Author: spr019

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Art Report by Pranav Rallabhandi

1) Immediate Response

My immediate response to the piece is that it looks like an odd plane crash. The plane looks like it has slammed into the ground at an angle, causing the body to crumple and bend. The issue is that this specific design is all still intact while a plane crash like this should break into pieces. The plane looks like an old world war 2 type plane which makes me think that’s part of the message of the piece. I do find it odd that the greenhouse in the plane is lit with purple light which is a rather unnatural color of light.

2) Objective Description

The artwork depicts a full airframe model of a Northrop Grumman S2F tracker torpedo bomber. The left wing of the plane appears to be in the folded position that the plane would have when parked on an aircraft carrier. The plane however looks like it has crashed rather than landed. The body and tail of the plane are sticking out of the ground with a pitch angle of 45 degrees and the cockpit is flush with the ground, with severe crumpling just forward of the wings. The plane appears to have been rolling 90 degrees when it crashed. There is an unearthly purple glow emanating from the bomb bay, which has been converted into a greenhouse.

3) Technical Decisions

Building the structure out of an actual warplane brings with it the connotations of conflict and the costs associated with it. The unnatural angle of the crash along with the plane’s purpose gives the impression that it was shot down and is now debris. The piece is presented in an outdoor setting, specifically in front of a building. This gives the impression that the work is alluding to the urban bombings of WW2 and similarly the fears of nuclear bombing of civilian centers during the Cold War. This is emphasized by the fact that the building behind it is a red brick structure which looks like it belongs in the same era.  

4) The Work in the World

The Grumman S2F was a US navy plane during the Cold War, a time where fears of total nuclear annihilation caused by human violence were at an all-time high. This colors my perception because if it had been a regular commercial aircraft, I wouldn’t be thinking about what it was carrying as much but in this situation, it makes me wonder if the plane might have been carrying a nuclear weapon. The plane being crashed in a city reminds me of the city bombing campaigns of WW2 like the blitz and Dresden, which makes me think that the payload may have been intended for the city where the art is located.

5) The Story it Tells

My impression of this work is that it tells the story of a potentially nuclear war. During the conflict, this plane was shot down and crashed in this city as debris. The replacement of the bomb bay with a greenhouse indicates a shift from the unnatural and destructive to the natural and an effort to rebuild, making the story one of turning swords into plowshares. Even with this change though, the plane still leaves a scar on the earth and emits a sickly purple glow, indicating that turning weapons of war to peace does not fully remove the scar they leave behind.