At Midway Contemporary gallery in North Minneapolis, MN hangs a giant 98x98x21 in. silver star. It is made from steel and painted with enamel (“The Secret Life of Objects.”). As you can see in the second photo, there is a orange glow reflecting off of the white wall because the back of the star is painted bright neon orange. Also, two of the five pointed star's corners are bent. The left point slightly bent, then the bottom left point is almost bent in half, making the star protrude from the wall it is hung from.
Handforth was born in Hong Kong in 1969 and now is a Miami based artist. He went to school at The Slate School of Fine Art in London. He has had just as many solo exhibitions as group exhibitions.
"Silver Star" was created in 2004. A star itself has many meanings, which includes the astronomical symbol, military power and war (western cultures), distraction (ancient times), and also magical/mystical meanings. The five-pointed star originally represented ten tribes of Israel, which broke away from ruling classes of Judah, Benjamin, and Priests (“Star.”). Silver suggests a "cold" feeling, as opposed to the warmth of gold, yet they both represent wealth. Silver is also traditionally the 25th Wedding Anniversary Gift, along with being a symbolism of aging (the term “silver haired”) (“Silver Color Symbolism.”). Orange is a “warm” color, as opposed to the opposite cold silver. The color symbolizes health and wellbeing, fall (with Halloween), or more commonly warning, as it is often used in traffic. It is a bright color that the human eye is naturally attracted to (“Orange.”).
Handforth’s work often involves narratives. He is not afraid to make strong statements, thus his work commonly has biblical references as well as the state of the world. This piece could most definitely be referring to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, which is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (“Ten Lost Tribes.”).
It could represent a yin and yang, where as the silver is cold (a cold front/mask) and the back/inside a warm orange. It could refer to society, which almost everyone has a cold front without knowing them. Sometimes the “coldness” is more obvious by appearance, which the bent corner could portray.
Also, it could have a positive meaning of wealth and happiness and health.
Another interpretation could be that the riches of the world is in danger.
I was drawn to this pieces because of the scale, irregularity of a 3-D star (the bent corners), and the mysterious bright neon backside. On the back, it is all orange except for the silver paint drippings from the front. But also one leg of the star is painted silver on the back rather than being orange. This caught my eye curiously...
Hm. While your description of the object itself is accurate and complete, I feel like it could go further as far as describing this particular star and what it is evocative of. The assignment was to write a descriptive piece, which doesn't mean you should not do any interpretation. However, I find myself wondering how reasonable or likely some of the interpretations are here. I don't know enough about Handforth's work to say, but I wonder if he *really* is saying something about 25th wedding anniversary gifts here, or the tribes of Israel. I would think the object itself and your reactions to it might give clues as to a more coherent interpretation, rather than just looking up in wikipedia what "silver" and "star" represent. I could see legitimacy in it being a "fallen" star, with it's dents, and the large scale could reinforce the idea you mention of military reference (or the US itself, perhaps, as we and our military use the five pointed star a lot). If it does represent the tribes, what is it saying? I don't think it is enough to throw out everything something *could* mean without doing some interpretive work of your own to say what you believe it means, or what your personal response to it was. While research can and should help you, you do need to do some editing and choosing once you have the information you need.
ReplyDeleteya did ok... =] just kidding. you did wonderful work like always. You made a very boring star seem not so boring.
ReplyDeleteI had the impression that we were supposed to get the ACTUAL interpretation, but since I couldn't find it, I found possibilities of my own.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware I, myself, was supposed to interpret it -_- bleh. The only reaction or interpretation was my curiosity towards the back of the piece, really.
Kyle,
I could probably make any modern shit seem interesting, hahaha.
I don't believe there is such a thing as an *actual* interpretation of a work of art. As we discussed from the Barrett readings there can be multiple interpretations of any one work of art, and they can be judged based on their coherence, correspondence and inclusiveness. This assignment was more about description than interpretation, but I would definitely be more interested in your interpretation than either random guesses or re-stating someone else's views.
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