For my museum visit, I went to the Akron Art Museum on a Wednesday afternoon. I spent several hours there, first exploring the contemporary section, then the “traditional” gallery located at the north end of the building, and finally walking around the garden. I had walked through the garden before, but this was my first time visiting the museum itself. Being a weekday, most of the museum patrons seemed to be college students, and there were a few people who I thought might be artists taking notes and studying certain pieces. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Akron Art Museum is very small for an art museum in a relatively large city, but I liked its collection. I'm not sure if it was intentional or due to limited resources, but many of the pieces in the collection came from artists from the Akron metropolitan area, or if not from Ohio and the rest of the Midwest. There were several pieces that depicted scenes in the neighborhoods of Akron, and this really illustrated the cultural diversity of the city over the centuries. The devotion to local artists was as refreshing as it was informative. I'll Be Your Friend, I'll Be Your Love, I'll Be All You Need is a mixed media artwork by James Gobel, depicting a man in flamboyant loungewear presumably singing karaoke. Gobel uses felt, yarn and rhinestones to add depth and physical texture to the work, so that the character practically stands off the canvas. The neon green laser lines point outward from behind the subject, suggesting that he is creating the matrix with his eminent stage presence. The motifs of the character's smoking jacket and shirt - a cheetah print with pink fringe on plaid - create an atmosphere that is as vibrant as it is playful. In Man Eating Trees, John Sokol paints with tar and paint to create a monochromatic landscape that is both allegorical and haunting (akronartmuseum.org). In the foreground we can see the man devouring a tree while still holding another. Behind him, a landscape of downed stumps creates a void, suggesting that his destructive behavior will ultimately leave him with nothing. The use of tar and paint gives the piece a strange glow, especially in the blank background, and is applied with cloudy, uneven brushstrokes. Additionally, the sheer size of the man-eating trees, at 6' x 8', makes it a very difficult piece to overlook. Sokol began experimenting with tarn and paint in the 1980s, when he was working in the construction industry, and favored the medium and its monochromatic brown color. The two works could not be more different in style. Gobel's piece resonates with color, pattern and flamboyance, highlighting the subject's expressiveness and vibrancy in every way possible. Furthermore, Gobel presents the viewer with a very realistic character. He wears a beard and band t-shirt under his stage clothes, which suggests it's all for show or for an alternate character. In contrast, the muted nature and lack of descriptive detail in the face and features of the figure in Man Eating Trees suggests that it is meant to be allegorical and from an almost dreamlike dimension. The social context of I'll Be Your Friend… is significant when you consider that James Gobel is trying to portray a character from the LBGTQ "bear" subcommunity. Often invisible, Gobel gives visibility to the "bear" subculture in order to extend public stereotypes about gay men beyond those of the well-groomed, good-looking men who are usually portrayed in mainstream media. John Sokol obviously had themes in mindenvironmentalists when he painted Man Eating Trees, but the choice to depict a man eating trees instead of a machine suggests that the problem is cultural or even psychological. Sokol is from Canton, Ohio, a steel-producing city for much of its recent history, and has worked in the construction industry for several years.years, so he would have known industrialism and its consequences firsthand through his experience in construction sector. From a social perspective, Sokol is trying to illustrate the destructive nature of industry and corporate greed, and to show us the darkness it brings upon the natural world in the hope that the viewer will consider their own consumption. Sokol and Gobel chose to represent two different social narratives, homosexuality and environmentalism, but they did so in similar ways. By choosing to depict a single subject, both artists force viewers to focus on the individual and the narrative they represent. We see the man who sings in I'll Be Your Friend... in his element and where he feels comfortable, which creates a feeling of intimacy and gives us the opportunity to interpret his lifestyle in a way new. In Man Eating Trees, the dark and confusing world of the subject makes us uncomfortable and creates a feeling of disgust and hostility towards man and his destructiveness. The suggestion here is that his ambition is not only selfish, but ultimately empty and misguided. From gender studies analysis, I'll Be Your Friend… offers a multitude of opportunities to reevaluate masculinity and the male form as represented in society and art. There are several contrasting elements that leave us wondering where the subject's "real" personality lies, and thus break genre boundaries altogether. The Iron Maiden T-shirt under the loud lounge jacket and plaid shirt suggest that, beneath it all, he's just an average guy like anyone else. Furthermore, until we look closer, we don't even notice that the man is wearing makeup and has dyed and curled his moustache. The layers of clothing and patterns mimic the subject's layers of identity and, in turn, those of perceived masculinity. It is initially difficult to approach Man Eating Trees from a gender studies perspective, but the important element in the piece is the portrayal of the devouring force as a man and not as a machine or corporate entity. This suggests that the problem is in the nature of man and not in some abstract institutional or corporate entity. Most of the leaders of the organizations responsible for such environmental devastation, however, have been men, and perhaps Sokol is implying that there is something in the male nature that wants to conquer and even destroy its environment. The representation of masculinity in the two pieces is very different, but I found that the differences show how versatile representations of gender in art can be. Gobel explores male identity by playing with cultural norms to create a complex and memorable character. On the other hand, the lack of color forces the viewer to focus inward and re-examine the male need for industrial ambition and consider the environmental costs. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay I was pleasantly surprised by the Akron Art Museum and plan to revisit it again in the near future. At first its size was disappointing, but later I felt that the small size gave more intimacy to the works on display. James Gobel's piece was one of the first I stopped to examine, and I revisited it several times over the course of my visit. At first I was drawn to the vibrant colors and.