Seeing Darkness Gallery

Hello, and welcome to Seeing Darkness. Seeing Darkness is an online art gallery located on the internet at seeingdarkness.blogspot.com. The gallery curator is Brendan Bennett who is an online art history student at Crafton Hills College, Yucaipa, California. The Seeing Darkness gallery hosts exhibitions that are spiritually and emotionally dark by nature which tend to make an audience feel disturbed, squeamish, or uneasy. This gallery specializes in pieces of artwork concerning death, agony, torment, and destruction. So, dim the lights and enjoy the exhibit!

Living Death Exhibition

To live, one must eventually die, and to die, one had to have lived. The Seeing Darkness gallery's current exhibit is the Living Death exhibit. The purpose of the Living Death exhibition is to expose the realities and value of death and in turn, life. Life and death are two contrasting states which humans are on an endless journey to understand, and after touring this exhibit, the curator intends for the audience's understanding of life and death to enhance. The pieces of artwork in this exhibit are all connected by their exploration of death, destruction, and demise. Due to the fascinating subject of life and death, as well as the fact that Gardner's Art Through the Ages textbook offers an abundance of information, the curator picked the pieces he did. The artists showing in this exhibit include Francis Bacon, Otto Dix, Henry Fuseli, Francisco Goya, Andrea Mantegna, Masaccio, Timothy O’Sullivan, Claus Sluter, Martin Schongauer, David Wojnarowicz. Enjoy, and be thankful for death because without it, there would be no life.

Claus Sluter,Well of Moses,Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France,1395–1406.Limestone with traces of paint, three dimensions

Claus Sluter who resided in the Netherlands was commissioned by Phillip the Bold in 1389 to manage the sculptoral program at a Carthusian monastery called Chartreuse de Champmol ("character house" in English). Sluter designed a large fountain called the Well of Moses which was attached to a well and intended to be the water source of the monastery. The design includes Moses and five other prophets (David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zachariah), and above the prophets are Christ on the Cross, the Virgin Mary, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene. Christ's blood symbolically flowed down the fountain past the prophets.

This work has a clear connection to this show for a two reasons. First, the well was originally called the Fountain of Everlasting Life (fons vitae), but it was given the name Well of Moses later. The term everlasting life is a contradiction because life is only temporary, for it is interrupted by death. Also, the fact that this well represented life is a reminder of life's counterpart, death. Life and death are two parts that create a whole since one is not attainable without the other. Next, Claus Sluter died before completing this work. This truth is another reminder of the short journey of life and the unstoppable force of death. Someone who tried to bring everlasting life into this temporary world died before achieving it. So, for these two reasons, there is a clear connection between this work and the exhibit.

David Wojnarowicz, “When I put my hands on your body,”1990.Gelatin-silverprint and silk-screened text on museum board, two dimensions

David Wojnarowicz was a gay activist and did many works which expressed his thoughts and feelings on this subject and the subject of AIDS. He was born in New Jersey in 1954 then proceeded to live and do most of his work in the New York art world until he died in 1992 in New York City. This work laid text of a silkscreen image to communicate the artists feelings about AIDS affect on the human body and soul. This powerful technique of using an image with text is still used today for advertising.

This work belongs in this show because it has a direct connection to death. Clearly, this piece shows death as part of the forefront of the image. The inspiring force behind this work is David's experience with death of friends by AIDS. Also, David himself died of AIDS at young age of only thirty-eight. Conclusively, David is now one of the skeletons in his silkscreen image and is a part of the text lying in front of the crumbling corpses.

Francis Bacon, Painting,1946.Oil and pastel on linen, two dimensions

 

Francis Bacon was born in ireland on 1909. He specialized in expressionism, cubism, and surrealism, and he is most known for his raw and brutal imagery. Bacon is even quoted saying that his art expresses the "brutality of fact." This work was created by Bacon in response to World War II. The butchery in this image is intended to be a reflection of the realities of war and all the tragedy that accompanies it. The image shows a spread carcass in front of a man who has blood dripping from his upper-lip, exposing him as a carnivore. The blood running from this man's mouth is the blood spilled on the battlefield, and he is the war machine consuming human life as meat.

This image exposes the brutality of war and the death that accompanies it. War is a butchery, and the meat that enters the butchery of war belongs to cognitive humans. Death is the essence of war, and they stand side-by-side.

