What Moves You?
Terrain 2011
Jennifer Diamanti’s work was recently displayed at Spokane’s local exhibition Terrain 2011. Diamanti is originally from Spokane and graduated from the University of Washington’s School of Art in 2005. She has been featured in several exhibitions including Allied Artists of America, Inc. as well as “American Woman” at Seattle’s Shift Collaborative Studio in 2008. Diamanti’s work was displayed this year at Terrain 2011, an annual exhibition of emerging artists in the Spokane community. The event features art in every genre, from paintings to sculptures to rock bands even, striving to highlight the local talent within Spokane. We are fortunate to have such an event in Spokane that brings life and attention to the ever-growing art community.
Diamanti’s work entitled “What Moves You?” stood out amongst the other works. Her oil and collage piece on canvas featured a figure dressed in beige with a look of disbelief and despair. The overwhelmed character sits in the foreground, while the background is constructed of photos, newspaper clippings and advertisements, which seem to juxtapose each other. There are some advertisements for Persian rugs, silk bedding, fabric swatches and monograms in the upper half of the work, while the lower half is covered in photos of homeless men and women in a state of desperation. Among these photos, there is a newspaper clipping that clearly reads: “What Moves You?” Through these images Diamanti addresses our obsession for excess, and our underlying lack of humanity and compassion. In a modern society which tells us we NEED all of these unnecessary things, we have lost our sense of care for those in true need. Diamanti’s work clearly asks us the question: “What Moves You?” Is it the homeless men and women is desperate need within our community, or is it the next best thing society wants to sell you? Of her work, Diamanti says:
“Ever day, we are told we cannot live without the next best thing that the biggest and brightest has just produced, and we are quickly losing our humanity to the idea that our value lies in label.”
Diamanti clearly portrays those ideas of consumerism in that we are led to believe that our value lies within the label of a material object. Her work is bluntly to the point and honest. I believe Diamanti achieved her goal in conveying these ideas in that as a viewer, I was immediately convicted. What DOES move me? Sadly, in most cases, I think that the majority of us without thinking are more likely to give into society’s lies and obsess about the next best thing versus obsessing about community service.
Overall, Diamanti does an excellent job at getting her point across to viewers. So, as the artist asks herself, what moves YOU? How can we put ourselves aside and become obsessed about our community in need instead?
Works Cited
http://www.diamantistudio.com/bio
http://www.terrainspokane.com
Terrain 2011 October 7th, 2011
2 comments:
It is definitely convicting when I stop to think about how many material things I am "obsessed" with, and then wonder how much of an impact I could make on the world if I put all that obsession into my community. Even thought we are each a member of a certain community it takes effort to adhere to a community and become a crucial part of a community, if we all put energy into becoming one community together, we could conquer so much.
I also saw this piece at Terrain and immediately respected Diamanti’s handling of this topic. I think she did a great job of confronting her audience with the issue of consumerism. In contrast to her work, I have seen other artists using similar imagery, but only to overwhelm their viewers without inviting them to participate. Consequently, I think that Diamanti’s method of posing a question is effective in promoting a response of change, because it asks the audience to consider their role in the situation rather than enticing inactive defensiveness. To your question, “What moves you?”, my answer is Dimanti’s work itself.
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