{"id":759,"date":"2020-04-23T16:52:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T16:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/?p=759"},"modified":"2020-04-23T16:52:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T16:52:40","slug":"bearing-witness-installations-by-margi-weir-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/2020\/04\/23\/bearing-witness-installations-by-margi-weir-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Bearing Witness: Installations by Margi Weir"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Isabelle Redenius<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The current exhibition located in the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery was created and installed by artist Margi Weir. The exhibition, \u201cBearing Witness: Installations by Margi Weir,\u201d consists of installations or artworks that revolve around Weir\u2019s personal experiences and opinions which are often political in nature. The exhibition did not have an opening due to Weir\u2019s professional duties as an Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Although there was no opening there will be a closing ceremony for the exhibition, March 6th<\/sup>, 2020 where Weir will be present to discuss her work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Black is…<\/em>,” acrylic on plexiglass<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When you walk into the gallery, the space is consumed with color, which almost makes you take a step back before entering the space. At first, the space seems almost overwhelming; the walls are covered with intricately designed shiny vinyl patterns in a variety of colors. On the left-hand wall, there are multiple large-scale vinyl tapestries that are directly stuck to the walls. In this body of work, The Politics of Hue, <\/em>Weir creates paintings from digitally rendered patterns and extends these paintings by continuing that tapestry-like pattern with vinyl that surrounds each painting. Each of these pieces focus on a specific color and the political associations with those colors. Weir\u2019s artist statement explains that this body of work started during the last presidential campaign when our country was so heavily influenced by political parties (i.e. Red and Blue). The piece titled, Black Is\u2026, <\/em>is a part of this intriguing body of work. This piece, in particular, is an acrylic painting depicting different symbols that relate to the color black as well as important political and societal issues experienced within our society. In the center of the painting is a blackboard with a statement written in white script, \u201cBlack is Beautiful. Black is a color without hue. Black is the night. Black is\u2026\u201d Below this statement, \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d is written in bold white block letters, with a silhouette of a black cat sitting to the right of it. This complicated yet ornate painting is then surrounded by a vinyl border with different words, phrases, and sentences revolving around the color black. To push this imagery and political statement further Weir has also created a pattern of Black Panthers to surround the painting. This is only one of many pieces exhibited within the gallery and is one of the more simplified examples of this body of work. Although it is one of the rather muted pieces depicted within the gallery it probably represents a more intense political issue within our society. I believe that Weir\u2019s inclusion of the Back Lives Matter movement is intended to support the movement and the individuals who are a part of it. Black Lives Matter is an activist movement that originated in the African-American community. This movement campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people. Weir\u2019s artist statement refers to the movement and her artist bio explains her reasoning behind supporting the movement. This statement along with the other symbols related to black power like The Black Panthers increases the success of this piece and the intention of the work. The social and political issues revolving around the African American community are relevant and important, this is shown through Weir\u2019s choice of symbols revolving around the color black. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vinyl<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Weir\u2019s intentions with every piece exhibited within this body of work is meant to associate a color with different symbols, which in turn requires the viewer to question society, politics, and themselves. Weir\u2019s artwork revolves around simplifying imagery, in order to then complicate it through digital rendering and repetition of that simple imagery. But Weir\u2019s desire to create this work revolves around making viewers look at things from a new perspective and question their own views of society. This ability to provoke these raw emotions from complete strangers is what captivates me and many other viewers within the gallery space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weir\u2019s desire to shine a light on the wrongs inflicted on minorities and the problems in society through her work is incredible, to say the least. Using her privilege as a white woman to bring attention to major issues with our societal hierarchy is what makes Weir\u2019s work so inspiring. Anyone considering going to the exhibition should be highly inclined to do so. The work will not only make you question yourself but will also provoke you to start speaking up about the problems you and other people might face every day. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Isabelle Redenius The current exhibition located in the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery was created and installed by artist Margi Weir. The exhibition, \u201cBearing Witness: Installations by Margi Weir,\u201d consists of installations or artworks that revolve around Weir\u2019s personal experiences and opinions which are often political in nature. The exhibition did not have an … Continue reading Bearing Witness: Installations by Margi Weir<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":563,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/563"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":782,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions\/782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}