Arnold MeschesArnold Mesches uses a direct and outspoken type of art to present the work, ArtIn Public Places I.
He is an abstract expressionist who’s work has become lessliteral in the past few years. Mesches started exhibiting in 1945 with the supportof his wife. Meshes has a very original way of making his work. He takes a veryfamous painting, paints it on the canvas, then he blends over it by scratching andscraping. Then he paints over the old one with one of his own.
Thus, creating awhole new painting. Art In Public Places I is a perfect example of this. In the background hehas placed the March of Liberty, a painting with the Statue of Liberty and peoplemarching. After blending and scratching that, he placed two people being hung. There is much significance to these two people because they are Mussolini andhis mistress.
Hanging upside down, and by their feet, signifies that freedom hascome because Mussolini is dead. Mesches also shows that freedom is here tostay becuase of the Statue of Liberty, with all the people around it. The statuehas always been a sign of freedom, so when Mesches placed this in thebackground, he knew exactly what he was doing.Arts Essays
