NARRATIVES + STORYTELLING
Works of art are often used to tell stories. The narratives presented can depict original visual stories of the artists’ own imagination captured in single frames or a series. They are also often inspired by events in history, mythology, folklore, religious parables, songs and books. This portfolio includes works that capture the essence of several famous tales, filtered through the lens of the artists’ personal experiences, and explores the interdisciplinarity between art and literature. Themes addressed include national identity, cultural isolation, racial agency, family nostalgia and stories of creation.
Sandra Ramos (Cuban, b. 1969)
In Narcisus, Ramos’ recurring inclusion of the Ariadne character—a pioneer girl whom the artist uses as an emblem of Cuban society—is used to create parallels between the island and people and the ancient Greeks. The imagery of Ariadne suspended over a reflective surface, staring at her own image, recalls the tale of Narcissus. It is a personal interpretation speaking to Ramos’ thoughts on the prevailing egocentrism and narcissism built into Cuban culture and politics that, as consequence, affects how it has and continues to develop as a country.
Accession Number: 2014.1.15
Title: Narcisus (Narcissus)
Date: 2012 Medium: Etching aquatint
Rights: Image courtesy of the artist.
KEYWORDS
national identity; politics; Latin America; mythology; communism; political commentary; story; narrative.
OBJECT FILE
VIEW
Becky Suss (American, b. 1980)
Becky Suss’s domestic interiors render familiar settings constructed from the artist’s memories and imagination. This painting explores Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, a book her father read to her as a child. Suss identifies the tale as “a magical-feeling book that described beautiful faraway places,” and her painting combines her memories of the narrative with her father’s recounted travels to Kashmir in the 1960s.
Accession Number: 2019.2.22
Title: Houseboat on Dull Lake in the Valley of K
Date: 2019
Medium: Oil on canvas
Rights: © Becky Suss. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
KEYWORDS family; memory; literature; fantasy; India; nostalgia; imagination; book; story; narrative.
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Amy Sillman (American, b. 1955)
The video is what artist Amy Sillman refers to as an animated drawing and features a seamless loop of human and animal montages. It draws from Ovid’s epic narrative poem, Metamorphosis (8 CE)—a collection of fifteen books of mythological Greek stories. Featured narratives include Ascalaphus, Arachne, Callisto and several others.
Accession Number: 2017.6.62
Title: After Metamorphoses
Date: 2015-16
Medium: Single-channel video on 5:25 min looped, color, sound
Rights: Image courtesy of the artist
KEYWORDS
animation; experimental; video; mythology; creation; origin story; music; Ovid; epic poetry story; narrative.
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Mel Chin (American, b. 1951)
The Arctic is Paris, follows the Inuit hunter Jens Danielsen on the streets of the French capital. He is pulled on a sled by a group of French poodles as he discusses—via voiceover—a huge problem looming on humanity’s horizon: the subject of climate change. Chin’s video calls attention to the deteriorating conditions in the Arctic lands and emphasizes the eventual consequences cities worldwide shall face as part of a shared earth.
Accession Number: 2019.2.15
Title: The Arctic is Paris (L’arctique est Paris)
Date: 2015
Medium: Digital video, 6:35
Rights: © Mel Chin
KEYWORDS
film; environment; narrative. global warming; geopolitics; Inuit culture; activism.
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Rafael Trelles (Puerto Rican, b. 1957)
In this painting, a white shirt floats above a crowded highway, filled with endless rows of cars stuck in a traffic jam below. A metaphor for the plight of contemporary humankind, the empty shirt functions as a visual representation of solitude as it drifts over the chaos. Inspired by Julio Cortázar’s (1914-1984) short story La autopista del sur, first published in 1964, Trelles’ austere painting contemplates social relations in times of crisis.
Accession Number: 2019.8
Title: La autopista del sur (The Southern Highway)
Date: 2011
Medium: Oil and acrylic on canvas
Rights: Image courtesy of the artist
KEYWORDS
fantasy; magic realism; literature; Latin America; solitude; isolation; modern society; story; narrative.
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Faith Ringgold (American, b. 1930)
Faith Ringgold’s work is deeply rooted in quiltmaking, an art form of profound importance to members of the African American community— and intersectional feminism. In Tar Beach, Ringgold tells the story of Cassie Lightfoot and her family relaxed on hot summer nights on the roof of their Harlem apartment. Cassie daydreams of soaring over New York City Cassie dreamt of soaring over the George Washington Bridge, depicted in the background of this print. Ultimately, Cassie’s flight serves as a symbol of her independence, freedom, and imagination.
Accession Number: 1995.27
Title: Tar Beach
Date: 1983
Medium: Woodcut on paper
Rights: © Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
KEYWORDS
racial inequality; the Black experience; childhood; imagination; storybook; symbolism; narrative. VIEW
OBJECT FILE
Richard Baker (American, b. 1959)
Richard Baker looks at books as objects, considering their physical, intellectual, and emotional presence within readers’ lives. The books are painted as slightly used and careworn, speaking to the bond that exists between book and reader, as the former ultimately plays a role in the latter’s identity shaping. This painting of the cover of East of Eden is one in a larger series commissioned by Rollins College. Featured books were submitted by the college’s faculty, reflecting works that have impacted their personal and professional lives.
Accession Number: 2013.34.129
Title: East of Eden
Date: 2013
Medium: Gouache
Rights: Image courtesy of the artist and Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
KEYWORDS
symbolism; commissioned works; identity; connection; memory; books; story; narrative.
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Romare Bearden (American, 1911-1988)
Romare Bearden’s paintings and collages are filled with the symbols and myths of the black experience. He often used literary sources, such as the Greek classics, to add layers of interpretation to his work. This screenprint was one of six included in the series Odysseus Suite. In it, Bearden illustrates a scene from The Illiad, swapping traditional characters with Black figures as commentary on racial exclusion from the Western literary and artistic cannon.
Accession Number: 1992.12
Title: Fall of Troy
Date: 1979
Medium: Color screenprint on wove Lana paper
Rights: © 2020 Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
KEYWORDS
racial inequality; the Black experience; mythology; Black representation; The Odyssey; story; narrative; epic poetry.
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ADDITIONAL WORKS
Rafael Trelles, Gitano, 2018
Richard Baker, Christy, 2013
Richard Baker, Major American Poets, 2013
Gerolamo Bassano, Noah Leading Animals into the Ark, ca. 1595
Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Estan Calientes (They Are Hot), 1797-98
