Return of the Gold

Luiza Benisano
Return of the Gold
Art 343

            Return of the Gold is an exhibit made by Justin Maes. His exhibit is a series of art installations that consists of all kinds of animals from chickens, to fish, to cows. Some of the installations are paintings and some of them are glass installations. Other installations are sculptures. The common theme I found in all of them is that the animals in the installations seem to be so full of color, but the color gold emanates to the important body part for its function: the nose. Every nose or beak of the animal was color gold and that was the common theme I found. Maybe because it is a lifeline to be able to breathe, I figured that his piece

            His pieces included “The Son,” “The Spirit,” “Guidance and Direction,” “Almost Cotton,” “Chicken Feed,” “Golden Cactus,” and “Stay Gold.” I translated his work to be a celebration of himself as well seeing that his common themes were very westernized. He grew up in Nevada, which explains his common theme for the western pieces. The pieces that stood out to me the most was the chicken that emanated shadowy silhouettes. And also the sculpture of a bull with a golden nose.

            I interpreted his work to be a celebration of life because gold is considered of valuable use. The only body part that emanated any gold was the lifeline that lets us breathe: noses. I also found his work to be deeply inspired of westernized roots being that he was from Nevada. All in all, I was highly intrigued by his works.