HAPPY FUCKING COWS!

Drawing Three

Protest Project

Happy Fucking Cows!

Nathan Netterlund

March 25, 2011

For my Protest Assignment I wanted to make art that addressed the situation in Wisconsin at its base; a raw emotional issue that is tearing the state apart. I wanted portray the darkness and concern that the aggressive policies of Governor Scott Walker were inspiring around me. Education and labor rights are hot button issues that initiated international debate. Living at the center of that debate it is impossible to look past the reactions of the people around me. As a college student, an education major and a future teacher myself I too am intimately acquainted with the issue. Objectivity would be almost impossible and not particularly interesting in an artistic sense. Instead, I decided I want to reflect the aura that hangs over educators in Wisconsin in a dramatic new way. I wanted to show the grim reality of the high school librarian realizing She can’t afford Her daughter’s braces, or the elementary teacher refinancing His house. I wanted to show the faculty in the teachers lounge, heads down, looking for hope and finding none.

When I was searching for a visual language to explain the crisis around me, my initial thoughts were violent. I saw the situation around me as a struggle, an epic battle. I was going to do a narrative on a battle between forces of blue and red, called Bloody February. However, the symbolism never seamed natural and the narrative of struggle was replaced by one of defeat. Any politically “war” ended quickly in a massacre. I decided to illustrate that slaughter instead.

I decided to use the Dairy Cow as the main symbol of Wisconsin. Additionally, I chose a slaughterhouse as the setting, a solid representation of the cutting floor at the Capital. Standing on the blood stained ground zero is the butcher, Scott Walker leering at the chopping block. The elements work well together and create an interesting narrative. The linear perspective is filled with high contrast detail giving the piece a “claustrophobic” feel that incites some of the paranoia of the situation. This is aided by the sickly yellow green tones of the lighting that adds dramatic tension to the composition. Finally, the considerable violence and gore throughout the scene illustrates the gravity of the scene. While undeniably sensationalized, the piece works on a very guttural, transgressive level. Ultimately, I wanted to illustrate the scenario as high drama in a way that captured attention and provokes thought.

In creating the project I began by researching through a variety of slaughterhouse imagery, including butchers and slaughtered cows. I began sketching rough thumbnails that explained the composition in figures and in one point perspective. I also drew several studies of Governor Scott Walker, each at different levels of disfiguration. I did one final study, this one of an upside down, skewered and decapitated cow and Walker, smiling with the severed head of the cow. From here I began a large format perspective drawing in mechanical pencil. I drew in detail and inked this drawing with fine point markers, various washes, India ink and design markers. The drawing looked great but I wanted to color the composition. I used a large format scanner and imported my drawing into Photoshop. I colored the piece with brushes and gradients. I incorporated texture layers. I shaded and added highlights. I adjusted the levels and reduced the saturation. Finally, the piece was complete.

The artist’s I looked to from class were Emily Prince and Andrea Bowers. I really liked the portraits of Emily Prince. The simple colored pencil drawings of blank-faced mug shots looked good. Also Emily worked with accompanying text to explain the background of the officer. I think this narrative added depth to the piece. Also the provocative title attracts interest and inspires thought. All of these elements in Prince’s work relates to mine, particularly the stylized figurative work and the engaging title. Andrea Bowers is more conceptual and related in a similar way to my work. Bower’s use of highly symbolic imagery coupled with satirically charged political messages is effective and dramatic. Also Her mixed media approach, including India ink inspired some of my media choices.

In addition to Prince and Bowers there are several other artists who I would be remiss to not write about them. The first artist I thought of when the theme of protest art was introduced was Pablo Picasso. In particular, His large-scale piece Guernica is, in my opinion, the greatest piece of protest art in the history of art. I looked at the piece for a long time and had been thinking about it for a couple years. In the context of my piece I was especially looking at Picasso’s successful use of animals in his work. There is screaming horse in the left third of Guernica that inspired the screaming cow in my piece. Also, there is an obvious reference to Francis Bacon. Bacon is my favorite painter and much of my work is a response to His. This response is even more direct than most and I am comfortable with this. Really, Happy Fucking Cows! could be seen as a modern cover of Bacon’s Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef. Beyond that, I believe Happy Fucking Cows! could easily be a Pope painting, or a Governor painting as it is. The difference is several hundred years of history and modern figures in modern mediums. Perhaps this is the most interesting dynamic; the sharp style contrast. It can be seen throughout both pieces. Where Bacon is traditional, I am modern. Where Bacon is implied, my work is rendered. Where Bacon had religion, I have politics. Where Bacon had a paint-brush, I have a computer.

Overall, I think my piece is aesthetically pleasing and conceptually interesting. It reference’s a wide variety of quality artist’s and builds of there traditions in an interesting and exciting ways. Also, I believe a tackled a challenging theme in a unique way that spoke to the issue in ways that many way they wouldn’t have otherwise. In retrospect, a successful project.