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Trip to Oakland Museum

The Oakland Museum is a famous interdisciplinary museum, which is dedicated to the natural science, history and art, of the state of California. It is estimated that there are as many as 1.8 million objects in the museum and they seek to let people know about California. It is during the middle of the 1960’s that the museum was created after a merger involving three different museums. This can be dated back to the beginning of the 20th century, and the museum opened its doors in the year 1969. The trip to the Oakland museum was extremely interesting as I got to see the works of various artists. These include; ‘Aristotle’s Cage’ by Michael McMillans, ‘Road Map with Helicopter’ by Enrique Chagoya, ‘Yosemite Valley’ by Albert Bierstadt, among others.

Enrique Chagoya’s ‘Roadmap’ has effectively arranged a cast of political, religious and mythical figures in an open-ended and ambiguous form of poetry. It has depicted the existing conflict between the imagination force and the various forms of fundamentalism. The artist has sufficiently raised the question concerning rigid beliefs and borders that are meant to be left unanswered intentionally. Tension exists in Chagoya’s tapestry as it is subtle in its various internal relationships. However, it is not clear as to who has the power despite the fact that energy is being exchanged (Leeuwen & Jewitt 105). Also, the source of power cannot be known because the result and nature can only be interpreted by the viewer.

The logic in ‘Roadmap’ is clearly unfettered by culture and ideology, as well as gravity. This means that there is a constant shift in the air because of the many circles that exist. The iconography of the tapestry is mirrored by the perpetual flight because of the flamingo, dodo, UFO’s and the military helicopters. Furthermore, the Arabic script used was an inspiration from Mir Ali Tabrizi. Therefore, Chagoya has opted to use many concepts that have been animated by the unknown. The work is thus a play zone that allows the interactions of historic and mythic converse for humans to translate.

The ‘Yosemite Valley’ by Albert Bierstadt is another work of art found at the Oakland Museum. Bierstadt has an exception work that gives a beautiful illustration of the Yosemite mountain landscape. The canvas used is quite large (eight by five feet) and it shows a panoramic view of the valley. The picture is quite enjoyable and it captures the attention of all its viewers (Leeuwen & Jewitt 155). It seems that Bierstadt wanted to show Americans who lived during his time that the western frontier had a lot of resources. It can be said that the Yosemite Valley was a Garden of Eden. It had the promise of a new beginning because it had not been touched by the Civil War. Bierstadt wanted to show that hope existed and the wounds of Americans would be healed.

Lastly, there was the art work ‘Aristotle’s Cage’ by Michael McMillan found at the museum. It is quite an intriguing work of art as it dictates that the viewer has an open mind while focusing on it. ‘Aristotle’s Cage’ depicts conflict as seen from the various elements that exist, such as the trailer and the sign. McMillan wanted people to be aware of the challenges that face American s(Leeuwen & Jewitt 189). There are people who try and mind their own business, but others will find ways of disrupting them. It is evident that the three works of art have all provided information concerning the post modern world.

Work Cited

Leeuwen, Theo. & Jewitt, Carey. Handbook of Visual Analysis. New York: Sage Publications, 2001.Print.