Ellene Choi

Professor Estes
August 20, 2014


Arguing About Art
The Art of Piece-making

Art is a creative form of expression that conveys more messages than what seems obvious. It
takes time to deeply analyze the piece to understand the original intention of the piece, which
can be different than the initial impression. Therefore art pieces can be easily undervalued and
even be blamed for having a lack of communication. The traits considered were shifted towards
having a social impact due to the high degree of personal appreciation towards art. This shift
itself pushed the viewpoint to be different than usual, which made the analysis very interesting.
Instead of the visual aesthetics, the interpretation of the intention and the impact of the piece
was considered more to be artistic.
For all Pedro Reyes, Sandra Bromley, and Wallis Kendal, the art of recycling weapons was a
way to promote social movement towards stopping gun violence in a respectful way. It can be
disturbing to watch people protest at times, but installing a piece of art with a meaningful
intention cant be too disturbing. As I was doing this research, I realized how I can only
understand a segment of the message that my own knowledge allows. There were some
meaningful pieces, but I can only understand as much as I recognize it. It was also hard to
differentiate what is better art. What should it be valued upon if they all convey deeper
meanings? As a form of art that is silent, meaning not able to advertise itself, it should be visually
or artistically appealing to attract more audiences to communicate the message across. It is true
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that even if the intentions are good, if there arent any audiences available the art piece doesnt
contain any meaning to the public. So for an art piece to have meaning, the public has to
understand its value. So the art ended up being focused on how intriguing and attractive the
piece was, as well as how understandable it is to the general public.
This theory was relatable to different types of life experiences, because we connect with
people or incidents that seems more interesting and reliable. Whether if it is an election for a
president at an association or a tragedy happening in a suburb, it attracts attention when it is
interesting. In other words, it was not all about how the artist sees the world. Its about how the
artists interpretation is seen. Basically reiterating the artists perception.
In particular of Reyess art, the purpose of the piece was metaphorically mentioned in his
interviews. He said, It was a great experience because I realized weapons dont only make rough
sounds. They were able to make subtle sounds like a lullaby. Through this switching of
perception, and the lens of Reyes, the world suddenly seemed more peaceful. It seemed like there
would be more potential in people to be more innocent and kind than how it appears to be on
New York Times. On the other hand, the Gun Sculpture by Bromley and Kendal was not so
appealing because the interpretation wasnt too different. Its the execution that carries more
value than the interpretation, and the execution didnt show any technical or artistic value to it.
Ultimately, I concluded that it is a less intriguing art than Reyes piece but not meaningless. At
rst, it wasnt too attractive but as time went by, it started to show me some of the reality that I
dont want to admit. By making a overwhelming sized cell covered with weapons, it makes me
realize how serious gun violence can be for anyone. Being swayed by the moment you can be
locked up in a cell for years, as well as the unacceptable number and frequency of deadly
weapons used around the world. Whether if it is to protect or to attack, it made me realize the
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seriousness of the demand for a social change. No citizens of a country should feel threatened to
use a weapon like this against another, at least not this frequent.
As a conclusion, there cannot be meaningless art. If the execution was good, the art can be
interpreted in innite ways by the viewers. If the communication skills arent present, than it still
has representative meaning to the artist as well as the people who had the chance to interact with
the artists intentions and purposes. One can create more personal connection and interaction
with one piece than another, but just like there isnt a person that are meaningless there isnt a
piece that has an absence of meaning.


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