Duplicity, Inversion, and Irony

Pre-Columbian Art

Assignment

• A common theme throughout Pre-Columbian art is inversion as a way of communicating duplicity or dual natures– Inversion: a reversal of position, order, direction or

relationship– Duplicity: having 2 elements or parts, being twofold,

or can refer to deceitfulness in speech or conduct by acting/speaking in different ways around different people concerning the same matter

Assignment

• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956”– “Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line

separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains… an unuprooted small corner of evil.”

Assignment

• Think of some well-known examples of such “duplicity”– Who are some villains that we care about or feel bad for? Or

villains who have done something good in addition to their misdeeds?

– Who are some heroes who have a dark side, or dark past?– What about animals? Do we see duplicity in animals as

well?– Plants?– Technology?– Food?– Athletics?

Assignment

• Design a work of art that communicates duplicity by means of inversion– This doesn’t necessarily mean your art has to have alternate

viewpoints as in Pre-Columbian art where it appears one way from one direction, and another image emerges when viewed upside-down

– Remember, inversion is a reversal of position, order, or direction or relationship

• Duplicity here doesn’t have to be negative; but rather different or opposite

• Don’t be afraid to use irony!

Chavín de Huántar, Raimondi Stele from the main temple, Peru, first millennium BCE, Incised green diorite, 6’ high

• Raimondi Stele:– Named after its discoverer– Represents a “staff god”: bares his teeth and gazes upward– Elaborate headdress– Inverting the image reveals that the headdress is composed of a

series of fanged jawless faces, each emerging from the mouth of the one above it

– Snakes abound!– Prime example of Andean artistic tendency toward multiplicity

and dual readings» Upside-down, the god’s face turns into not one but two faces» The ability of the gods to transform before the viewer’s eyes

is a core aspect of Andean religion

Chavín de Huántar, Raimondi Stele from the main temple, Peru, first millennium BCE, Incised green diorite, 6’ high

Chavín de Huántar, Raimondi Stele from the main temple, Peru, first millennium BCE, Incised green diorite, 6’ high

Right-side-up

Face 1

Upside-down

Face 2

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Banksy

Banksy

Banksy

Banksy

Banksy

My Example: Step 1 (Background)

My Example: Finished