I spent two days surrounded by art. The first was at the SAM downtown and the second was my first visit to the Seattle Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park. Art is my passion. My elixir of life. When I spend time with art, the fire of my soul burns brighter. My inner battery recharges. There is something about looking at a piece of art and looking for the message the artist is sending out. I always want to know the life of the artist, what journey did they travel.
The Miro exhibit, the Experience of Seeing is focused on Joan Miro (pronounced like Juan),
his late works, 1963-1981. On my first walk through of this exhibit with my daughter's 7th grade class in early March 2014, I was quite lost. The very strange looking bronze sculptures looked like junk on first glance, chuckles. His huge paintings are abstract and very simple looking. I knew nothing about him or his career.
Looking over a timeline of his life, I began to get a picture of who Miro is. Born in 1893 in Barcelona in the region of Catalonia in Spain. Living through World War I and the taking over of his country by a tyrannical dictator, Franco in 1939. He is a contemporary of Picasso. Knowing the little I know about classic paintings, I could immediately see how unique Miro's paintings were. On a tour with the 7th graders, I learned more about the symbols Miro uses. How a teardrop stands for woman. There are a LOT of tear drops in his work!! Chuckles. His use of primary colors is strong in symbolism, blue representing the soul. Today this very abstract art doesn't raise an eyebrow but I can only imagine what people thought in the early days of his career.
In the catalog for this exhibit I read about how Miro and his peers protested against the Franco regime. It inspired in me great admiration. To put your life on the line to stand up against injustice when people were being arrested and killed for political opposition. Over Spring break, during my second visit to Miro a tour with amazing docent Marilyn taught me more about the lost wax process of bronze casting. Miro collected objects on his walks and began to build sculptures out of them. The sculpture would be cast and then a bronze sculpture would be created. Again teardrops are seen throughout. Yes! He loves women. Chuckles.
I want to talk about two sculptures first is the Warrior King, a spoon acts as an arm or as scepter. A battered piece of wood makes up the body. We are asked to caption this piece in a contest to win a trip to Spain (enter by April 15, 2014 on the SAM's Facebook page). The warrior kings I know are Chief Seattle, Chief Joseph, Crazy Horse and Geronimo. I don't know what Miro was saying with his Warrior King, but to me it reminded me of the honorable warriors who protected their people, whose stories of heroism inspire me today. To be brave and courageous, to stand up for justice and for those who cannot defend themselves.
The second is titled Bull's Head. Marilyn, the amazing docent, shared how scary this piece looked to her. It looks like a Monster out of Monster's Inc. A creature hiding in the closet waiting to make us scream. A horn sticks out prominently big fangs look like they will dig deep. Marilyn shared this piece was made in 1970 in response to Franco's order of the death of 6 political opponents. I was born in 1973. Franco dies in 1975 freeing Spain after 36 years of being held hostage by a tyrant. I don't know where I have been all my education, did I just not understand what the World Wars were about? Was I too young? Was I too sheltered by the luxury of being born in America? Were the lessons watered down so I didn't quite understand the oppression so many people lived through for decades? 1975! Isn't this the disco party decade here in the USA? To think Spain was in a choke hold without political freedom 40 years ago. To think how many nations today are still living without the freedom of speech, the freedom to elect their leaders.
Miro's courage inspires me to speak up to say the hard things that need to be said today.
Don't forget to like the SAM on Facebook and enter to win a trip to Spain by captioning one of his works.
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