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Samuel Mockbee and his Artworks "The professional challenge, whether one is an architect in the rural American South or elsewhere in the world, is how to avoid being so stunned by the power of modern technology and economic affluence that one does not lose sight of the fact that people and place matter... were the powerful words of Samuel Mockbee, who became a great professor in the rural Alabama region. A renowned architect and a great artist, Mockbee dedicated most of his life in the south and lived through the stages when the south was being confronted with trials and tribulations of the civil rights movement. His works were quite representative of all the negations of the Jim Crow laws and the civil right movement stars that contributed to the cause. He portrayed powerful artworks that test the mind.
He especially had a specific talent for portraying powerful themes within his artwork in a subtle and yet obvious method. To look briefly into his biography, Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee dedicated his life as a teacher and to the goal of providing "shelter for the soul" as an architect. He was born in December 23, 1944 in Meridian, Mississippi. His inspirational and authentic architecture served to improve the lives of the most impoverished residents of rural Alabama through his work at Auburn University's Rural Studio. Mockbee was so committed to this pure act of service that, in 1991, he abandoned a full time architectural practice with Coleman Coker and the firm Mockbee Coker Architects to accept a position at Auburn's School of Architecture. It was there that he and long time friend and Auburn professor D.
K. Ruth conceived of and founded the Rural Studio concept. (Bennett, 2). This showed his true passion for becoming an architect, which was not influenced by money but rather with pure zeal for the discipline. Though he is mostly known for his low cost and soulful architecture works, Mockbee was also a reputable artist. He had various paintings that he put his soul into portraying many of the sideburns of the south at the time being. In this paper, three of his artworks are chosen and decoded to a great extent.
The artworks in discussion will be Charles Moore, circa 1992, Alberta's Ascension, circa 1976 and Apple standing on turtle holding large bouquet, circa 1998. The artworks will be evaluated on their composition and design, illusion of depth, the amount of light used, choice of color, obvious message portrayed and underlying themes presented. Charles Moore is a very metaphorical artwork, brilliantly hewn by Mockbee. The overall arrangement of the forms on the picture is centered in the middle.
There is no hint of symmetry. The overall patterning shows that the entire surface does not include design elements. The major design element is enlarged and takes a considerable amount of the design surface. The focal point of the picture is leading towards the right as most objects are facing to the right.
The hierarchal scale indicates that the rooster / chicken and the figure of the man are most distinguished in the picture, i. e. they are the main source of appeal. The illusion of depth in the artwork shows most of the action taking place in the range between the middle ground and the foreground. There is no indication of overlapping in the artwork.
The lighting of the picture is dim. Chiaroscuro or the method of modeling by the use of light is greatly incorporated in this artwork. (Delahunt, 3) The figure of the man has been shown to be voluminous in size by the use of shadows. Cool colors are used, exemplifying sorrow or a period of adversity. There is always a sad aura portrayed by such colors. The artwork shows a man sitting on top of an elevated stairs looking down on the earth with the rooster directly in front of him and a certain object, of considerable height by his side.
A tint of bright colors are used in two objects; beneath the stairs is a frontal image of three doors led by stairs with a lady in the middle door and the porch upon which the rooster is standing on. Bright green and yellow are used in a background full of dim colors which also designates the rooster to be of some hierarchal significance, sort of underlying the object that needs attention. To decipher the theme of the picture, its vital to look into the story of Charles Moore. Moore was a southern photographer for the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser. He shot many of the pictures during the civil rights movement including the confrontation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
and two police officers. He had made some of the most significant pictures of the civil rights movement. (5) The artwork thus should be a portrayal of him sitting in a porch, surrounded by a period of distress. The object besides him is possibly his camera and there is a hint of better days to come. This is evident from the seven doves, mostly indicative of harmony and prosperity in a completion sequence, drawn in the back ground.
The point of emphasis, the rooster is indicative of the dawn replacing the dusk of despair. Alberta's ascension has a different message on the other hand. The composition of the picture plane is centered in the middle. There is no sign of overall patterning since the objects in the artwork are located in particular places. The focal point is towards the left. This artwork uses the Egyptian way of representing figures, with the head facing to the viewer and the body facing to the side.
There is not much illusion of depth incorporated and warm colors are used. The use of these bright and warm colors shows a period of prosperity in the air. Contrast is not pronounced. Alberta Bryant, shown in the artwork was Mockbee's first client in the studio.
She makes an appearance in this artwork where she is glorious, seated on her wheelchair as if on a throne. The wheelchair rides on the back of a turtle, as the world rides on the back of a tortoise in the ancient Eastern myths. Alberta holds the hand of an ascending angel (Wales, 4). The angel has the dual nature of a person and a bird.
Another meaning to this picture could be Mockbee depicted as an angel is leading Alberta, his first customer on a ride to a soulful home. The last artwork in discussion is the Apple Standing on a Turtle Holding a Huge Bouquet. The overall composition of the picture is in the upper part of the plane. Symmetry is fairly maintained and the focal point is shown to the center of the picture. The hierarchal point in the picture is the Bouquet which has been blown way out of proportion. The illusion of depth in the picture indicates certain characteristics of overlapping taking place inside the bouquet.
The use of lightning pronounces contrast where a colorful warm colored bouquet is drawn in the midst of a murky, dark background. Saturation is definitely a key issue with the use of colors. Fauvism, The use of wild colors, portrays this image. The meaning to this picture is very subtle and potent. It has religious context where the apple, which has additional dual appearances as a female and a human hand riding on the back of a tortoise as in the ancient Eastern myths. The female is supposedly Eve and she is ousted from heaven (the Bouquet) into the world (the turtle) because she ate the apple that she took from the tree of wisdom using her hands (her dual appearance) as the snake spiraling in the stick is shown as the cause of her error.
In conclusion, Mockbee's artwork shows characteristics as well as finesse as he shows why his architecture was always soulful in its own context. His paintings are a wonder to the open eye and very powerful in message making him one of the most respectable artists of the 21 st century. Works cited page Allegro, Donna Margaret Walker Modern American Poetry. Jan 1999. Retrieved December 8, 2005.
web Bennett, Daniel. Samuel Mockbee Biography. Rural Studio. Oct 2005. Retrieved December 8, 2005 web Delahunt, Michael. Chiaroscuro 1996.
Retrieved December 8, 2005. web Wales, Audrey, Black Warrior Architecture-Art Reviews Artnet. Sept 9 -Oct 21, 2000. Retrieved December 8, 2005. web About Charles Moore. Powerful Days in Black and White. 2000.
Retrieved December 7, 2005. web
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Research essay sample on Samuel Mockbee And His Artworks
