CowLick

Melvin Kem

Art 110

Glenn Zucman

February 16, 2020

The Cow Lick

Artist: Eris De La Torre
Exhibition: Hands in Gloves
Media: Ceramics, BFA
Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery

Art surrounds us and never ceases to amaze me. For this week’s assignment, I had a conversation with the artist of the creator of “Cow Lick” Eris De La Torre. As someone who was new to 3-D art, they were able to incorporate prior knowledge from other art styles into the style he used for “Cow Lick”. As I was speaking to them, they mentioned that they were able to draw a large majority of their inspiration from their memories, whether they were recent or not, as well as from stamps because of the variety they offered. With that being said, they were able to receive their inspiration for this particular piece of work from a stamp of a cow and decided to create this piece. Growing up, De La Torre had many memories of cows in the kitchen because of his mother, so because of that, cows tend to have a special spot in his heart. Although De La Torre is not religious, he also mentions that he believes cows are holy, therefore incorporating cows into several pieces of his art.

            As seen in the 3-D piece, there is the cow with red skin and black features that appears to be jumping over what seems to be a singular star. Surrounding the cow and the star is a black, smooth, and shiny void both on the sides of the cow as well as beneath it. In the middle of this all, there is a clay, donut-like figure contrasting the front portion of the 3-D piece. On the back side of the piece there are tentacle-like objects that are reaching out and covering what seems to be a face (since there are two eyes with eyelashes painted on as well as an opening where a mouth would usually go). 

            When taking a deeper look at the piece De La Torre has created, one might take a look at it and have a harder time understanding the context and meaning of the art. According to the artist, the cow in the front is bright and smooth which is a direct correlation to being beautiful and perfect. This is an allusion to the false perception of life, or as life is often seen in fairy tales. The donut-like formation is actually a portrayal of reality which leaks into the falsely created pretense of life. This represents the truth leaking through to the fairytale lives people chose to live. The back of the piece is rough, tarnished, and not as smooth as the front portion of the piece. The author mentioned that this resembles the truth because it is not as beautiful as one may perceive it to be and is often unappealing to the human eye.

            This exhibit was really able to resonate in me because it made me realize how much of life and truth I have to value. I had personally never been one to see animals as holy, but I really liked the symbolization made through this cow in order to signify the ideal perfect life many want to live. The perception of the artist is definitely what I initially took away from the piece as well, which meant to me that the piece was well-conveyed. My life experiences also tied into the piece and the representation of the piece because I personally understood that at times, it is very hard to front your situation rather than admitting the ugly truth behind closed doors.