Amanda Schillinger
The Seated I (2019) Wangechi Mutu
Immediate Response
Upon first viewing this bronze sculpture, I noticed the movement of what appears to be some sort of clothing worn by the figure. The bronze wires seem to mold to the figure’s knees to create a dress-like look that hides the legs and feet. My eyes then went up to the neck of the figure, where the wire wraps around the figure’s arms and neck, turning into more of an orangey-red color. The way the figure’s posture is so upright made me slightly uneasy, as it looks almost unnatural. The figure’s stance also reminds me of a chair. The head of the figure appears to have wide, large slits for eyes and some sort of continuation of the nose all the way to the forehead and over the head. This makes the figure seem fictional in almost an alien-like form. Lastly, the large, flat, circular element for the perceived mouth of the figure seems to distrust the rest of the sculpture as it is the only flat element and takes up half the size of the figure’s head. It makes me think of the face of a drum because of its color and flatness, which is an odd element to be a mouth.
Objective Description
The Seated I (2019) is a bronze sculpture of a figure kneeling on the ground, with one knee up and one knee on the ground. Bronze wires wrap the body of the figure to create a short sleeve dress-like garment that transitions from a dark bronze at the base of the figure to an orangey-red at the neck of the figure. The garment of the figure seems to mold into the body to create a chair like shape. The arms of the figure are a more smooth bronze, not nearly as textured as the dress or garment. They are long and lanky, resting on the knees softly. The figure’s posture is in an upright position, staring ahead, yet the actual eyeballs or direction of sight are not shown due to the large, wide slits for eyes with a dark coloration where the whites of the eyes could be. The figure’s head seems to have dent like marks for ears, no hair, a nose that continues onto the forehead and bald head, and a large perfect circle for a mouth that overlaps onto the neck of the figure.
Technical Decisions
I peercived the movement of this piece to be dynamic. My eyes started at the figure’s knees and lower body, as the material used, bronze, is used in a wire-fashion that wraps around the figure’s body as a dress. These coils respond to the figure itself by falling to its shape in a draping way. This is interesting because the actual material of bronze is not at all draping, but rather hard and difficult to mold unlike fabric, which creates an opposing concept for the viewer, as the bronze looks harmonic and soft rather than solid, heavy, and chunky. As the fabric-like garment swirls and wraps around the figure’s body, the viewers eyes are drawn to the disc in the mouth of the figure as well as the eye slits and warped, bald head. This makes an unsettling, abstract image that opposing the calmness of the wrapping garment.
The Work in the World
The first uses of bronze in sculpture making were to create weapons and tools. Wangechi might be symbolizing violence in some way by using bronze as her medium. The coils and mouth disc might symbolize customs practiced by African woman. These practices include wearing and making beaded bodices, circular necklaces, lip plates, hair styles etc. Lip plates are also known as lip plugs or mouth plates. They are a form of body modification in the mouth in which a large disc is placed into the mouth to stretch the lip. It is considered a symbol of great beauty and marks the commitment to a husband. The seated nature of the piece and the formation of the figure almost molding into a chair itself might relate to a caryatid. This a sculpture of a female figure that serves as a column or pillar to support a building. They first signified women of Caryae who were doomed to hard labor when the Persians invaded Greece.
The Story it Tells
Wangechi tends to aim to combine artistic experimentation with exploring ideas about sexuality, feminists, violence, and mainly the hyper-objectification of black woman and their bodies. Based on the connections to history and the common theme in her artwork, I think that this sculpture illustrates an African female as a load bearer. She is always supporting a man, such as a seat in which a man could physically sit on her. It’s showing that in the past women have been expected to assist men and to beauty themselves in order to please men. Especially with the example of the lip plate, which is only used to signify engagement to a male and is also considered a form of great beauty. One can infer that since the two are connected, beauty was thought to be for the purpose of pleasing the man.
