwork by Kehinde Wiley stated above, the woman’s posture, her fine clothing, her voluminous hairstyle and the flowers adorning her serve as markers of power, strength and independence. The art work I chose by Chitra Ganesh influenced by the South Asian goddess Kali also represents femininity, empowerment and multiplicity.