Event #4- Eric Vilain (Hammer Museum)

Event #4:

For my fourth event I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Dr. Eric Vilain, who is a doctor and professor here at UCLA, speak about Forrest Bess’s artwork at the Hammer Museum (Forrest Bess- “Seeing things Invisible”). When I took my seat in the gallery, I was ready to hear Dr. Eric Vilain’s thoughts and understandings of the artwork that was hanging on the walls around me. The main topic that was emphasized throughout his talk was “Intersex”. Dr. Vilain emphasized the meaning behind intersex and how children at the young age develop in either direction (male or female). What occurs in the child is the external and internal genitalia are “undifferentiated”, which means that the child can develop either a testicle or ovaries.

Dr. Eric Vilain

As Dr. Vilain continued with his presentation, he began referring to Forrest Bess’s artwork and how it portrays symbolic representations of both male and female genitalia. An important piece of his talk that I thought was very interesting was the fact that Forrest Bess uses different colors throughout his paintings to show the distinction between male and females. The color red represents masculinity as the color white represents femininity. Forrest Bess’s pieces of art were his way of expressing his own inner conflict and how he was dealing with coming to terms with his identity/physical conditions. Dr. Vilain expressed that throughout his artwork, Forrest Bess was able to come to terms with his own sexuality. 

In front of Forrest Bess "Seeing things Invisible" exhibition 

This event was very different however it provided great information on how artists tend to use their artwork as a way to express their personal and inner struggles. Forrest Bess’s artwork incorporated not only intricate designs to appeal to the viewer but it also displayed and attempted to show the viewer “invisible things”. This is in fact the title of his gallery and with Dr. Vilain’s presentation, I was able to get a better grasp on what in fact Bess was trying to express through his artwork. Forrest Bess used his artwork as a way to incorporate the human body and illustrate both the male and female genitalia. 

Sources: (No pictures were allowed in the gallery)

Image #1: Dr. Eric Vilain. http://socgen.ucla.edu/people/eric-vilain/