After a trip to the Midway Contemporary art gallery I chose this piece to write about. Titled, "Not Sorry" by Nate Lowman, it was made in 2006 and raises many questions. To the everyday observer, it seems like nothing but a triple section of bullet proof glass that lived up to its name. But a closer look, some time, and a careful eye reveals other clues to not only what it may be, but they also start the mind on a path of stories to what could have happened. The question of whether this is authentic at all, is raised. Lowman could have constructed it himself. Either way it begs to tell a story. Yet so many versions are possible, which one to choose.
From my observations it is either a bank window or the window for the register at a racetrack. There are stickers decorating the windows. They lend themselves to the racetrack theory. One being a checker pattern after all. There is also a sticker with the words 'Not Sorry' on them, which help give the piece its name. Of course the title could also be referencing that the criminally who may have shot up the window was not sorry for his actions.
The middle of each pane of glass has a round hole cut in it where a comm. System is put so a person can talk from one side of the glass to the other. The base of the frame also has a groove cut away so cash can be exchanged between the two sides. In one of the panes, the voice box is missing so one can see how many of the thick panes of glass there are and how the bullet impacts affected them.
If we as observers let our minds wonder into the realm of tales and details. One might look at the staggered and random positioning of the 'bullet holes' suggesting frantic or amateur weapon firing. If one were to take the size of the impacts on the glass as a good indication of the size of the bullets, it could be concluded that the caliber of the rounds was fairly small. Here by one can narrow down the criminal's weapon and indeed with more back story on the piece the criminal him/herself.
Nate Lowman is does a lot of sculpture and instillations. His style includes a lot of little things that pull your mind in a certain direction. The stickers for example, also the bullet holes or the fact that its a bank teller and not a car window. Lowman studies Art at New York university and was influenced by artists like Andy Warhol, Richard prince, and Cady Noland. I did a bit of research on Lowman and he seems to be very concerned with communication. His art is all about expression. His pieces do a goos job of this. They make you think and set your mind on a wandering path. I encourage all of you to go look up some more of his work and see where it will take you.
This is a good description of the basic facts of the piece. You mention the idea that a viewer might construct, but don't expand on it. The description might be more evocative if those elements were brought in. Also, you seem to have left out a description of how the piece was installed. Is it affected by the fact that it is placed on the ground, at a diagonal? Does it matter?
ReplyDeleteI thought you have an very good description of the piece. It produced a nice picture, though not as clear as I would have liked, but I still got a nice picture of the piece of artwork. Something you could do to describe something very clearly is use more metaphors and similes. Despite that, again, I thought your description was a very well done
ReplyDeleteSusan.