San Antonio Art Museum Analysis

Words: 495
Pages: 2

Recently I paid a visit to the San Antonio Art Museum and while there are many beautiful works of art within those walls, I was most interested in one called 'How do you spell America'. This piece of art was done by Willie Cole, an artist primarily known for this sculptor work, in 1993. At first glance 'How do you spell America' could be interpreted as a rather simplistic and uninspired picture but the more you look at it the more meaningful it becomes. The 'How do you spell America' on display at this art museum is the sixth installment in a series of works, all with the same title, which come together to form one complete message.

As I stated earlier, at first glance Willie Cole's artwork seems rather simple. It is a chalkboard just like one you would see in many classrooms across the country and on the top of this chalkboard, written in bold capital letters, is the word 'AMERICA'. Underneath each letter in America are other words that begin with the letter they are under; making several rows of acronyms. These words are scrawled in quick-hand, giving them a rushed and random appearance, leaving you wondering why the artist chose these words to use.
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While others can be related to hot-button issues in our country today, words like 'abortion', 'immigrants', and 'expenditure'. This makes the piece seem random and confusing, especially when you read the words down the rows as you will first want to do. However when you read these words from left to right they form sentences that could easily be headlines seen in newspapers today. Sentences like 'A melting pot empire rejects immigrants coming ashore' and 'American malaise eases right into chronic