The piece that I chose in ArtMate was Anonymous Portrait with Shirt by Anthony Goicolea. In many ways, this piece was the best of what was left, and it was not my first choice but it was a top 5 piece of the collection (in my opinion at least) so in many ways it was a steal and an outright robbery that I got it.
To be honest, at first, I was not sure if I wanted any of the pieces in ArtMate. On the first day of work, I walked into the Smith Gallery where at the time all the pieces were being displayed on the wall. I took a good look around and concluded that none of them spoke out to me or seemed to fit what I wanted my room to look like. Then as I kept coming to work every day and looking at all the pieces every day I began to get more and more attached to some of the pieces. When the big ArtMate day finally came when everyone decided which piece they wanted, I finally caved and decided that there were a few pieces that I wanted.
After class, I arrived at the VAC there was already a huge line outside the building. Could I have abused my power as a Gallery intern and disregarded the line and gotten one of the first selection slots? Yes, yes I could have, but I guess I felt some bit of generosity that day so I didn’t. I maintained the structural integrity of the whole program and exemplified the Davidson honor code that day. All jokes aside I ended up with the 72nd selection slot which was one of the last slots to choose a work. Essentially I would be getting to choose from the pieces that no one else wanted. Realistically from the start, there were only about four or five pieces from the collection that I wanted for my room. The selection process went in rounds of 10 people so I had to wait for 7 whole rounds before it was my turn to choose. Those rounds were like torture for me. My first three choices all got chosen within the first two rounds of people so I started to get nervous. The next five rounds seemed to go by so slowly and I would anxiously poke my head into the gallery after each round to see if the ones that I wanted were still available. Finally, when it was my turn to choose a piece there were still three of the original pieces that I wanted. It then became a difficult choice which one I would choose. I finally settled on Anonymous Portrait with Shirt by Anthony Goicolea because I had the perfect spot for it in my room.
Anonymous Portrait with Shirt by Anthony Goicolea is a black and white print of a man putting on or taking off a shirt- it is unclear which. The shirt is painted on with white paint while the rest is just a print. Anthony Goicolea is a Cuban American artist who was born in 1971. While born in Atlanta, Georgia he now lives and works in New York City. His works come from a variety of media, including black-and-white and color photography, sculpture and video installations, and multi-layered drawings. He is best known for his powerful, and often unsettling, staged photographic and video works. His works often explore themes of personal history and identity, cultural tradition and heritage, and alienation and displacement.
The next Monday I hung it up all by myself in my room, right over my laundry basket and right next to my closet. It seemed to fit in just right, in a setting of clothes while still looking very chic and minimalist. All in all, I am super happy with my selection and glad that I decided to do ArtMate. I can’t endorse it enough for everyone on campus. It is not every day that you can have a work of art from a world-renowned artist hanging in your college dorm room.