Whitney Biennial Artist Comparison

Robert Williams and Charles Ray were two featured artists at the Whitney Biennial.They were not featured near eachother in the museum, but they were two pieces I noted and found interesting when I put them side by side on my laptop desktop. Ray’s “Untitled” was exhibited with a series of other works very similar. The works were either flowers, trees, or “garden-esque” subjects. He did not feature and real “foreign object;” each work was relatively recognizable. I could relate to the piece beacuse I was so familiar with the subject matter. He uses vibrant colors and colors that work in complimentary fashions (not in the sense that they were “opposite colors,” but they complimented each other). I loved seeing the series of works taking over the room. It was an explosion of colorful flowers and trees. It felt like a delft garden to me. I enjoyed his work.

Robert Williams’s work, “Astrophysically Modified Real Estate” was fantastic as well. I loved the series of works displayed on the wall. They were humerous and honestly reminded me of some of the sketches of a friend of mine. The ideas were impossible and rather absured. I love peculiarities. This artist certainly fit my taste. Like Ray’s work, the subjects of his pieces were recognizable. There is nothing outlandish about houses and real estate and cul-de-sacs. Each thing is very recognizible, like in Ray’s work. Also similar to Ray’s work, their pieces came in a sort of series. Ray’s work were featured in a room, taking up much space. Williams’s came in a series as well... but on a much smaller scale. Also, the medium of the artists work seemed “relateable.” Ray’s flowers seemed to be colored by markers, which evoke a sort of reminescence of kindergarten when I always drew multi-colored daisies. Williams’s works also evoked a sort of reminiscence, as their medium is a simple watercolor on paper. Watercolor was a common medium for me as a kindergartner and yound elementrary student. I could relate very well to to pieces of both artists through their medium

Their works are also very different. First of all, the scale of their works differ in that Ray worked rather large scale, with his “Untitled” at 47 x 32 1/2 inches, and Williams’s work at 36,8 x 44.5 centimeters. Color is also a great difference. Williams’s works have a soft coloration to them. He uses primarily neutral tones with no unusual colorations for the objects in his work. Ray uses a breadth of colors in his flowers. In nature, Daisies with a different color for each petal are likely non-existant. His colorations are unusual and not representative of the colors of flowers in real life.

I really enjoyed the simplistic works of these two artists. They’ll definitely go in my “faves” folder.