The Coat Hanger - An Encounter with Contemporary Art
By Aimee Shramko
This flash memoir, or non-fictional narrative, takes place during the summer between my junior and senior year at UCLA. A psychology major, I’d used some of my elective credits and completed a course on 20th century art beginning with Fauvism (1) and ending in the present day, 1985. I’d fallen in love with modern (2) and contemporary (3) art and launched an autodidactic pursuit that continues to this day. I was an only child, and my mother, who was more like a sister, was often my reluctant companion on museum visits that took us crisscrossing the globe.
“It’s a coat hanger.” Mom stared at the painting (4) for a few seconds, then looked over at me and blinked.
Her face showed a mixture of frustration and incredulousness, her forehead wrinkled slightly and her eyes grew wide.
Photo: Coat Hanger II, Jasper Johns 1960
She looked back at the painting, walked over to the art card affixed adjacent to the canvas and exclaimed, “It even says it’s a coat hanger! Coat Hanger two, Jasper Johns, nineteen sixty” she read. “What kind of a name is Jasper Johns? THIS is considered art?” she asked as she backed away.
Always stylishly dressed with her height enhanced by four-inch heels, Mom could be a bit intimidating and today was no exception. Large designer cat eye sunglasses were pushed up on her head securing any stray curls, and her quilted Chanel-style purse dangled from its sturdy chain on her shoulder. Her taupe pantsuit with oversized shoulder pads matched her bag, and she smelled faintly of Giorgio Beverly Hills perfume, the very latest craze.
Photo: Aimee & Mom - 2017
“Well, yes, it is in fact a coat hanger. But, isn’t it cool? I mean, don’t you wonder why someone would go to all the trouble to paint an image of a coat hanger? There must be a story they are trying to tell by painting this simple, commonplace object, don’t you think?” I asked, hoping both to soothe her rising temper and pique her interest at the same time.
“You brought me all the way to the Mid-Wilshire district for a painting of a coat hanger? We could have gone shoe shopping at Bullock’s. There’s a sale on espadrilles!” She grabbed my wrist and looked down at my Swatch. “If we leave now, we can still scoot over there in time for lunch in the tea room.”
Taking her arm I guided her closer to the painting against a bit of resistance.
“We could, but don’t you think it’s amazing that the artist can tell such a powerful story with the very simple image of a coat hanger?”
“What story? How could you possibly get a story out of THAT! What I find amazing is that it’s hanging on the wall of such a prestigious museum as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!” she retorted.
“OK…..but then doesn’t it make you wonder why the museum staff, who are undoubtedly knowledgeable about art, find it worthy of being here?”
“Hmmph!” she exclaimed a little too loudly, causing the previously motionless poker-faced guard standing nearby to jump. Her bangle bracelets made tinkling sounds as she put one hand on her hip.
“Yes, I’d like to know exactly why and how this qualifies as art!”
Encouraged that she’d found something to be interested in, I attempted to explain roughly 100 years of art history without irritating her further or causing her to bolt for the nearest exit.
“The idea of what qualifies as art changed dramatically in the early 1900s. A French artist named Marcel Duchamp challenged the belief that art had to be pretty or visually satisfying.”
“I like pretty.” Mom interjected as she smoothed the sleeves of her pantsuit and adjusted the gold chain of her purse whose weight was making a deep impression on her left shoulder pad.
“I know, but it can get boring, don’t you think? I mean, getting what you expect all the time doesn’t help you learn new things or challenge your thinking. It takes away the magic possibility of an unexpected discovery.”
“OK……” Mom conceded. “But, does art have to be ugly to prove that point? Why did Duchamp want us to look at ugly art?”
“He wanted to demonstrate that the idea behind the creation of an artwork is every bit, if not more, important than the artist’s ability to capture and accurately represent a subject matter. To illustrate that, he bought a bathroom urinal and entered it into an art exhibition.“
Photo: Marcel Duchamp – Fountain 1917
“That’s INSANE! Why would anyone want to look at a urinal? Disgusting! And what is the brilliant IDEA behind that?” Mom’s face twisted into a contortion similar to the one she used when she saw me watching Cyndi Lauper on MTV.
“Maybe so, but it got people’s attention. It had all of the intended shock value and then some. And it changed the way we think about art forever! Duchamp demonstrated the concept that even an object not created by the artist could be considered art, if the artist says it is.”
“Hmmmm……” Mom nodded slowly as she mulled that over with a quizzical look. I could tell that idea was difficult for her to accept, and it continues to be challenging for many of us to this day (5).
“I know……..” I conceded. “And THIS will totally rock your world! From Duchamp’s time on, some artists began producing works that were intentionally created to communicate or express thoughts and ideas and not just to be aesthetically pleasing!”
Gaining momentum, and taking advantage of her silence, I added, “The invention of photography was another factor that changed the course of art. One of art’s principle functions had been to realistically document people and places. When photography arrived to do that faster and more accurately, it became the impetus for artists to expand their creativity to include expressive, symbolic, and abstract images. In a way, photography gave rise to new ways of doing things just like computers will in the future.”
