My Anaconda Don’t Want None, Unless You're Make a Striking Art Piece

This past week, we were able to go to the Museum of Contemporary Arts in San Diego and learn about different art forms within the contemporary label. What was interesting about the work that we looked at was that there were objects that would normally not strike you as an art piece, but taking a deeper look, we were able to find reasons as to how the art piece was successful or not. By picking apart the piece, we would look at who the artist was, the time they made it, what kind of message we were getting to and how successful it was. When deciding if it was successful or not, we had to back up our claim by using evidence and reasoning.One of the most striking pieces was the Anaconda Map of Chile by Juan Downey. It is definitely one you cannot miss while at the museum. When looking at this piece, you see how it is a map with a snake on it and that can be pretty cool depending on what you think about containing animals to amuse the human eye. However, once you understand that it means the tyranny that runs through Chile, you can challenge your justification of if it would make as strong of an impact without the anaconda.Initially, I looked at this piece and was kind of disgusted by the fact that the artist chose to showcase a live animal for the purpose of catching the attention of the critic. By isolating the techniques that Juan used and challenging my instincts, I was able to make a decision for myself to understand that it was a successful art piece.