Appreciating Art: A Message Through Pictures

Gohar Manzar
Art Appreciation 1301
Professor Debra Gibney
15 February 2008


When searching for a painting, I chose “Apples”, which was made of plastic, rubber, automotive paint, and was sculpted by Betsy Odom. I found this piece of work in the University of Texas at Arlington’s Fine Art museum, where I found it hard to choose between so many effectively moving and interesting works of art. I thought this sculpture, made in 2007, to be unique for its three dimensions and message, which according to me, related to the environment and pollution.
In this painting, I see nine black apples surrounded by black glossy liquid (actually plastic). Upon closer inspection, I find that these apples are bruised and seem to be covered in this “liquid”. After reading the work’s name, I think that the “liquid” must be car gasoline, and suppose that the message this painting is trying to send is environmental in nature. These apples seem to have fallen from a tree, randomly placed and positioned on top of car oil spills and droplets.
The apples make a “Z” or square-ish pattern in their placing, and I believe this is to show that the apples feel down from one tree. Sine this is three dimensional, I don’t see a line specifically, but only curvy borders, which are defining the oil spills. The oil spills take the form of a round contour because of the scientific principles of surface tension, so the artist utilized this fact to make his artwork look more authentic and real. There are lines on the apples themselves, which indicate that they were bruised and tortured as they fell down and became covered in the oil. The apples are also almost round, just like apples really are. Most of the shapes in this artwork are organic in nature because the artist wanted depth and realness. These figures are detailed, as seen by the top of the apple’s branch hooks and the bruises and bumps which were sculpted. These apples are life size and can fit into the palm of a hand, just like a real one would. I noticed that most of the apples were placed on the oil drops and that there was not a single apple which did not have any gasoline under it.
The lighting in this painting gives the apples and the gasoline a much shiner look than without, making the gasoline look genuine, but the apples a little fake. However, because of the yellow, dim and multiple lights around this sculpture, I can infer that Betsy Odom intentionally did this to the apples because she tried to make us notice that the apples, with highlights of green and purple because of the lighting, are covered in some sort of glossy material. I think Betsy wants us to find out that the apples are covered in automobile oil. Therefore, by the lights used near this structure, she employs the use of emphasis for the apples. The shadows are quite distorted and give a sense of fakeness in this sculpture because the oil should not have this dark of a shadow unless it was opaque, which oil really isn’t.
I saw that the color the artist predominantly used in this sculpture were dark shades of black. I think Betsy chose this hue because of the filthy feeling it gives the viewer. Especially after figuring out that the “round” objects are apples, I get a sort of obligation to wash the fruits and to keep them delicious and fresh. Betsy tried to use the black color also because gasoline is originally black in the real world. Therefore, she tried to make her message real in substance so that we could understand what the apples were immersed in. After figuring that the “liquid” stuff surrounding the apples and under them is gasoline, I can actually smell the gas, giving me a feeling of nausea and a disliking of over-polluted cities. I then realize how pollution can affect the environment adversely. The color is one of the most important elements in this artwork, since it generates a feeling of uncleanness and abhorrence towards automotive waste. This psychological method of convincing the viewer is integral for the art to convey its message. The texture of this sculpture is plastic, smooth and shiny. But from appearance, the gasoline appears liquid and the apples appear to be made of glass.
By placing an equal amount of gasoline on each side of the sculpture, the artwork appears balanced. However, there are a few more apples on one side of the sculpture than on the other, which I think is utilized to bring attention to the apples. Interestingly, it seems as though the apples on the left side are more bruised, whereas the right side are more slashed.
By placing this black sculpture over the white stand, one seems to notice the sculpture more than any other sculpture in the room, giving a primary emphasis to the sculpture itself! But within the painting, most of the attention clearly lands on the apples, which, because of the lighting, have a CD-like multicolored effect. This painting’s focus is mainly on the right because of the many apples on this side, but it still has many foci for the eye to rest upon. By making the apples glossier and grayer than the pure black gasoline, one seems to notice the apples even further.
The apples are positioned in many places, and since they are mostly on their sides or upside-down, one may feel a tension. That is described above. By using the color black over and over again, one may further feel like cleaning up this mess and to take action against pollution. Evidently, the rhythm is the most influential factor causing the psychological effects described above.
By being forced to create two dimensional sculpture, the artist is obviously limited by space, as she is unable to show the various causes of pollution that could be painted in a two dimensional system. This sculpture was done in rubber, oil and automotive paint, which might have been quick enough to dry and control. Since the sculpture was black overall and has no other colors or details to paint, I think that this sculpture was not very hard to paint. I think that Betsy had to subtract and carve from the blobs of rubber in order to create the apples, therefore, a subtractive process. I believe the artist used a knife or a peeler to create the apples and oil spills, and then used spray automotive paint to give the mediums a black color. Then, I think she painted the apples with glossy oil, which she let to dry. The hardest part of this piece of work was to effectively show the message to the viewer and to make it as convincing as possible. I believe that this structure would be fit for an environmental agency room, and would very well represent the passions of many environmentalists and “green” people. It seems to be a decoration for an office or apartment, house, etc. That is what most art is, an effective message and argument, not through words, but through hands. A picture is, after all, more than a thousand words.