Art Review: Wiitasalo's 'Fever Dreams' at the MacLaren Art Centre

This art review delves into Shirley Wiitasalo's 'Fever Dreams: Figurative Works from the MacLaren's Collection,' interpreting the artwork's commentary on politics, identity, and representation, particularly concerning the recession of the 1980s. It explores the artist's use of color and imagery to convey themes of freedom, challenges, and societal change. The review critically assesses the artwork's success in communicating its message, highlighting the symbolism of colors and figures. Ultimately, the review concludes that Wiitasalo's work effectively expresses feelings of death, resilience, and the pursuit of freedom, reflecting a shift from mid-century artistic practices to more pluralistic expressions of the 20th century. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

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4. Interpretation of the art
Generally, art plays a key role in expressing different message and emotional displays that
describe different activities. The Fever Dreams: Figurative Works from the Malaren's Collection
displays a seismic shift from the mid-century to the quarter of the 20th century. On observing the
artwork for the first time one can wonder what is the key message being displayed by the
artwork. The blue color in the artwork attracts readers (Anter, 2012). On another hand, the closer
observation indicates how the artwork has revealed on the issues of politics, identity, and
representations which form a cornerstone for the recession of the 1980s in different parts. The
objective of the art forms a major criticism whereby the aspect of indigenous activists, the issue
of feminist practice and the queer mobilization have tried to support the topics of the artwork.
Other description of the art
The art has touched on human experience whereby the issue of politic and identity are keenly
displayed. Wiitasalo shows how freedom is important and that's why he has used a sign of a
woman in the artwork. The concept revealed is all about allowing human gender to participate in
different fields. In order to understand the artwork one has to consider the message
communicated by the blue lines (Anter, 2012). Most of the times the blue color will tend to
articulate on the issue of peaceful mind. The drawings are more in a peaceful mind and
illustrating how to deal with constraints.
Image of the artwork (Anter, 2012).

Also, the black lines in the artwork are a measure of how human beings will be faced with
obstacles and constraints (Huss & Sarid, 2014). Therefore, one can argue that the total relation or
the artist society depicted by the art is all on human life. From the right side of the work, one can
observe a woman inside a piece of ice showing the aspect of death. Also, the woman in ice
shows how society can get rid of restrictions and thus getting freedom which enhances the better
stay. It's interesting to understand how society will achieve freedom. The issue of freedom is the
entire aim that depicts changes anticipated within society and also within the whole world.
5. Critical reaction to the work
The art has succeeded in communicating the anticipated message to society. The success has
been enhanced by different features contained the art. First there are three colors that are blue,
black and dark which communicates much information and also curved lines with specific
information (Huss & Sarid, 2014). It is interesting to note that the blue paintings portray the
issue of emotion which can either be a painful or depression type. The black color is all about the
challenges expected by human beings. In addition, there is a woman who is sitting in a piece of
ice. The message displayed by the woman is all about terminating a disturbing aspect or a way of

getting rid of restrictions thus acquiring freedom. It is clear that the work of Wiitasalo is
important since he tried to reveal how freedom can take a major role in society. The picture also
encourages women to participate in building the society. Therefore, the art expounds on human
experience thus helping human to realize one key issue that can benefit the society and the entire
world. The only thing which has been handled well by the art is the concept of representation and
identity.
Conclusion
To sum up, the artwork has expressed the feelings of death and how to handle the drawbacks in
life. The issue of freedom represents ones capability to enjoy his or her own life. The art has
analyzed the seismic shift which has originated from the monolithic ground experienced in mid-
century. The objective of the artwork is to access more pluralistic artistic practices to the 20th
century in the world. The curved lines and paintings in the art have keenly described concept of
identity, queer mobilization and tried to respond to the entire story of recessions of the 1980s
(Huss & Sarid, 2014).

References
Anter, K. F. (2012). Forming spaces with colour and light: Trends in architectural practice and
Swedish colour research. JAIC-Journal of the International Colour Association, 2.
Huss, E., & Sarid, O. (2014). Visually transforming artwork and guided imagery as a way to
reduce work related stress: A quantitative pilot study. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 41(4),
409-412.