Deanna Barnes Blog Assignment 2

The exhibit entitled "ideas rebuilt in my garage while contemplating good and evil" by Travis Townsend was interesting and thought provoking. As a whole this exhibition was very cohesive all of the individual pieces worked very well together. The pieces are arranged in an organized manner with the largest pieces in the beginning and end while the smaller pieces are in the center of the exhibit. Similarities can be seen in all of the works, they all have bright vivid colors against the rich colors of wood. The artist has chosen to display the works in very creative and different ways. Most of the two-dimensional works do not have frames though some do have frames that are hand drawn on the wall. Some of the sculptures are mounted on blue blocks while others are laid on the floor. The artist uses string to link some of the sculptures that are on the floor to pieces that are mounted on the wall, which was a very original idea.

The piece that was most interesting to me was titled “Gathering/Black Cloud”; this piece was so interesting to me because it was so tiny. When I first saw the exhibit I did not even notice this piece was there. It was also interesting to me that the artist chose to put such a small piece into a collection of works that are so much larger. Even though it is so tiny is was so intriguing and I spent more time analyzing it than I did on any of the larger sculptures. This piece is almost void of any color except for the color on the wooden ladder. This piece seems to tell a story of a bird that was at the base of the piece but eventually climbed the ladder and has now found a safe haven in the clouds. The drawing in pencil of this bird on the wall was very creative and different from anything I have seen before. This bird can be seen throughout the entire exhibit though I do not always understand its purpose.

When I first looked though the exhibit I did not understand the concept at all but when I read the artist’s statement I understood his intentions and the exhibit very well. I related to the artists ideas about a commercialized world and I like that his pieces are telling a story though all the layers of each piece. When I analyzed some of the sculptures I noticed that each piece has so many random objects on it, like tools or maps or notes these random objects tell the viewer a story about the people who would have used them. The way that the artist expressed his ideas was very creative and thought provoking.