San Antonio Museum of Art

I recently visited The San Antonio Museum of Art. The Museum contained many extravagant works of art including sculptures, Asian Artifacts, American Paintings as well as Antique Silver Collections. I am a big fan of Paintings. I enjoy looking at canvas paintings, weather its pastel or oil paints on canvas, they are just beautiful to look at. A couple minutes in to the tour I became quite impatient. I had already gone through three exhibits and had not come across one painting. It was not until I walked down to the other end of the Museum where I saw so many breathtaking paintings. There were portraits, paintings of everyday life, fantasy, and even ink jet printed pieces. Looking at all the wonderful art works it was difficult to try and choose only two of all my favorites. The two pieces I chose were Dark Heart (Candy Tray Series) by Chuck Ramirez and Flesh to Earth by Lloyd Walsh. The Dark Heart is an ink jet printed piece. I noticed the ink right away; it was not colorful like a painting. It was plainly printed in black and white. The print was the inside of a large, Hershey’s chocolate heart shaped box. The interesting thing about this print was that the sections where the chocolates belong were empty. The plain colors gave me a sense of possible sadness or feelings of the end of something. That interpretation of the print is sort of dull, but if you look at the print you will not get a sense of happiness or excitement. Usually, prints like these or all artwork in general, make the viewer wonder or raise questions pertaining to the story or dialogue behind it. I wonder “Who ate the chocolates?” “For what occasion were they given for?” “Was it Valentines Day or an anniversary perhaps?” These are questions that I will not receive answers for but it is always nice to wonder and put your mind to think. I assume that not knowing the background on the print draws me more to it and find it more interesting than others. The second piece I chose was oil on canvas painting. It was Flesh to Earth by Lloyd Walsh. Like the first piece this one was also in black and white with many shades of grays for shadow and contrast. The presentation of this piece was unique. It consisted of one medium sized canvas with a large rose painted on it. Alongside of it was another medium sized canvas with a woman painted on it. This is called a diptych format used to compare contradictions between the two paintings. The rose, which had once bloomed, was slightly wilted. The woman was naked with her arms folded over her chest. The woman’s expression articulated sorrow and grief. Both of the paintings are symbols of life, but the colors, the expression on the woman’s face, and also the wilting, lifeless pedals of the flower darken the meaning of life. Again, I drew interest towards these paintings because of the mysteriousness of them. I wonder what the artist was thinking when he painted this. “Had he experienced a life changing event which he used this painting to express his inner thoughts and feelings?”