Twisted Interpretation
I am listening to the first 2 minutes of the review on Agnes Martin and I had to stop. The speaker begins with describing Martin’s past of how she always felt neglected by her mother. She was forced to grow up on her own at the young age of 6. As a person who resonates with her situation, I understand why Martin is already so successful. When growing up with a figure who should have played a very large role in your life but ended up not happening, it shapes the person into someone who can easily see past the surface. I say this because she has a saying “beauty is in the mind”.
Martin says that the first painting she was ever proud of was The Tree. I was expecting the painting to be a literal tree or at least something that represented nature but to my surprise it was pretty much a blank canvas that had faintly colored grey and white stripes. She said it represented innocence. Her use of pale colors and perfectly spaced lines portrayed this idea perfectly. Her saying of “beauty is in the mind” applies here because this is her interpretation of innocence. As a child, you are built to be gullible, laugh uncontrollably at the simplest things, have things catered to you, and no weights on your shoulders. Martin never got this life. She cared for herself and the beauty of innocence was only something imaginable but never obtained.
I would like to further continue my idea about Agnes Martin in week three. I love how her favorite work of her’s or the one she felt was the most meaningful and had the most worth was a piece that was quite literally a black canvas with some faint lines. Her art attracted so much attention and crushes the art stereotype that art needs to be wondrous and extravagant in order to gain attention. It helped me realize that anything can be art and with a significant meaning or interpretation, it has the potential to be groundbreaking. Martin is an inspiration to all young kids who had to grow up on their own or grew up too fast. I used to envy people who had married parents or very involved mothers because I loved the classic/basic child life. I idolized being the generic kids from the movies where they came home to freshly cooked meals or sport activities. Martin’s art allowed me to appreciate the childhood I had. She opened my eyes to all the pros about growing up so quickly like having a different outlook on things like innocence and beauty. Her art to other people might be seen as bland or vanilla but in my eyes, it was seen as isolation, composure, standardized beauty, and purity.
I did further research and was curious about her other paintings. I wasn’t surprised when hundreds of faintly painted canvases with lines popped up. Every single painting was titled with emotions or scenes that the painting further portrayed the emotion of that scene.
There’s one painting that is the opposite of “The Tree” which is “White Flower”. Usually, white falls into the category of pure, innocence, sympathy, and honesty. However, Martin assigned this title to a canvas painted a dark dull brownish black. This signifies her twisted interpretation of a white flower. The use of personal definitions in her art is eye opening and an amazing way to express an idea to someone who loves visuals.
