Martin Puryear Reflection

After visiting Martin Puryear's website, I had very mixed ideas of his work. They seemed to be pretty abstract. Some of the titles of his pieces were self-explanatory but others had names like, "believer" or "desire." I feel his work communicates the natural world. Most of his work are natural elements. I think the majority of his art are various pieces made from wood. I feel like I would not be able to understand a lot of these works without being able to hear from the artist himself. Being able to hear the artist's take on their own work makes a world of a difference when viewing it. I feel that is the best way to understand. My reaction without knowing much about the background would be that they are earthy and symbolic. Some I can tell what they are symbolic for or what they are representing by their shape and title, others, not so much. One particular piece that I enjoyed was the ladder piece titled, "Ladder for Booker T. Washington." Without knowing much about this work, I was still very visually attracted to the piece. I loved the curves of the ladder and how dramatic the angle was of the picture taken. The ladder seemed to go on forever, and it gave a somewhat eerie feeling. Although it is a little eerie, I still think it is pleasant. As for the smell and textures of his work, I imagine the smells to be earthy as well- as if you were walking through a forest. I picture the textures to be completely different. I picture them smooth too touch as if they were very nicely made.