By Kiara Ventura
The art piece “Manic Depression” by Lady Pink was made in 1981 and is an acrylic on canvas painting. The color in this piece were very vivid including deep hues of pink, blue, and purple. These colors were all shown on to what I saw as a smooth surface. The colors blended well together and there were no bold lines that stood out in the piece. The words presented in the image are written in a graffiti style and the message of the words do match the graffiti style especially since the setting seems to be in a prison.
When first viewing this piece, my eyes were drawn to the girl with her down in the corner on the floor. On front of the girl, are two women who are wearing an excessive amount of makeup and dressed in a way where they showing a lot of skin. This led me to compare them to the girl in the middle of the piece who seems like she is suffering. The girl in middle of the piece is dressed in a comfortable and down to earth manner; she is wearing sweatpants and sneakers. Next, my eyes are drawn to the spray can in her hand and the graffiti written on the wall behind her spelling out “Lady Pink,” “Lady Heart,” “Iladiana was here,” and “Shorty was here.” Lastly, I noticed the window behind her had bars on them and displayed the deep pink sky. While studying the girl who is the focal point, I began to sympathize with her because I can see that she is suffering, feels trapped, and like an outcast from the other girls. Since she has a spraycan in her hand, I`m guessing that she used graffiti as her escape from reality or maybe she is being looked down upon because of her love for the art of graffiti.