It takes quite a creative, knowledgeable mind to crack the codes in this painting, but once you know it, you can’t un-know it again.
Economic disparity, the western affinity for our animals, capitalistic commodification of the human being, comfort vs. exploitation, privilege, world politics.
Roses are Red by Angie Reed Garner, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 20×64″, all rights reserved
Do you see it?
Roses are Red by Angie Reed Garner, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 20×64″, all rights reserved
Before I tell you what Angie Reed Garner has to say about this painting I will admit to simply appreciating the work on first glance for the extraordinary textures and colors typical of her work.
I will admit to recognizing the dog, to zooming in on the text of classified ads and thinking, Labor Camps? I imagined the translucent figure with the sunflowers sprouting from him was a dead man – a ghost or an impression. I didn’t make the intended connections, but it still got me thinking.
Look a little closer.
Roses are Red, detail, by Angie Reed Garner, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 20×64″, all rights reserved
Roses are Red, detail, by Angie Reed Garner, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 20×64″, all rights reserved
Roses are Red, detail, by Angie Reed Garner, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 20×64″, all rights reserved
Garner is a painter from the United States. Earlier works fed from mythology. Each piece tells a story – sometimes a very complex one like this that reads like a modern hieroglyph. Symbol heavy, the artist creates her own visual language with ties to historically understood meanings. Her work would be a never-ending feast for a semiotician.
I give my dog a better life than many are able to earn for themselves and their families no matter how hard they work, and they work insanely hard in conditions that would drop me. 50C heat kills.
Currently living in the UAE after a year in Lahore, Pakistan, exposure to blatant economic disparity among other culture shocks have made work like this possible for the self taught painter.
Here is what the artist has to say about this painting:
‘Roses are Red’ is about living alongside and participating in the extreme income disparity in Pakistan and here in the UAE. The same disparity exists in the United States as well, but it is much harder to see.
I give my dog a better life than many are able to earn for themselves and their families no matter how hard they work, and they work insanely hard in conditions that would drop me. 50C heat kills.
Roses are Red, detail, by Angie Reed Garner, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 20×64″, all rights reserved
Below, you’ll find a sample of some of her most recent work from the UAE.
