Arena, Elaine de Kooning

You hear the ramp up, the feet grinding against the dusty floor. You see the fury in the bull’s eyes, elegantly contrasted with the calm connectedness of the matador. You watch as his cape flies, sending the bull into a frantic charge. Your heart stops and the world seems to slow. Beast nears man, the bull’s horns aimed to kill, when a sudden movement of the matador snaps you back to reality. The bull goes flying by, and the man in the arena remains unfazed. This striking image is what Elaine de Kooning beautifully illustrates in “Arena”. Inspired by her trip to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, de Kooning felt like this immense struggle between human and animal needed an artistic interpretation. Being the forefront of the abstract expressionist movement, one of the first female abstract artists, and the spouse of renowned expressionist artist Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning had a strong handle on the abstruse and used it to eloquently construct a stunning piece that is as eye-catching as it is vague. When initially viewing Arena, one could be forgiven for only seeing a mess of splattered colors across a canvas. However, when examined closer, you can begin to see the outline of a bull, red with anger and its horns aimed forward. If you look to where the bull is charging, you can see a mass of magenta and tan, meant to represent the brave matador staring down the beast. The chaos of this event is magnificently symbolized with the harsh, aggressive brush strokes that are used to outline the characters. As with many abstract pieces, the true meanings and symbols are only revealed to us when we look beyond the surface and examine with a fine tuned eye. With Arena, this is presented in full. However, some people may look at this piece, scoff at it for not conforming to traditional art standards, and disregard it as another sinful group of blobs on a canvas, but I believe that this is simply an ignorant way to view art. To truly appreciate and understand the art we perceive, we need to look beyond the face value, and, just like the mighty matador, face the bull head on. This is Cameron Williams with another Bulldog Art Tour.