Clothespin by Claes Oldenberg
Ladder for Booker T. Washington
Hammering Man by Jonathan Borofsky
Male Aggression Now Playing Everywhere by Jonathan Borofsky
Giant Fagends by Claes Oldenberg
Floor Burger by Claes Olderberg
Lipstick Ascending on Caterpillar Tracks by Claes Oldenberg
No Title (Stacked Plates) by Robert Therrien
No Title (Chairs and Tables) by Robert Therrien
Ties/1978 by Larry Sultan
Thanksgiving/1985 by Larry Sultan
Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst
America in Supersize Essay:
America as we know it now is often viewed as “big,” large, super, powerful, even fat. Aspects of America that people often attribute to the country are the ways it attempts to expand and stretch worldly rules, limitations, merchandise, food, and more in order to perhaps surpass other countries in these categories but also surpass itself. America constantly feels the need to overdo itself, and it is easy to see how this plays out. Large corporations aim to get larger and squash the smaller businesses, fast food restaurants stack their burgers higher and higher to create menu items labeled “the Double Quarter Pounder” or “Big Mac,” more and more SUV’s and Jeeps are produced to fit larger families, and then there’s the obesity problem. The U.S. encourages obesity not only in the firm establishment of fast food enterprises, but in pop culture as well. Television shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo get profit and popularity through exploiting children and families who eat unhealthy and even turn obesity into a joke. America is also home to hardcore eating competitions whose aim is to gobble down as many hot dogs you can in a minute. It can also be said that celebrities in America are revered around the world on higher platforms than ones from other countries. Award shows like the Oscars, Golden Globes, the Emmys, and more seem to be more about the the extravagance of the party and the expensive dresses than the actual performances from the artists. Music is also treated in the same way: musicians can now become popular simply by acting wild and putting on “big” shows. Lastly, America is not only “super-size” domestically, but perhaps even more well-known is its “superpower” mentality and how the the country acts upon it. The U.S. involves itself in international affairs all over the world (especially the Middle East) in order to expand its power over the globe, which can lead to hatred from other countries.
Many artists have created works of art surrounding the theme of “big.” Claes Oldenberg is a significant artist who produced impressively large sculptures of objects. “Lipstick Ascending on Caterpillar Tracks,” “Floor Burger,” “Clothespin,” and “Giant Fagends,” are some installations I think perfectly symbolize America’s largeness because the objects he chose to build aren’t necessary to human life, yet America (and other countries) make a lot of profit from the giant industries that produce these objects or deal with their significance (tobacco companies, garment business, etc.) Along with this, Larry Sultan’s billboard piece “Ties/1978” showcases not only America’s corporations but also the excessive advertising to the public on larger-than-life billboards. It reminds people, and especially city-dwellers, of the billboards, signs, and posters we are forced to look at as we go about our lives. Larry Sultan’s photograph of his mother through a window titled “Thanksgiving/1985” also shows the classic American traditions of excessiveness, i.e. the importance of buying and cooking a big turkey on Thanksgiving. This is also true of beloved holidays like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and more which involve extreme spending and decorations, like Hallmark cards, huge christmas trees, gifts, all of which are deemed necessary in the eyes of the American public.
Robert Therrien’s installations of giant versions of tables, chairs, and plates which fill up the entire room are also really interesting in terms of “big.” To me, Therrien is taking everyday objects we might take for granted and enlarging them so that they become so big the viewer almost becomes uncomfortable. We are forced to look at them and even walk around in their shadow. The work examines how scale has an effect on the way we view certain objects and perhaps sheds a little light on why America chooses to be “big.” Damien Hirst also plays with this idea in his 33ft sculpture of a naked, pregnant woman with an exposed fetus titled “Virgin Mother.” The installation sparked some controversy because it was so graphic and so large that it made people uncomfortable. This was probably what Hirst wanted. It is easy for people to walk by huge billboards and advertisements which intrude into public space, but it gets harder when it comes to art that deals with a difficult subject or might be introducing an interesting topic of discussion.
Jonathan Borofsky’s series of work titled “Male Aggression Now Playing Everywhere” symbolizes not only the need for masculinity and superiority by men but also by America. The work tells the viewer that guns and violence are fueled by the concept of “masculinity.” Because America has a long history of war and violence, not to mention the issue of gun control within the country, we can begin to understand America’s need to be a superpower internationally through Borofsky’s work. Borofsky also produced a series of sculptures labeled “Hammering Man” that are 21 meters tall. He also took photographs of the sculptures in different habitats, creating a spooky, cinematic effect. We see the giant “hammering man,” bigger than anything else around him, working in these locations, and we sense a feeling of power from the “hammering man”’s scale.
However, not all artists produce large sculptures or talk about “Big” in a negative way. Martin Puryear’s “Ladder for Booker T. Washington” is a beautiful installation that demonstrates how large, stretched scale can also serve as an homage to an influential and inspirational person. Here we can learn that being or acting “big” is not always bad, and is actually sometimes needed to have a significant effect. For example, important, American revolutionary movements needed to be big in order to grab the attention of people and have an impact. To fully appreciate the work of revolutionary movements and, more specifically, the work of Booker T. Washington, the tributary installations should be larger-than-life, showing that “big” can be both detrimental and beneficial for America.
Acknowledgements: None.