“Don’t talk to me about computers! I shudder to think what’s going to happen when they rule the world! Your father seems obsessed with them!” Mom exclaimed, waving her hands for emphasis and causing her much too heavy purse to clatter to the ground. Three gold lipstick cases escaped and rolled dangerously close to the security guard who grimaced at us as he stopped one with his foot.
Hastily scooping them up, I handed her the purse and continued, “Roughly 40 years passed between Duchamp’s urinals and this painting of a coat hanger. You’d think that by 1960, people would have accepted the concept – but even to this day, the majority of people still prefer art that is pleasing to the eye.”
“I’m still not clear on the idea behind the idea of painting a coat hanger? How does the story you were talking about go?” Mom asked. “I do hope it’s not a long story. I’m getting hungry!”
“I learned in my art history class that Jasper Johns painted this ordinary object to question historical thinking that certain subject matters such as landscapes, flowers, wealthy or famous people, and religious icons are the only things worthy of being represented while something like a clothes hanger or a hairbrush, are not.”
“Interesting……………..and I’m guessing the coat hanger symbolizes something?”
“Exactly. But the artist may or not tell us what it symbolizes. They might leave that up to your own interpretation. Since nothing is hanging on it, it could represent emptiness, the absence of something or even……potential. Potential, because at some point, someone might put it to its intended purpose and actually hang clothes from it.”
Photo: Jasper Johns – Coat Hanger I, 1960
“Why would the artist want to keep that meaning hidden?”
It made sense that Mom would ask that question. Her practical side had led her to believe that everything must have a useful purpose. That thinking had been formed over the past 58 years of growing up during the tail end of the depression and on a farm where waste was not tolerated.
“I think many artists understand that you bring yourself with you when you view a work of art. For example, if you’ve just had an argument, you might see a canvas with big black slashes of paint as anger or frustration but someone else might see it as death or destruction. The artist is acknowledging that you, as the viewer, are entitled to see the artwork with your own unique perspective.”
“Also notice that he embedded an actual hanger in the canvas?” I continued. “He might be emphasizing that the coat hanger is not just a symbol of something, but that it has a physical presence that is tactile and has dimension.”
Mom smiled and squeezed my arm. “I’m so proud that you’re learning all this! I wish I’d had a chance to go to college. When I got married at 18 and your father went overseas with the army, I felt I should be making money instead. I’m glad you don’t have to do that.”
“Me too, Mom. I’m curious about a lot of things and I appreciate the opportunity you’re giving me to explore them.”
Squeezing her hand I said, “Let’s get lunch in the museum cafeteria and come back. There’s a painting on the second floor by Ellsworth Kelly (6) that’s nothing but a canvas painted bright blue!”
Mom sighed. “Lunch sounds good!”
Photo: Ellsworth Kelly – Red, Yellow, Blue, II - 1965
The idea for this memoir was inspired by one of my favorite professors at ASU OLLI, Dr. Deborah Robin, who consistently reassures her class that “you don’t have to like every piece of art” (to learn from it).
It was written with the hope that museum visitors will accept and embrace the artist’s invitation to delve deeper, explore outside your comfort zone, and discover the stories artists tell through their works as I’ve learned to do through Dr. Robin’s classes.
Another influence was the disappointment I felt during my time as a volunteer at Phoenix Art Museum, every time I overheard a visitor exclaim “My five year old (or I) could have done that!” My silent response remains “perhaps, but could you explain it?”
References:
(1) Fauvism – “Fauvism was the first of the avant-garde movements that flourished in France in the early years of the twentieth century. The Fauve painters were the first to break with Impressionism as well as with older, traditional methods of perception. Their spontaneous, often subjective response to nature was expressed in bold, undisguised brushstrokes and high-keyed, vibrant colors directly from the tube.” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some notable Fauvist artists include Henri Matisse, Georges Braque and Raoul Dufy.
(2) Modern Art – artistic works produced roughly between the 1860s and the 1970s that marked a deliberate departure from traditional styles and techniques. The period emphasized innovation, experimentation, and a focus on individual expression and often rejected classical realism in favor of abstraction, symbolism, and new perspectives.
(3) Contemporary Art – art produced by living artists or those active from the late 20th century to the present. It reflects current ideas, issues, and innovations often engaging with social, political, cultural, and technological themes.
(4) Coat Hanger II, Jasper Johns, 1960 (American, born 1930) Jasper Johns stands as an important bridge between abstract expressionism and pop and minimal art.
(5) Author’s Note: For an interesting exercise, type “Justify the concept that art is whatever the artist says it is” into ChatGPT!
(6) Ellsworth Kelly’s monochromatic paintings are characterized by their bold simplicity and reflect his interest in pure form, color, and spatial relationships and focusing solely on the visual experience – immerse yourself in one today!
Cover Photo - Jasper Johns, Usuyuki", 1982. Encaustic on canvas
