MIXED MESSAGES
Many artists today find inspiration in the aesthetic power of symbols—visual representations of things or abstract ideas. Some artists manipulate or purposely abstract the formal elements of text or graphic symbols for visual effect, exploring the interplay of line, color and shape. Others draw attention to the inherent tension between the visual appearance of symbols and their associated, sometimes conflicting meanings. A familiar symbol may be placed in an unfamiliar context, asking us to rethink the relationship between the visual and the verbal. Some artists use symbols, real or invented, to explore their powerful role in communication, seeing them as condensed bodies of knowledge that can be easily decoded or remain unreadable depending on one’s level of familiarity.
 REVISITING HISTORY
Artists, like all people, are informed by their personal experience and understanding of history–local and global, private and public. Contemporary artists illuminate the past by making something new of it, transforming historical sources into a new expression of their experience. Many offer innovative interpretations of recognized historical art forms—ranging from costumes and jewelry to photography and calligraphy—to explore artistic continuities and some discontinuities. A few artists direct their attention to particular moments in history, combine disparate historical sources, or even revise history, to create new understandings or alternate readings of the past. Others use family history as a springboard for broader explorations of culture. For many of these artists, the new visions they create express concepts and concerns of both the past and the present.
 THE HUMAN CONDITION
On many levels and in many ways, all art is an expression of the human condition—how we as people experience the cycle of life, real and imagined. Many of the art works in this section are portraits or portrait-like, depicting not only a literal or physical image, but also projecting qualities not visibly seen. Printed, sewn and recorded images provide glimpses of interior moods—whether lighthearted, reflective or distraught. Other artworks celebrate or commemorate life-events: childhood, marriage, parenthood or simply fleeting moments. Some not only illustrate a glimpse of one individual’s “life” but also convey experiences shared by many—physical displacement, social alienation or persistent cultural “ghosts” embedded in private or shared histories. Other artworks examine the very quality of memory itself. All explore facets of what it means to be passing through life.
Images:
Banner (left to right):
Behind Quiet Veils of the Blue Willow, 2001, Red Weldon Sandlin, Earthenware, wood, paint, Gift of Susan Thayer Farago, 2001
Buddha@Hotmail, 2006, Gonkar Gyatso, Silkscreen print, Purchase 2007 Mathilde Oestrich Bequest Fund
Movement #36, 2002, Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah, Acrylic and pigment on canvas, Purchase 2007 Helen McMahon Brady Cutting Fund (below)
Dissolution, 2005, Bill Viola, Color video (edition of 7), Purchase 2007 Helen McMahon Brady Cutting Fund (above)
Main images (top to bottom):
A Man, His Wife and Son at the Mirror, 2000, Victor Ekpuk, Acrylic and wire on board, Purchase 2008 Friends of African Art
Re-take of Amrita—Bourgeois Family—Mirror Frieze, 2001, Vivan Sundaram, Digital photomontage printed on archival paper, Purchase 2008 Helen McMahon Brady Cutting Fund
Potholders and Dervishes Plus, 1996, Sandy Benjamin-Hannibal, Pieced cotton, Purchase 2001 The Members' Fund and Emma Fatone Fund
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