Chester Arnold

Dirty Laundry

Walking into the Chester Arnold exhibit located in Reno at the Nevada Museum of Art, I found it to be very overwhelming at first glance. Each piece of work from Chester Arnold seemed to show evidence in the pushing of moral perspectives, through natural catastrophe, environmental destruction from man, or the dark side of life. It is evident that through Chester Arnold’s art he promotes important environmental issues that he wanted people to realize the true meaning behind.

The bright colors and the use of oil on linen in the piece “Dirty Laundry” caught my attention right away. Completed in 2007 this piece may not be as well known as some of Chester Arnold’s other work. It drew my attention with the impeccable details of clothes and the way Chester Arnold aggressively lays them out in the same fashion as in some of his other pieces that display trashy areas. Viewed in a wide country road just about every type of clothing article can be found in this painting, referencing the fashion industry and the high manufacturing cycles. The clothing in this painting is not portrayed to be of importance, yet the opposite by showing abuse towards it and the over abundance of material in society. It is no shock when viewing Chester Arnold’s gallery his aim is to open the eyes of the viewers to the issues that we may or may not be aware of, but still hold importance. The Nevada Museum of Fine Art states about this piece, “Depicts heaps of used clothing- blue jeans to cotton tees strewn along a wide country dirt road. Arnold’s ode to America’s fashion industry which exploits economics of scale and depends heavily on adolescents to achieve high manufacturing cycles.”

Chester Arnold’s piece “Dirty Laundry” spoke to me on many different levels. First and most importantly to me the fact that Chester Arnold depicts the use of clothing as an issue, the way we as society take for granted and lack appreciation. I agree on many levels with this, but also feel as though this is one sided when facing the over used and abundance of clothing that is wasted. For me, this painting speaks volumes as to the way we may treat our belongings and remembering what is important when it comes to important environmental issues.