Map

As I walked around the Hirshhorn museum hoping one specific piece would stand out and "speak to me", I realized I was searching for the most dramatic and obscure work of art because that would be the obvious choice. When I was able to move past this thought and truly look for a piece I responded to, I walked through the room with this sculpture, 'Map', by Evan Holloway. While I love museums and can wander around in them for hours, rarely do I ever read the descriptions of the pieces or any information about the works. I usually come up with my own response to the artwork and leave it at that. With this sculpture, however, I was tempted to walk up to the description on the wall behind it and learn more about the work. That was when I knew I had genuinely responded to something in the Hirshhorn and would share my thoughts on it.

At first glance, without reading the information provided by the museum, 'Map', to me, appeared to be a commentary on the progression from life to death. With the vibrant, vivid colors on one end to the darkness of the blackest black, to the fading from gray to white, I assumed it could only be depicting one thing; life. Although I believe art should be interpreted however the viewer pleases, the description gave a little more insight into how the artist meant for the sculpture to be perceived. Built with tree branches creating lines and right angles, Holloway intended to use these pieces of nature to commentate on how life and nature can be so composed by humans and our cultures in both a structured and direct way as well as in a playful and colorful way. While my interpretation of the piece differed from the artist's desired intentions, reading Holloway's thoughts on the sculpture only allowed for me to respond to the work more and combine my depiction of it with Holloway's to create a completely unique response to the work.