Andrea Mantegna,Foreshortened Christ,ca.1500.Tempera on canvas, two dimensions

 

Andrea Mantegna was born and resided in the Italian city of Padua, near Venice. He learned to paint in a fresco program that took him nine years to complete. Mantegna is accredited with creating the first consistent illusionistic decoration of an entire room in the Camera Picta in the palace of Ludovico Gonzaga. This artist designed this work to challenge his skill of perspective and represent the emotional tone of a foreshortened life of Christ. His intentions were to depict the biblical tragedy of Christ's death. This work expresses Mantegna's mastery of perspective where he scaled the feet so that they would not consume the body, so the feet are not realistically represented. Also, he used harsh lines to convey a harsh emotional tone.

This painting has an obvious relation to the exhibit. Christ's life was cut short. Death is not only inevitable but also unpredictable. This peaceful cadaver and its onlookers express a powerful emotional tone that represent the great tragedy of a foreshortened life.

Otto Dix, Der Krieg (The War),1929–1932.Oil and tempera on wood, two dimensions

 

Otto Dix was a part of Neue Sachlichkeit ("new objectivity" in English) which was a group of artists who were enlisted in the German military during World War I. Dix was an avid reader of philosophy and read Friedrich Nietzsche  most frequently. From Nietzsche and war Dix developed an intense understanding of the depth of life, and he nderstood life to be a cyclical pattern of life and death. This work is intended to expose the nature of war. To the left you see a group charging into battle as a group, the middle shows the aftermath of a battle, the bottom shows the aftermath of an aftermath which is a decaying corpse beneath the earth, and the right shows a man, intended to be Dix himself, pulling another man to safety. The exposure of death and tragedy brings the audience completely into the painting. Ultimately, this painting has astounding depth when all the panels are considered. Like other Neue Sachlichkeit artists, Dix's art's purpose was to expose the bare realities of the time.

This painting is a part of this exhibit because of Otto's understanding of death. Not only was he in a war where he saw and experienced death of allies first hand but he also researched and studied philosophies of life and death. Dix's deep understanding of life made him qualified to paint on behalf of death.  As a member of the audience, a person feels like they're a spectator on the battlefield. So, it is clear why this piece is a part of the exhibit.

Masaccio,Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Florence,Italy,ca.1424–1427.Fresco, two dimensions

 

Masaccio was an Italian artist who specialized in frescos, perspective, and lighting. Masaccio was presumably trained by Masolino da Panicale, but Masaccio differed from most artists because he did not follow the exact style as his master. He changed his style sharply once he began painting on his own. Surprisingly, despite Masaccio's fame and recognition in the art world, he only spent six years of his life painting before dying. Masaccio painted this work in narrow space in the entrance of Brancacci Chapel in Florence, Italy. It shows a banished and ashamed Adam and Eve being cast away from their beautiful Eden. The two are not being forced out of Eden, but instead, they are stumbling blindly away from it.

Death isn't always physical; sometimes, it can be spiritual. This painting shows the death of Adam and Eve's purity as they are being banished from Eden. This instance is an excellent example of death, it exposes its fit into this exhibit. Also, Masaccio was sick while painting this and died up to a year after completing it at the extremely young age of twenty-seven. This reality is proof that death does not wait for life. Often times, death is unexpected and unexplainable. The painting's and painters story make this piece a perfect fit into this exhibit.

Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring One of His Children, 1819–1823.Detached fresco mounted on canvas, two dimensions

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes is a notable Spanish artist. In Goya's early years as an artist he painted religious and royal family portraits. These are the types of paintings one would expect from a career-artist of Goya's time. However, when Goya got into his later years and was inflicted by some sickness or poisoning which scholars are still unsure of, he began painting his dark series. The entire dark series was painted on the walls of his farmhouse. He was not commissioned or working by anyone else's terms, so these paintings were completely his own expression. Goya painted Saturn (the Greek god of carnage) Devouring One of His Children on the walls of his private farmhouse. This death inspired painting is one of the most recognizable of his dark series.

This painting was designed while Goya's health was declining and he was approaching an inevitable death. With his intimacy with death, Goya's understanding of it was enhanced. Through this work, he expresses the value of human life compared to a God's. The lack human life's value is not true only when compared against gods but also when humans are considered by themselves. Life isn't of high value; life is taken for several reasons on a day to day basis whether it be by murder, age, or illness. Death is a common occurrence, and this image reminds the audience of that reality.

