Art is continually evolving and expanding to better reflect what an artist is trying to express through their work. An artist’s inspiration for their artwork is generally derived from the emotions they feel throughout their lifetime. These emotions stem from the world and events that surround an artist which determines their theme, or content, within a piece of work. The subject matter is then chosen as a means to express to the sentiments the artist is trying to convey. Given an artist’s timeframe of life and significant events or issues during that period, the combination of subject matter and content enable a viewer to understand the context of a work of art. Although subject matter, content, and context within an artwork are used
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The emotions surrounding that day are insurmountable. In I want to Believe, artist Cai Guo-Qiang used various disciplines to explore and react to the events and emotions he felt on that day: “Art is not about what you say, it’s about these other things that you don’t say” (Guo-Qiang). In his installations, Guo-Qiang chose subject matter that would express his feelings of pain and suffering from September 11. From I Want to Believe, the work titled Inopportune: Stage one, is an example of how Cai used his subject matter to project his emotions and thoughts. By arranging cars in sequential order to represent a bomb, the artist is conveying the horror and destruction caused by terrorism throughout the world, yet the car lands safely on all four wheels which represents the perseverance of society to move-on after such events (Guo-Qiang). Another example of the artist using terrorism and pain as a theme would be his airplane sculpture in Sao Paulo. In this particular installation, Cai uses vines and sharp objects to form an airplane hanging from the ceiling. The choice of using and airplane with confiscated items from the local airport pierced into it describes the anguish the artist felt during the terror attacks on the Twin Towers. The airplane and confiscated airport items also communicate the context of Cai’s work surrounding the events of 9/11. By using fingernail clippers, scissors, bottle openers, and various other elements that are no longer allowed in airports, Guo-Qiang shows the transition of the world’s view from blissful naivety to the constant distrust and fear people live in
The emotions surrounding that day are insurmountable. In I want to Believe, artist Cai Guo-Qiang used various disciplines to explore and react to the events and emotions he felt on that day: “Art is not about what you say, it’s about these other things that you don’t say” (Guo-Qiang). In his installations, Guo-Qiang chose subject matter that would express his feelings of pain and suffering from September 11. From I Want to Believe, the work titled Inopportune: Stage one, is an example of how Cai used his subject matter to project his emotions and thoughts. By arranging cars in sequential order to represent a bomb, the artist is conveying the horror and destruction caused by terrorism throughout the world, yet the car lands safely on all four wheels which represents the perseverance of society to move-on after such events (Guo-Qiang). Another example of the artist using terrorism and pain as a theme would be his airplane sculpture in Sao Paulo. In this particular installation, Cai uses vines and sharp objects to form an airplane hanging from the ceiling. The choice of using and airplane with confiscated items from the local airport pierced into it describes the anguish the artist felt during the terror attacks on the Twin Towers. The airplane and confiscated airport items also communicate the context of Cai’s work surrounding the events of 9/11. By using fingernail clippers, scissors, bottle openers, and various other elements that are no longer allowed in airports, Guo-Qiang shows the transition of the world’s view from blissful naivety to the constant distrust and fear people live in