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1) Artists use their canvas’ to make a statement.  In this particular exhibit, they use their artwork to critique society and its events.  No matter what time period all of these paintings were depicting, they all have specific aspects that suggest that the artist is negatively judging their society.  Through connecting Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” to David Wojnarowicz’s, When You The Invisible Cowboy, it becomes clear that the painting is displaying the fact that society overlooks the truth, even if it is right in front of them.  Additionally, after applying the scene described in Exodus 32 in the Bible, The Golden Calf, concerning a society who worships a golden cow, it it evident that the two paintings by Titus Kaphar, Shadows of Liberty and A Depiction of Muhammad Ali, are both critiquing the fact that society values the wrong things.  They value the things that everyone else thinks they care about, instead of worshipping the things they know are important to them and their life.  The elements and principles of art used in the various artworks chosen for this exhibition bring even more attention to the specific aspects of the artwork that suggest that the piece is judging society and its events.  Critiquing society through art and literature together is a unique way to voice your own opinion on the real and ideal aspects of a society at a specific time.  The objects in this section of the exhibition are paintings that their creators used as a way to critique their ideal of the real world, into a world they believe is ideal.  When viewed together, they paint a unique picture of the aspects in society that they believe are negative.

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2) "When You The Invisible Cowboy", 1987, David Wojnarowicz

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2) "When You The Invisible Cowboy", 1987, David Wojnarowicz

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3) "Shadows of Liberty", 2006, Titus Kaphar

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3) "Shadows of Liberty", 2006, Titus Kaphar

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4) "A Depiction of Muhammad Ali", 2009, Titus Kaphar

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4) "A Depiction of Muhammad Ali", 2009, Titus Kaphar

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5) The sense of closed mindedness depicted in the painting by David Wojnarowicz, “When You The Invisible Cowboy”, can be directly related to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” where several prisoners are trapped in a cave, facing the wall.  They have been trapped in the cave ever since they could remember, and have only ever looked at shadows on the cave walls.  Naturally, since this is all they have ever known, they believe that these shadows are real, and there is no other world outside of the cave.  However, one prisoner feels differently and decides to leave the cave and explore the ideal world above ground.  After experiencing the ideal world, this prison goes back down into the cave and explains his findings to the other prisoners.  Upon hearing their friend’s findings, they do not believe him and they think he is a liar.  The prisoners in the cave, due to the fact that they have only known the shadows on the cave, are so closed minded to even the possibility of another world outside of what they know.  The tone throughout the piece, due to the fact that it is critiquing society and people, is very condescending, but also very mysterious at the same time to resemble the dark, gloomy feel inside the cave in which the prisoners are trapped. This is used to show the immense difference between the inside of the cave to the outside of the cave after one of the prisoners ventures out into the world above the cave.  Overall, this sense of closed mindedness is a theme not only depicted in the work by David Wojnarowicz, “When You The Invisible Cowboy”, but also prominent in Plato’s, “Allegory of the Cave”.

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4) Titus Kaphar, born in 1976 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, had his first introduction to art when he decided to take a junior college art history course.  He taught himself to paint by visiting museums, and his work progressed in sufistication, “often multidimensional and sculptural, with canvases slashed and dangling off the frame, or hanging over another painting” (“Titus”).  Titus Kaphar operates on layers of history, remixing traditional styles of portraiture to include subtextual presences of historically marginalized figures.  For example, in his painting, “A Depiction of Muhammad Ali”, it is clear that Titus Kaphar is criticizing American culture, using Mohammad Ali simply as an example of a famous individual in society at the time he created this piece.  He is trying to portray the fact that we, as a society, idolize over the wrong things.  We worship those who are famous in our society, rather than what is truly important to our lives.

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2) Not only was David Wojnarowicz a painter, beginning in the late 1970s, he also created several other works of photography, music, film, sculpture, and writing.  Being self taught, he came to prominence in New York in the 1980s, “a period marked by creative energy, financial precariousness, and profound cultural changes” (“David”).  Arising movements from graffiti, new and no wave music, conceptual photography, performance, and neo-expressionist painting made New York a laboratory for innovation.  Instead of adopting a signature style, he experimented with a wide variety of techniques with an “attitude of radical possibility” (“David”).  He used this attitude portrayed in his artwork to critique society, more specifically what humans value.  In this piece of art, David Wojnarowicz purposely disguises the cowboy in the painting, putting the emphasis of the piece more on the things happening in the background of the scene depicted.  The thin lines used to form the cowboy also help in alluding the human eye from noticing that aspect of the piece first.  The artist purposely tricks you eye into not noticing the cowboy in the very front and center of the painting, as a way to critique people in society.  After noticing the cowboy in the forefront of the painting, it is clear that the scale and proportion of the cowboy is very large, due to the fact that it is indeed is the object closest to the viewer.  David Wojnarowicz is trying to make the viewer of his artwork realize how easy it is to overlook something that is right in front of you, a habit that we, as humans, exhibit daily.  The artist wants to portray the fact that humans in society are too focused on the things happening around them, real or fake, rather than focusing on what they know to be true because it is right in front of them.  Essentially, David Wojnarowicz is intricately depicting the fact that humans in society are closed minded.

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3) Titus Kaphar, being an artist whose paintings, sculptures, and installations criticize history by transforming the style in which the artwork is portrayed.  His practice seeks to dislodge history from its status as the “past” in order to bring up its relevance in society once again.  He “cuts, crumples, shrouds, shreds, stitches, tars, twists, binds, erases, breaks, tears, and turns the paintings and sculptures he creates”, reconfiguring them into works that reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history, in other words critiquing society and its events (“Titus”).  In his piece, “Shadows of Liberty”, Titus Kaphar is likely depicting George Washington on a horse, holding a ripped up copy of the Constitution.  This directly connects to my theme of the artwork criticizing society due to the fact that, no matter what important document is ripped up in his hands, it is still destroyed, therefore he must be critiquing something.  He is trying to get across the fact that we, as humans, naturally do not like to follow rules, even if they are i the most important, professional form.  The colors depicted in the sky of the painting are extremely gloomy, which the rightest color is found highlighting the ripped up Constitution.  This brings immense emphasis to the document George Washington is holding, and provokes the question, why is it ripped up?  This is an answer that I believe Titus Kaphar wants each individual who views his painting to have for themselves.  Titus Kaphar’s painting, “Shadows of Liberty”, not only depicts the fact that we, as individuals, do not follow rules, but instead we like to bend and break them, a habit we need to start veering from as a society.

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6) Similar to the message received by viewers analyzing Titus Kaphar’s, “A Depiction of Muhammad Ali”, the excerpt from the Bible in Exodus 32, “The Golden Calf”, tells a unique story in which people are worshipping and praying to a golden cow.  This directly correlates to the fact that in Titus Kaphar’s piece, he wants people to realize how they are worshipping the wrong things in life.  In “The Golden Calf”, a similar issue arises, and people within a society are worshipping a golden cow which they believe is "an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it" (Exodus 32).  Especially now, it is clear that we are only concerned about things that are popular in society.  In both Titus Kaphar’s, “A Depiction of Muhammad Ali”, and “The Golden Calf” excerpt located in Exodus 32 in the Bible, there is a clear depiction of the critique that society is wrong in idolizing and following certain aspects in society that become popular.