ADRIEL TORRES
SHORT ESSAY MODIFIED ASSIGNMENT
Art is a form of expression that releases our inner thigh and channels creativity through our innermost deepest feelings. One of these art pieces can be found in Jersey City’s waterfront. It's called “Water Soul” and it was created by the pristine culture Jaume Plensa. It features a white sculpture of a white silhouette female holding a finger to her mouth as in hushing herself. According to CBS New York (2021), Jaume created the sculpture with the purpose to invite people to be silent and listen to their own thoughts. This brings awareness to people's mental health because we live in a world where we have so much going on in life ranging from social media to daily problems. Jaume wants us to take a moment to relax and reflect on our thoughts to better ourselves. Therefore he seeks to improve our mental health through ‘Water Soul” by self reflection and looking deep into ourselves. The sculpture looks to inspire and motivate all those who see and seek it.
Another majestic piece of art that can be found in Jersey city is the “Katyn Memorial”. This bronze sculpture was made by the pristine polish artist “Andrzej Pitynski”. It can be found in downtown Jersey City, 107 Christopher Columbus Dr, Jersey City, NJ 07302. This sculpture is for all to see and depicts a soldier getting stabbed by a rifle with a bayonet. Pitynski wanted to depict the Katyn massacre and its cruelty. According to Jewish Virtual Library Mitchell Bard (2021) states the massacre occurred in April 1940 in Katyn Poland. Thousands of captured Poles were gruesomely executed by Soviet Union soldiers by orders of Stalin (Bard, 2021). This sculpture has socially impacted the community by its bold display of cruelty shown by the facial expression and the posture of the soldier getting stabbed. It shows identity because it depicts the tragic death of the Katyn soldier and identifies them as heroes in a sort of manner. The sculpture is there to celebrate their memory and honor their bravery.
Another fascinating work of art is Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” 1893. It shows a variety of very bold and dark colors that blend well with each other to pop out and emphasize the individual in the center of the painting. The individual appears to be walking on a bridge when he pops out a scream and places both of his hands on each cheek to display he is overwhelmed by emotions. The painting seeks to display the feeling of fear to its audience and portrays a powerful message. Some describe it as being painted by a mad mad man and the display of such powerful energy through the painting.
These same emotions relate to our mental health and can be related to Plensa’s “Water Soul”. Although the scream displays the individual letting out his emotions through screaming and being loud at the end of the day, that is one way to relieve stress and anxiety. While on the other hand we have Plensa that instructs us to be silent and listen to our inner thoughts in a sort of meditation and self reflection. Either way, that's another way to relieve stress and anxiety. Although very different messages they both have the central theme of letting emotions out and bettering our mental health.
All these majestic pieces of art have to do with health because they all aid in mental health. “Water Soul”invites us to self reflect, “The Scream '' invites us to let out emotions and last but not least “The Katyn Massacre” iads us with identity by honoring the past because that's what defines our future. The pandemic definitely has played a big part in these elements because during lockdown most of our lives changed. We were restricted to be in our homes and our options were limited. Most of us felt trapped because we couldn’t enjoy the daily activities such as going to the gym or a jog. This drastically lowered our mental health. These works of art help us relieve these emotions and aid us metally individually to relieve our stress.
CBS New York 2021; New Sculpture in Jersey City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vh3CJgum-0
Bard Mitchell; 2021; Jewish Virtual Library; The Katyn Massacre
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-katyn-massacre-april-1940
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