Marcy Assignment 2

Walking into Claire Rau's exhibition, Booby Traps, I first noticed several interesting pieces of sculpture around the gallery space. However, I started my experience by looking at the first piece on the wall, which happened to be a print. All around the outside walls of the gallery were prints, while the three pieces of sculpture included in the show were spaced on the floor in the middle of the room. Although at first glance I didn't find the prints as interesting as the sculpture, upon closer inspection I was able to appreciate the details included and the craftsmanship of the artist. All of the layers of silkscreen were perfectly aligned which, considering some of the intricate details of some of the pieces, was very impressive. I think the show as a whole flowed fairly well, although I felt that some pieces did not fit into the "booby traps" theme (like The Fatted Calf). The artist's lecture (at 1:15) did not really clarify much of the meaning of the pieces for me, although I was told that the 11:15 lecture provided more insight.


One of the prints I was drawn to was While the clock ticked, blue and white. This was the second piece in the exhibition according to the layout provided. It is a layered silkscreen print, made up of only blues, with perfectly aligned layers (as in all her prints). I didn't realize what the scene was at first, but during the artist's lecture I found out that it was from the Hardy Boys.

I think that the reason I was drawn to this piece is that I really enjoy art of any type that is monochromatic, but still incorporates a range of values. I also really appreciate the crisp lines of silkscreen, especially when it is aligned perfectly. Plus I like pieces with one layer of broad color paired with another layer of detail lines. I didn't realize that it was a scene from the Hardy Boys until the artist told us so, but I still found the scene dynamic. I also wasn't sure at first how this was related to booby traps, since there are none specifically in the piece. After thinking about it, I figured that getting caught in a booby trap could lead to this type of an imprisonment situation. I really liked the fact that the artist incorporated a childhood interest like a favorite book series into an illustrative piece such as this.