Kiefer's Untitled

Anselm Kiefer's, Untitled, was one of the pieces I found intriging at the Art Center last week. It was a hard piece to miss, as it covered almost an entire wall, but beyond the size, the elements he chose to use in this piece was what I found most interesting.

At first this piece seems to be a big mess of dark colors and heavy texture, but then I noticed the pointe shoes hanging in the middle. Then I noticed the ladder image and in the background, and there seemed to be multiple train tracks going in different directions, and for me this piece started to become about aspiration. Aspiration itself probably isn't considered an 'emotion,' but I think what comes with aspiration is definately emotional.

In a dancer's mind, the only way you can go is up, meaning you can only get better. You're constantly competeting not only against the other dancers, but more importantly, against yourself. But this mentality goes beyond dance - I think it's how any athlete or even academic feels when they're striving to be the best - something I think the artist understood and knew that almost everyone could relate to. For me this piece forced me to almost reminisce about my own life and different directions I took, ones I could have but didn't, and what else lies ahead, and I think it would force everyone to do the same. Of course everyone's stories are different, which makes it so interesting - every person would bring a different story to the piece.

I think this piece could be used as an example for the "implications" idea discussed by Lucaites and Hariman. This piece is only successful if people can see themselves in the 'image' shown, and if it evokes an aspirational emotion, the "state action" would be people trying to better themselves. It's not a piece that could be easily replicated by any means - especially because I think the physical size and weight are a large part of the impact - but once stood in front of, it definately does have a strong emotional response. As far as Sontag, I think it's interesting that this piece is untitled, or maybe un-labeled. If the artist had named it "aspiration" then the viewer would begin looking at it with that label in mind, instead of coming to it by themselves. Or possibly aspiration wasn't the artists intent at all - and if it had been titled what the intent was, I probably wouldn't had seen aspiration.

-Emma B.