VIEW IN MY ROOM
Mexico
Painting, Acrylic on Paper
Size: 14 W x 22 H x 1.5 D in
Ships in a Box
Artist Recognition
Artist featured in a collection
This work is an acrylic painting on amate (amatl) paper, a common, traditional support for decorative painting aimed at the tourist trade that is done by many indigenous ethnic groups in Mexico. The imagery derives from the works I was doing in the 1990s, on supports of found cardboard (chewing gum cartons that were left strewn on the streets when emptied of their economically useful contents by the principally indigenous street vendors who eke out a living selling them to passersby and the drivers of automobiles detained briefly by stop lights). In this piece, one of the chewing gum cartons has been used as a model for the picture-within-the-picture, intended as a kind of framing device for the crude reality that remains unchanged whether viewed through the device or around its edges. The indigenous female figures along the bottom edge, wearing traditional embroidered blouses and parading in "indian file," with their hair braids intertwined like elephants walking in a circus parade (with trunks holding tails) were added as a reference to the decorative nature of much of the painting done on amate paper supports by such impoverished ethnic groups, as a means of subsistence. The title is a reference to the quote from Shiva in the Vedic texts, spoken by the director of the Manhattan Project, Robert J. Oppenheimer, after witnessing the first successful explosion of an atom bomb at the secret test site in New Mexico during WWII: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds..." The poverty and marginalization to which the indigenous communities (and the migrants from them, who move to the urban centers or beach resorts of their own country in order to feed their families) have been relegated constitute a less dramatic form of destruction of worlds, but the devestation can be just as thorough as any that is wrought by something as "shock and awe"-inspiring as a nuclear weapon.
Painting:Acrylic on Paper
Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork
Size:14 W x 22 H x 1.5 D in
Frame:Brown
Ready to Hang:Not applicable
Packaging:Ships in a Box
Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:Ships in a box. Artists are responsible for packaging and adhering to Saatchi Art’s packaging guidelines.
Ships From:United States.
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Mexico
Dale Kaplan (b. 1956) grew up in a rural town near Boston MA, attending public schools, and later studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY and Cornell University in Ithaca NY (BFA ‘81). He was awarded the MCC (Massachusetts Cultural Council) Artist’s Grant in 2000, in recognition of artistic excellence in Painting. In the late 1980s he established a studio in Guadalajara and has divided his life and work between Mexico and the U.S. ever since. Exhibiting professionally in both countries, as well as in Canada, his works are in numerous private collections. Also active as an art critic, essayist and translator, since 1999 Kaplan has published original writing in several Spanish-language newspapers, magazines and online sites, and has various book credits as a translator. His texts, photographic essays, and reproductions of his paintings and graphic works, have appeared in numerous publications, as well as on book and CD covers, and his work has been included in historical exhibitions and published anthologies focused on the art produced in the Mexican state of Jalisco. In both imagery and texts, Kaplan’s work takes to heart Noam Chomsky’s definition of the responsibility of the intellectual: “to tell the truth and expose lies.” ______________________________________ARTIST'S STATEMENT_________________________ The driving force behind my artmaking is the conviction that painting has as much or more potential for intellectual expression as that which is generally attributed only to verbal language. My interest in critical thought about sociocultural, political, and power relationships, as well as in occasionally using satire and art-historical references to take some air out of the overblown types who rule with a "whim of iron"—are essentially the same as they were before coming to Mexico, and my frequent forays into language play and playing with imagery are the kinds of play I take seriously. In Mexico, though, like on the African plains, one plays, like small game, with one eye out for large predators who are always lurking just off to the side. Journalism can be a most dangerous game in this country, as can be practicing social critique or just openly expressing one's honest opinion. In life, risks must be taken, though, despite dubious "risk-reward" ratios. Many of my works have a backstory related to in-depth research on topics of concern to me, sometimes utilizing investigative techniques such as Freedom of Information requests.
Artist featured by Saatchi Art in a collection
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