Band-Aid

This piece hangs on the wall without much introduction, just a rectangle of either canvas or heavy weight paper, and a rough white border framing yellow – sometimes solid color, sometimes swaths.  The yellow itself lies beneath a single object, the Band-Aid, floating just above center and taking up the length of this background.  Large, sloppy brush strokes of the primary color discontinue so that a particular patch in the bottom middle shows white.  

Drips interrupt this blank space.  Drips from the Band-Aid, and drips from the yellow, at times combining or sliding next to each other to form color combinations, like the muddy green and the brown-orange pooling on the edge of the bottom white border to leak into each other and mix new colors.

An additional medium is introduced on top of this muted palette and loose painting.  Rough grid lines, more uniform to the right side of the Band-Aid and more like scratches to the left, provide dimension to an otherwise almost monochromatic piece.  The Band-Aid feels weighted in the space, the yellow behind at once bleeding through and adding the foundational layer to an object set apart.  In keeping with the looseness of the painting, the lines themselves however rigid do not fall precisely into the borders of the object, but instead bleed past.  This mimics the function of paint drips in a uniquely non-paint way.  

In combination with materials used, the piece seems to have a formal element of geometry.   The Band-Aid is an interesting yet seemingly oval shape, playing off of the repeated circles in the Band-Aids center surrounded by a rectangle, while this shape is in turn reflected in the somewhat linear, sometimes square ended brushstrokes.  In this sense the paint drips provide an interesting contrast, since although messy by nature they still act somewhat like lines.

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I enjoy a piece of artwork that can combine a beautiful and pleasing aesthetic experience with disturbing or off-putting subject matter.  I also enjoyed this piece because it felt accessible.  I have less of a context for things like installation or performance art, and so often feel like I’m not sure how to approach it.  A painting I’ve seen before, so I sometimes feel more ready to engage with one. 

 I was initially drawn to this piece by the use of color, and remained intrigued because of the combined subject matter and painting style.  A Band-Aid is an inherently gross object, yet at the same time sterile, meant for healing and keeping clean.  The colors of deep yellow and browns combined with murky green feel like an illness. On the other hand, they are beautiful, a color combination I am often drawn to in other contexts.  

My immediate associations with Band-Aids are weird and nasty: public pools at summer camp, scraped knees, ripping off skin, the elementary school secretary’s office.  However, I also associate Band-Aids with choosing which fun cartoon image I will use to declare a new battle scar to fellow childhood playmates.   

The more I looked at this piece, the more disgusting and the more beautiful the Band-Aid became – this is why I loved it. 

*Note: My personal photo made it impossible to read the name of the artist and piece's title. I apologize! I've included an Inlander photo bellow, but if anyone knows the artist's info please share! 

image via Inlander