Martin Schongauer,Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons,ca.1480–1490.Metal Engraving. three dimensions

 

Martin Schongaur was a German artist who was considered one of the first masters of engraving. Engraving was an evolved form of woodcut which is a form of relief sculpture that designs a two dimensional image with texture and depth. Engraving is the same concept, but it's done on metal instead of wood. After engraving the piece, ink is used to fill in the engraved areas, so there is color to help define forms. This is the technique Martin used to design this piece. By designing this image which transitioned effortlessly from smooth skin to rough feathers, and exceptional textures on the demons, Martin expressed his expertise in the field.

When the first automobiles hit the market, other forms of transportation began to die. When cell phones came out, pagers died. Prior to this piece, most artists only did wood engravings, and metal engraving was a new technique. Thus, this piece represents the death of an old technique. Also, the demons tearing and ripping at the saint are essentially trying to kill him, and this is a reminder of the struggle of life. Ultimately, life's aim is to kill. The only destination in life is death. For these two reasons, this work has a clear relation to the subject of this exhibition.

Henry Fuseli,The Nightmare,1781.Oil on canvas, two dimensions

 

Henry was born in Switzerland, but as he went through life, he moved to England and settled there.  He was primarily self-taught, and he eventually became a member and instructor at the Royal Academy in England. Most of his works were an expression of his endless imagination and focused on horror, dark fantasies, and the sadistic as is the case in The Nightmare. In this piece, a limp woman is preyed on by an incubus which in medieval times were considered demons who made sexual prey of women. Fuseli is often times accredited with being one of the first artists to translate and replicate the dark side of the human subconscious.

This painting is a clear fit for this exhibit. The woman is pacified or seduced by evil macabre. This state of consciousness, or lack thereof, is a cousin to death. In fact, were it not for her heart beating and lungs breathing she would be dead. However, this statement could be said about any living entity, but the difference is that this woman is not conscious since she is completely subdued. This work is intended to remind the audience how close sleep, or any other state with little to no consciousness, is to death. Perhaps death is like falling asleep, and everyday people wake up only to dream.

Timothy O’Sullivan, "A Harvest of Death," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1863, 1863. Albumen print by by Alexander Gardner, two dimensions

Timothy O'Sullivan was an American photographer who took several images and documentations of the American Civil War. This piece expresses the power of photography. Prior to this medium, an artist could spend days painting, sketching, or sculpting an idea or moment in history, but during this process, the artist translates what he sees and unintentionally includes his or her emotions and feelings into that translation. With photography, an artist can instantly capture physical forms as they were by using an emotionless mechanical device rather than the human mind. This image shows corpses as far as the horizon which transform death into an objective and simple subject. There is no attachment or tragedy related to this image, for it is simply a picture of death as it is. Also, this image shows the low value of human life during times of war.

This final piece of artwork needs no explanation to the relationship it has with death. The mass of bodies shows how easily and quickly something can go from living to dead. There is no emotional attachment or sadness that accompanies these bodies. The image is simple, and it shows death in a simple manner. When these people died, they merely fell to the ground and laid there until their corpses were collected and disposed of. So, this image has a raw and uncut interpretation of death.

Conclusion

The process of designing an online gallery and exhibit is a delightful experience. Completing this task is not as simple as picking the first ten images one can think of and writing a lack-luster response. As the curator, a person has to think deeply about how all images connect and flow together, and one must draw powerful connections between each piece. For example, I started with an image that wasn't necessarily related to death because the image was primarily concerned with life, but I chose that image to make the audience realize that death is the opposite of life. Life and death go hand and hand, and they are dependent on each other. By doing this, I enhanced the audiences understanding and set them up for the following nine images. For me, the whole process came naturally. I have a relatively easy time choosing images, organizing images, and making connections to a common subject. However, acquiring background information and understanding the history of works is a harder task for me. This reality is likely due to the fact that I am not an avid historian, but I am an avid artist and designer. Overall, being a curator is an interesting occupation. I enjoy the process of organizing and connecting the works. As an intended art major, this is a process I would undoubtedly adore doing again.