Chester Arnold "Digger"

Brandon Stone
Candace Nicol
Art 160
9/19/10


Chester Arnold’s art work seemed to focus on the environment and the impacts that mankind has on it. Taking a look at all of his paintings at the Nevada Museum of Art, they all carry out that theme. His work includes paintings that show trash left over from society, the deforestation of land and the pollution that man creates.

The piece that I chose to write about was titled “Digger.” It shows a harvested forest, tire tracks, and a lonely man who has dug his own grave. This piece jumped out at me because of the impact it has. To me, it is telling a story of how man has destroyed nature by cutting down all these trees and the man sees that there is no hope left. He digs his own grave because he sees the direction that the world is going in. He sees that the future is very dreary because mankind can not change their ways and maybe has regret for being a part of the deforestation of the now desolate land.

On the description of the painting is says that the leftover tree stumps act as tombstones. This is possibly saying that other people have noticed what the lonely man has come to terms with and have already dug their own graves. Overall I think the main message that Chester Arnold is trying to get across is that by killing the environment, humanity as a whole, are digging their own graves.