Posted: December 9th, 2021

Black Pillow by Frank Moore

Black Pillow 2002 by Frank Moore is set on a cornfield during daylight. In the background of the canvas there is a large factory with some plants and butterflies. The edge of this artwork has a yellow border and parts of this canvas are also lightly filled with the color yellow as well. On the left side of the canvas, there is a farmer in overalls that does not seem like he cares about what he is doing, pumping gas into the roots of the cornfield as he glowers into space.
One the bottom of the canvas you can find the gasoline spilling all over the pillow of the cornfield, the white roots from the corn stand out from the black color of the gasoline. The art elements shown in “Black Pillow” are that it has a very warm feel to it since warm colors are used; it almost makes you feel like you are there outside in the hot field and gasoline. It is loosely spaced out since there is no color in the background that fills it up a lot except for some yellow lines and spots. It definitely has bold colors to it and has no greyscale in it.
The yellow has a significant contrast from the background and the black as well. The line of the corn leaves looks very alive and natural while the roots in the gasoline are stiff, rough and dead looking. This canvas shows how humans and industrialization are harming the corn crops by the gasoline, since gasoline consists of ten percent ethanol which comes from cornfields. The color yellow in the border of this artwork symbolizes rotting, heat, decay and death. Which fits in well with this theme since the careless farmer is pumping gas all over the roots of the cornfield.

The gasoline which represents the color black means the coldness, negativity and evil that is pouring and taking over the corn which the color yellow can also symbolize joy, happiness, and optimism. The white root of the corn symbolizes how the innocence is being besieged by the gasoline’s coldness and evil. The gasoline in the pillow of the soil is where it gets its name “Black Pillow”. Personally, I believe Frank Moore got his message across in this artwork. He is portraying the decay of cornfields because of the increase in oil industry.
The color symbolism is prevalent because the oil is the evil that is invading the cornfields for the benefit of more resources. It shows the evolution of where the oil comes from and how it is not used properly and is wasted on an everyday basis which causes pollution. Frank Moore’s point for this artwork is to show how ignoble humans are today and how bestial we are to our world enervating its natural beauty for our own selfish purposes. This topic is very imperative to our society today since gasoline is in high demands and our world’s pollution is getting worse by each day.

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