Unlike most art works, which are created either using paint, or was sculpted from mold, the chosen art piece was created using gas filled tubes more commonly known as to the public as neon. Hank Willis Thomas’ piece, entitled Successful Woman/ Angry Men, is a neon sign hung against a white background in a darkly lit space to make the piece more readable. The thin letters of the sign are yellow, though in a lighter hade, which spelled out underlined words saying “Successful Woman” and “Angry Men,” with a slash put in between the two phrases.
While the bright light emitted from the slash and the underline remained lit, the light alternately flashed from from the words “Successful Woman” to “Angry Men”. A couple of letters of the sign were not exactly straight (e. g. the letters A and M), but more curved as it is difficult to manipulate and bend glass into sharp, straight lines. In between the spaces of each character, thin and thick, black lines are seen, which possibly holds the source of the light and connects the letters to keep them close together.
As for the overall look of the piece of art, it was quite plain and simple. Though it was simple, it was able to catch the viewer’s attention all the while providing a clear message. The artist’s intention of the piece was to convey a message with a feminist meaning or at least tackle a social issue. All throughout history, men were considered to be in charge of getting jobs and making money for the family while the women stayed at home with the children to take care of the daily chores.
Through out time, society has evolved to include women in the work space and were, too, able to prove themselves successful in their field, and at times, even more successful than their male peers. However, for some men, the sight of a woman more successful than them caused them to to feel threatened and even intimidated, proving, as the artist put it, “Successful Woman” and “Angry Men. ” The artist’s intention for making the chosen piece was to perhaps raise more awareness on the matter and to convince those men “angry men” to put their ego aside and stop believing that giving a woman a chance will have a negative affect on their life.
Additionally, the artist added the slash as it could have been used as an analogy, which is a comparison between one thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. When you have a “successful woman,” you will start to see or get “angry men. ” It may have also been added to show a cause and it’s affect on others. The use of neon signs has been a common format for one to inform the public with for several years, so having neon as a medium gave the artist the ability to say provide open-ended messages and communicate with the audience.
Thomas chose neon as a medium for the reason that light easily attracts the viewer’s attention and emphasizes ideas. Due to the bright light, it manages to say something out loud without the material or piece itself being too intense. I believe that the artist’s purpose of flashing the phrases “Successful woman” and “Angry men”, instead of keeping them lit like the underlines and slash, was to surprise us or to keep us waiting. Flashing lights is also another way to get the viewer’s attention and keep them from looking away due to the fact that our eyes keep going back to them.
Bright lights forces our eyes to look at it, talk about it, and even go towards it. Additionally, the artist may have chosen the color yellow for the light as it is a powerful and intense color, able to invoke strong feelings and quickly grab one’s attention, which corresponds well with the viewer. The use of the underline also helped in allowing the viewer to retain the message as underlining is usually used to emphasize something, meaning it that something is important or that it should be remembered.
The artist may have kept the slash and the underlining light to further emphasize the message. Personally, I quite enjoyed this piece and appreciate the message that the artist conveyed. I enjoyed how an artist was able to create a work of art that was able to provide commentary on what is going on in our society as of now and relate it to a social issue that has been growing more and more recognition over the past years. The fact that this art piece was done by an man was also intriguing. In the past, whenever I saw art pieces relating to feminism, it was created by a woman.
Also realistically speaking, the majority of the time you see someone tackling an issue regarding woman, it is coming from a woman and is usually followed by men who strongly oppose the matter and call her “crazy. ” That is not to say that all men are against feminism, it is just that considering the amount of hate the issue receives from men, it is almost refreshing, or to put it simply, nice to see more people of the opposite gender supporting the cause. Furthermore, I enjoyed the simplicity of the piece as it made the work quite aesthetically pleasing to look at.
The fact that the artist used neon was, I think, a way to relate or keep in touch with the current generation. As mentioned above, he was able to take a common object and manipulated it to convey a message in order to capture our attention. Additionally, I enjoyed how the artist used an analogy, or cause-and-effect to show what he was trying to say. By doing so, the artist was able to tell us something without saying too much. He made his piece and message clear and simple, yet straight to the point. The audience is also able to retain the information better when messages are short and concise.