Essay #4

Kari Forinash

Dwane

Digital

April 30, 2012

MFA Exhibit: Josh Brinlee

Every time I enter the MCA graduate building located down town on trolley night I immediately get overwhelmed. People are everywhere. The large gallery space makes the smallest voice sound ten times bigger. All in all I can say it is a bit chaotic. What most people like is the bustle of the artsy scene, while I like more quiet places where I can think. Brinlee’s works absolutely did not help my anxiety in the least. Here I am looking around at other artist’s works that are large in scale and others that are in the round. A lot of the works seem to be about connectivity, fragility or city life. But when I made my way around to Brinlee’s work I couldn’t help but feel more anxious and more overwhelmed.

I stood in front of what looked like renaissance paintings of a type of aristocratic portraiture. The artwork is pretty big, wider than me and placed up to the level as if the people in the frames were looking down at me. The frames were huge and white, it reminded me of a relic or a picture of Kim Jong Il. This made me think that the series represented dominance and power. The works seem to be a more modern conception of the renaissance time in the sense that the paintings seem to have a more unique aspect of women than just as second-class citizens. Maybe this is a reflection or a contrast to how women were really viewed back then. I know that often in historical paintings women were only painted in a profile view and never faces forward such as men were. Historians call this the “gaze”. I feel that “the gaze” might have some connection to do with the work as well. The feeling I get from viewing the works is belittling, I get the feeling that these people in the overly fancy frames think they are better than me.

The name of the works also gave me some hints such as “Self Portrait a Cut Above the Rest” where a woman is holding scissors as if she just cut the flowers below to put in her hat. I think that maybe I am at the level of the flowers and this person above me is taking her pick of the best flowers to kill and wear as a fashion statement.  I felt as if I was the flower, and I connected to this painting in that way. The flowers meant to be looked at as an object and I was placed as such in the painting.

I know I probably have not exactly stated all of the ideas that these pieces represented but I think that I can appreciate how I personally can connect to the works and also appreciate a work that gives me something to think about and to wonder about other than just speculating a minimalist work. I think that their works have a strong aesthetic, which I like especially for the regal qualities of the characters in it. I admit I would be scared if my teacher Brinlee really showed up to class like this, but I love the idea of placing yourself in your own work without being an everyday average portrait.