Hood Museum of Art

Those Damn Germs

by Tatiana Suriel (Titled by Paige Beede)

There is infinite bond between yourself and everything around you. The internal part of your body helps you to live, and usually protect you from diseases and illnesses, while your external body allows you to catch those diseases and illnesses, as well as hook onto anything around you. At the Hood Art Museum, Charles Spurrier captures the bond in a rather unique way.

Everything used in Spurrier’s art work closely relates to himself. They do not all have a physical meaning in his life, but a metaphorical meaning. The scotch tape used in Infinity Bond shows the poignant metaphor for healing and repairing what was once broken, mainly referred to his mother’s long hospitalization. He used tape on one side of his work, and on the other side he applied paint using his finger. Both his fingers and the tape collect particles or objects. It is like the game rock-paper-scissors in that fingers usually collect most particles, but are beaten by an even more powerful collector, a man-made creation, tape.

            Spurrier uses the colors blue, yellow, red, and black. The primary colors were most likely being used to portray the inevitabilities of humanity, as they are the inevitabilities of colors. Black: the color of darkness; the color of loss. Black: also, the color that those who cannot see have a tendency to see.

            Fingers. They spread the germs. Germs. They spread the disease. Disease. They cause the illness. Illness. They lead to many things. Many things. They lead to dying. They lead to curing. They lead to endless possibilities. Endless possibilities. They are the greatness of art itself.

            The way Spurrier uses color to show generalizations is a superb way to show what seems to be portrayed as spreading germs. The details of each fingerprint shows the detail that the human eye is capable of seeing, as well as how much can stick to each finger tip.

            This piece can be viewed differently by different people. Say a young girl came across it, she might see many butterflies as each of the fingertips are back to back, or she has not yet developed the eye for detail. Say a young boy came across it, he might notice how each colored square could be seen as a different colored lego piece. Now say a colorblind person may not realize the patterns as well as someone with 20/20 vision might.

             Perspective, the human eye, and detail to observation is a large part of art. Those with imagination, those with creativity, those with observation to detail have a tendency to view the more beautiful aspects of art. The fingerprints left a scary mark on my fingers. Not physically, but metaphysically.  Thinking about the amount of germs on my and on everyone else’s fingers in this world is such a daunting thought.