Artist: Edgardo Carmona

Edgardo Carmona is a Columbian born artist who studied mechanical engineering, fine arts, painting, and sculpture (Allure). Most of his work consists of massive metal framed sculptures that are exhibited in public settings worldwide. There are 23 of Carmona’s sculptures displayed in various parts of Downtown Fort Myers. They were unveiled on January 7, 2016 as part of a promotion for luxury condos’ that are currently being constructed (Runnells). Of these, one of them stood out to me the most: Territorio.

            The sculpture is of a man holding a bottle leaning against a light post urinating and a dog with its left rear leg raised urinating also. At first glance, it looks like a “normal” piece of art until you look closer at the man and realize that he’s holding his genital in his other hand. This sculpture has that shock factor because it doesn’t appear to be explicit. Considering that its’ located in one of the most popular parts of the city, it’s pretty amazing to see the artist brazenly place it there uncensored for all to see.

            There was a bit of controversy when this sculpture was first unveiled. The Public Art Committee got lots of demands to remove it but they refused and now it’s one of the most popular pieces in the collection (Hall). This somewhat shows that overtime people can adapt to a piece of art and come to accept and appreciate it. This sculpture is a full round sculpture; You can view it from any angle. There aren’t any precise measurements for this piece but it is a very large sculpture. When you look at it for the first time, it almost appears as if the light post isn’t part of the piece. Also, there’s a bit of humor as to the street it’s located on because there’s a few nightclubs on this street and the bottle in the man’s hand kind of alludes to maybe a night of partying and drinking. Carmona did an excellent job capturing a very relatable situation that some people have had to go through with this sculpture.

Works Cited

Allure. MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE EXHIBIT BY EDGARDO CARMONA DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS, FLORIDA. 2019. 3 2 2019.

Hall, Tom. “Edgardo Carmona Collection.” n.d. http://www.artswfl.com/public-art-2/fort-myers-river-district-public-art-2/edgardo-carmona-collection/edgardo-carmona-collection. 3 2 2019.

Runnells, Charles. “Exhibit of iron giants unveiled in downtown Fort Myers.” 7 1 2016. https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2016/01/07/fort-myers-art-colombia-edgardo-carmona-artist-downtown-sculptures/78306070/. 3 2 2019.

The work of art that really stood out to me the most is Artillery by the French artist Roger de la Fresnaye. The first thing you notice about this painting is the variety of common geometric shapes that the artist uses, most of them being squares, circles, and rectangles, to depict a very powerful image of warfare. He utilizes these shapes to create people, horses, and objects that the viewer can immediately recognize as men going into battle or to fight in a war. The shapes don’t just appear flat; they have dimension and weight and make the painting feel dense in a way.

The artist uses a lot of blacks, reds, and browns in this painting. The use of these dark colors makes this canvas feel gloomy and tense. The lack of bright colors really sets the mood and gives it more of a serious tone. One can tell that this isn’t a joyous occasion or celebration although we can see what appears to be a marching band waving the French flag and a drummer and a few trumpeters. Also, the way the artist paints one group of individuals in all black and the other group in blue tops with red pants can lead one, who knows nothing about this piece, to consider that these are possibly two opposing groups getting ready to engage in a conflict.

This piece drew me in mainly due to the fact that I knew instantly what was being represented. When I look at this painting, I feel sorrow for the many men that had to go to war at that time. Many of them had no choice but to leave their wives and children behind to go risk their lives at the battlefront. I can’t imagine how these men must’ve felt not knowing if they’ll make it back alive to see their families again. This painting shows how war was a common concern during that time and the artists’ portrayal of what going into battle was like.

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

Banksy

I’m not one to really have a keen interest in paintings and drawings but Banksys’ “There is always hope”, or as many people know it as “Girl with balloon”, is the only piece of art that I truly appreciate. The painting itself is very simple and minimalistic: a little girl standing still with her left arm raised up and a red heart shaped balloon with a string attached that appears to be floating above her. I love how the artist is able to capture and show movement without needing to draw a background. The viewer knows that there’s wind blowing based on how the girl’s hair stands up above her head and the way the front of her dress appears lifted. I also admire how humble this painting is. The lack of very bright colors, except the red balloon, and how the girl is drawn in black against a white canvas is visually pleasing to me. It’s not doing too much and I’m able to focus on just these two aspects of the painting. When I look at this work, two questions immediately come to mind: why is the little girl just standing still and not chasing after the balloon? And why is she all alone? I get a feeling of hopelessness and sadness from this painting. Maybe she doesn’t run after the balloon because she thinks or knows she won’t be able to reach it and the red balloon possibly represents her happiness flying away. This piece brings back a memory of my childhood when I used to live in New York. My mother was walking me to school and we were passing a vendor selling giant cartoon character balloons. I saw a Scooby Doo shaped balloon that I really wanted and begged my mom to buy it for me but she refused. I remember crying and feeling hopeless because I was young and didn’t have any money so there was nothing I could do to get this thing that I so desired. In a way, this produces those emotions that I felt that day. All in all, this painting is an amazing piece that I can, to a degree, relate to.

Hey there everyone. I recently became an LPN a little over a year ago and am trying to accomplish my current goal of becoming an RN. I currently work as a nurse at a jail and yea I know it’s a little different but there’s never a dull moment. I was uncertain for a long time about which area of nursing I wanted to go into but working there has helped me realize my interest in mental health and corrections. My long-term goal is to get my masters and become a nurse practitioner. With all that said, I’m taking this course as a requirement for my AA. I’m excited to see what the future holds and hope that we all have a great semester.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton