COMPARATIVE ESSAY

Student: Paulina Buitrón

Subject: Art and Diversity

Teacher: Luisa Cuesta

Degree: Marketing

Period: Ordinario 2 - 2018

 Compare what you thought it was about vs. what it is about.

Art piece to be compare:

This work of art is entitled "Suspension" created by the French-

American Louise Bourgeois. Cheim & Read is pleased to present an

exhibition of hanging works accompanied by a full color catalog with a

text by Robert Pincus-Witten. The sculptures in this exhibition all hang

from the ceiling. Together with a group of drawings from the 1940s, in

which the pendular shapes are outlined with black ink, the selection of

works traces the issue of suspension throughout Bourgeois' long career.

Covering more than forty-five years, from the organic forms of Lair of the
early 1960s and the Janus series of 1968, to the cloth figures of the 1990s,

the hanging heads of the 2000s and the spirals of bright aluminum pair

made in the last century. Years of the life of Bourgeois: they demonstrate

the innumerable ways in which he approached material, form and scale.

At the beginning when I first observed the piece, I understood that it

was two people together as one hand. As strong as metal and they hugged

hard since their love was passionate. I thought it was a romantic work of

art that expressed the love you have for the other person and how you feel

that you fly when you are in love. But to what I was investigating more

about the work I realized that I had a totally superficial concept about this

sculpture.

For Bourgeois, the sculptures' suspension is an expression of the

psyche; as she stated: "Horizontality is a desire to give up, to sleep.

Verticality is an attempt to escape. Hanging and floating are states of

ambivalence. "In psychology, ambivalence refers to conflicting but

coexisting feelings for the same person, place, or event. The many

dualities at play within Bourgeois's oeuvre (organic / geometric; rigid /

pliable; male / female) provide this condition with fertile ground.

Highlighting that my concept of the sculpture was not close to what I

assumed of what it was. While I thought extremely ignorant and naive,

Bourgeois had an extremely profound concept related to psychology.

 In conclusion, it can be appreciated that art is truly ascribed to

meanings that one wants to give it. While I understood this sculpture as

love, Bourgeois saw it as a reflection of its own reality. To want to escape

and flee and give up. Demonstrating how two people can have different

reactions to the same stimulus. And although my concept has nothing to do

with the concept of the artist, everyone gives the meaning that wants to see

in art.

Bibliography:

Cheim Read. (2014). Louise Bourgeois: Suspension . 28/10/18, de ISSUU Sitio web:
https://issuu.com/cheimread/docs/louise_bourgeois_suspension
Cheim Read. (2014). LOUISE BOURGEOIS: SUSPENSION. 28-10-28, de Cheim
and Read Sitio web: https://www.cheimread.com/exhibitions/louise-bourgeois-
suspension
Shivani Vora. (2014). Off the Wall: The Suspended Sculptures of Louise Bourgeois.
28-10-18, de Departures Sitio web: https://www.departures.com/art-culture/art-guide/
wall-suspended-sculptures-louise-bourgeois