Artist Post Jennifer Bartlett

An ordinary Evening in New Haven, 1989

Review on works of Jennifer Bartlett including her 1989 piece above



This particular work of Bartlett's caught my eye because not only were the color pattern extroardinary, but the movement of the image was nice to look at. It is very chaotic, which is the type of work i love to create. This picture gives me the idea that she is depicting a market going up in flames, and everything in it being destroyed. What i first noticed was the orange-red swirrling intense fire that surrounds mostly the entire image. I thought it was a fish market because of the flying fish, and the chain lining behind them (maybe used to hoist the big fish up vertically. The table and cones could have been from a neighboring store, which also caught on fire. I also can make out pots, flowers, and birds from this image.

This image was googled and i found a powerpoint presentation on all of her works. An Ordinary Day in New Haven was titled this so because Bartlett used to live in New Haven, CT. Maybe she remembered this tragic event from her past. This may have been important for her because maybe some of her life history was made at this particular image being represented.

Looking at the review article, the denotative of this image was described. This image depicts how nature (a horrific fire) overturns the orders of nature (animals, man-made buildings) etc. The fish are not being ingulfed in flames, but are being drawn toward the havens. The birds are not flying away from the fire, but are diving down towards the heat. I have no clue what this image is portraying anymore; nothing seems as it should seem i would say.