The transition period from the 1970’s to the 1980’s was a time filled with social change in the US. As Democrat Jimmy Carter’s presidential term ended Republican Ronald Reagan’s first term began. Less than a decade after the Roe V Wade victory allowing women the right to an abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment was overturned with the help of conservative women. In 1977 the first openly gay American was elected into politics, while in 1982 politicians laughed off the “gay plague” of the AIDS epidemic. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer as the middle class slowly diminished.
Furthermore, while the country shifted from progressivism to conservativism, New York City was in a state of chaos. Crime rates were up, notably in the…show more content… The “essays” within the work are the writings of imaginary yet wildly impassioned individuals. The conflicting opinions they seem to express are reflective of the chaos affecting Holzer’s city and country.
- For example, these quotes are like these opinions
- These quotes are/this phrasing is extreme and heightens the vibe of conflict and intensity, espesh when read on their own as individual pieces
- However, as blah blah describes, lack of positive value in individual words and phrases gives them all a structure that makes their opinions void and reduces differential value between each essay, making this piece a confusing mess of opinions that can’t win over each other
- Both of these things + context rly give that confused n disgruntled citizens vibe don’tcha…show more content… example of the colour thing (hey girl hey), but also other aspects of wallpaper. repetition indicates insistence, but also preferences no one image or essay over another. big void of insistence! it's a backdrop, you're disconnected from it, but it's still so big and looming and intimidating. just like society, woah man. it's alsoencroaching on your space bc you read it, but it's wallpaper not an object so you can't move it or handle it or effect it especially since it's in a gallery setting. just. like. society. wow
- in wheat-pasted form it definitely gives off a different vibe, but it still adds to meaning! oddly enough posters seem more effecting and less backdrop than wallpaper (see street art for social change), but being done in a time where a lot of shit is being pasted up and around it feels like yet another disgruntled citizen who can't effect real change so they rant about it publically. viewing them on their own you don't get the sense that they're pitted against each other, rather that they're pitted against the city. this really reflects unrest specifically in new york and in relation to the operation of the state. also they are impermanent and subject to destruction or being papered over, reflecting their futility in their own
