Reading Comprehension 7.

1) Within the theme of the exhibit assigned to your group, select ONE work and draw a diagram of the work, using the principles and elements of design. Write a 250-word annotation for your diagram to the themes of the EXPLORATIONS unit and the readings assigned for this unit. In your annotation, analyze and include at least one other work of art in the theme you have been assigned, make 3-5 appropriate citations from the readings, and consider SCALE (artifact, space, building, and place) as you complete your work.

I was assigned to the Creature world portion of the exhibit at the Weatherspoon museum. I chose to diagram a work by Steve DiBenedetto titled, Disappearance. In his work he depicts the tentacles of an octopus that is surrounded with a repeated pattern that resembles a spider's web. In his work, it is clear what he is illustrating, but at the same time it is distracting as there is so much going on. I believe his work is a model of postmodern design in that there is multiple directions and branches stemming off from one main source. In Massey it discusses that the postmodern period was a time where not one design technique was better than another but rather, "... a new pluralism was emerging" (Massey 195). DiBenedetto's work is described in the Weatherspoon museum as being "... a sinuous, serpentine elegance, but also suggest chaos and confusion." Similarly, interiors and architecture alike during postmodernism produced a "...puzzling multiplicity of design alternatives" (Roth 569).

Another piece of artwork that caught my eye was a work titled, Good Morning, by Jim Hodges. In his work, he attaches a spiderweb made from metal to a delicate silk scarf. In Roth, it discusses the postmodernist Robert Venturi's work as being an "...experiment in the new mix of new and old..." (Roth 568). I believe that Hodges' artwork similarly is a postmodern take of mixing new and old. I believe that the prefabricated metal attached to the silk is symbolic of machine made products taking over natural elements. By using an already made scarf and creating a metal spiderweb, Hodges also experiments with creating artwork by combining old and new as he materializes a natural element such as silk, and replaces it with a manufactured replica.

Collectively, both of these pieces of artwork symbolize the passage of time, the emergence of machines, and the multiplicity of design techniques and alternatives that branched from one another.