Compare and contrast two works of art

Meredith Streppa
Adam Weinstein
English 101
24 September 2007

As I walked into the SynArts cotillion in Woods Hall, I felt that the art was somewhat random. To me, there was no set theme. Murky colors, bright colors, sculptures, and happy and sad paintings. All sorts of images and ideas entered my head. I thought that the gallery portrayed a very nonspecific way of thinking, yet the artwork is still extremely intense, capturing, and charming. Two pieces that stuck out to me were Chris Davonport’s “Egg Patrol”, and Brandon McCullar’s “Rope-a-Dope”. These two artworks are extremely different, yet in some matter, portray very similar ideas.

Chris Davonport’s “Egg Patrol,” is a very colorful piece. It consisted of bright shades of green, red, blue, and several more colors. However, I was drawn to feel very sad when I really looked at the picture, and started to interpret what it meant. The sky in the painting was a dark color. It seems as if a storm is coming. There is an officer to the left of the picture laughing at something. On the right side, there is a middle aged woman holding an egg. Towards the back of the painting there is an older aged man and woman holding children around four years old. The older man and woman as well as the children seem to have sad or worried looks on their faces, like they are going through a hard time with the officer and the middle aged woman. The older man is waving a red flag, which seems to say he is surrendering to something. In this picture, there is a lot of emotion, and things going on. The lightning in the background gives the impression that something bad has happened, or will happen in the future. This picture reminds me of abortion and where our country stands today. In my opinion, the officer represents the government. The government is trying to control what people do that is why the man is laughing. The older people in the background represent people who may not be able to have children, and want abortion to be eliminated. The egg represents the unborn fetus, being lost, or taken away from society. This picture portrays our country and the battle over abortion. Some people are pro-choice, and some are pro-life. The lightning is representative of the trouble it is stirring in our country and what a problem it has become. It will take a very long time for this problem in our country to be solved becuase everyone has their own opinion on this topic. This picture has a very strong theme, as well as beautiful colors and is worth going to see.

The next painting that stuck out to me was by Brandon McCullar and it is called “Rope-a-Dope”. This painting is completely different from Davonport’s painting. This is actually a drawing, and a very good one at that. The picture is of Muhammad Ali when he knocked out Sonny Listonin the first punch to win the Heavyweight championship belt. Everything about this drawing is the same as the real picture, except that Sonny Listonin is drawn as a huge mechanical gorilla. The body is laid on the ring, just being defeated. The way that the artist drew the body falling apart is incredible. Millions of pieces lay on the ring, detached from this unconscious gorilla. Each piece is elaborately drawn in a very intricate way to look completely different from the next. The faces in the crowd are all different. Each person is making a different facial expression. They also have on all different clothes. The time that it took to draw each and every detail most likely took several hours. To me, this picture represents Muhammad Ali going through all of the troubles that a black man went through at that time in America’s history. He had to battle many demons, and stick up for himself a whole lot to prove who he was. In the end, he came out victorious and proved the whole world wrong. He overcame huge obstacles in his life and the mechanical gorilla represents everyone that tried to bring him down during those times. This picture is a great interpretation of the very famous picture taken of Muhammad Ali. Although black and white, the drawing is very impressive and is worth going to see.

These two works of art are very different, but also very similar. They both portray people going through troubles, and fighting to come out on top. Davenport’s message may be unclear as of now, but people are still fighting for what they believe. They will also continue to fight for what they believe until they retain a just verdict. Pro-life, or Pro-choice, one day in the future there will be a decision made by the government, and many people will be affected by it. Meanwhile, McCullar’s work of art has already passed. Someone has come out on top, and proved to the world that he could succeed. He fought for what he believed and never gave in. This was a huge achievement for many people in America, not only Ali. He represents a dream that was capable of coming true for all races and religions. Ali opened a door for people who struggled with all aspects of life, and showed them that there was a way to finish on top.

These works are similar, but are also extremely different. Davenport’s painting illustrates a struggle, which the country is trying to handle and fix. Meanwhile McCullar’s art work exemplifies a well deserved triumph over a tough competitor. Not only the meanings are different, but so are the physical appearances of the works. Davenport’s is an oil painting on an approximate 2.5 X 3 ft on canvas. Davenport used dark colors in the background, but made his images stand out with bright colors. McCullar’s artwork is a drawn in black and white. Its dimensions are approximately 1 X .5 ft on paper. These are just some simple physical differences between their art works.

Although very different pieces of art, this painting and drawing share a similar theme. They both represent people fighting for something that they believe in. Whether the struggle has ended, or will continue into the far future, people are still fighting and working to get the outcome that they would like. I would recommend this gallery for people to go and see. It really opened my eyes to see all different kinds of artwork from different points of view. I truly enjoyed going to the SynArts cotillion and comparing and contrasting two works of art and hope that others who experienced it enjoyed it as well.