Two Cultures – Red c. 1985

Curator: Welcome. Today, we're considering Mark Kostabi's "Two Cultures – Red," believed to have been completed around 1985, using mixed media incorporating acrylic paint. What's grabbing your attention here? Editor: Initially, it feels unsettling, doesn't it? The stark contrasts and stylized figures give it this peculiar tension, enhanced by what looks like a marbled ground—almost like exposed rock or raw material. Curator: It's fascinating how Kostabi uses these flattened figures, seemingly devoid of individual personality, almost like mannequins. But that also gives them, paradoxically, a kind of universality. He presents two figures holding containers. The spheres floating off of one of the bodies and in the container have associations with abundance, but also alienation in its disruption. What is he implying with these red and orange color schemes? Editor: Red is, of course, associated with danger, but also passion and intensity. And orange, standing right next to it, invokes notions of harvest and fruitfulness—a potent juxtaposition in its medium. The medium is really interesting: mixed media with acrylic allowing for that intense, almost mechanically reproduced feeling, fitting for its time, I think. Pop Art-esque, certainly. Curator: The two figures can be interpreted as symbols, potentially archetypes drawn from different cultural contexts. Look at their stances and gestures. It seems to question how these 'cultures' are defined and perceived. This can relate to some traditional imagery when concerning balance or harvest, but with Kostabi’s work there is also a dystopian element to the use of red as well as geometric abstractions. What are the narratives that these figures elicit when combined? Editor: Narratives of labor, certainly. Of carrying, of burden—the figures bear weight quite literally. Considering it’s mixed media, you also have to think about the choice of layering and techniques used. Why mixed media when it could just as easily be flat paint? Is it mimicking some mechanical reproduction process? What statement about production is he making? Curator: Precisely! These figures could signify diverse socio-economic or political strata, their interaction depicted symbolically to pose questions rather than providing concrete answers. We're looking at figuration and abstraction in tandem, the figures acting as ciphers within Kostabi's broader social commentary. Editor: So, in short, not just the weight in their hands but the weight of cultural expectation and art production practices in late capitalism, if you will. An almost unsettling commentary delivered in bold primary colors. Curator: Yes, quite right. Through these iconic yet impersonal figures, he encourages a contemplation of contemporary societal constructions and their visual representation in pop art’s style. Editor: A fittingly unsettling meditation on late 20th century society captured on a single piece of art made using what was around at the time.