Squeeze Enders, Get Lemonade

Like so many born in the 1930s, Elizabeth Enders was resourceful—so much that she found a way around the need for images in her artwork.

There has long been a divide within and without the art community. While some art has obvious merit in the eyes of art lovers and detractors alike (e.g. Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment,” Van Gogh’s “Irises,” da Vinci’s “The Last Supper), a few artists wind up creating such seemingly simple pieces that certain members of the art community and the majority of those beyond its borders sneer. As if it is not art at all, but rather some imitation or mockery of art. Elizabeth Enders is one such case.

But don’t think there is nothing to like about Enders, because there is plenty—regardless of your opinion of her body of work. All of her pieces don’t insult people’s art sensibilities. A number of her works are obvious portrayals of their subjects. In “Yellow Anemone/Purple Veronica II,” Enders gives exactly what the title suggests to her viewers. The flowers are drawn with all of the necessary details and none of the extraneous details that slow so many pieces down. It is quaint, folksy, familiar. And it receives the blessing of viewers, whether intentionally or subconsciously and in a patronizing manner. Unfortunately for the survival of her entire portfolio, Enders didn’t stick to paintings or drawings that featured obvious depictions of objects commonly found on planet Earth. She may be relevant in small, accepting, non-judgmental art circles, but when art novices approach “Memorandum of Law #2,” Enders loses them. Especially when they realize how similar the piece is to “Pink Language,” “Untitled, 1998,” and a variety of numbered pieces titled “Memorandum of Association.” They look like someone photographed a prisoner’s tally marks marking the days of imprisonment.

Thankfully, her “Blue Water” series comes to the rescue, with its varied shades of blue. Yet these pieces are not enough. Having lost viewers in her Memorandums, Enders cannot salvage their interest with a blue watercolor painting on paper. So how does Enders affect viewers who are not left in awe of Blue, begging for more and adoring her art? Are they simply left to laugh again at art and its unending reservoir of people who say little or nothing through their artistic medium?

For the thoughtful skeptic, Enders offers a lesson in the face of criticism. Because unlike those who can laugh at a piece of art without any regard, some people take note of everything. To these viewers, Enders offers more than something to disagree with. It gives opportunity to look into their own lives.
 
What aspect of their lives is their “Yellow Anemone,” and which is a confusingly generic “Memorandum”? Viewers go home and figure it out for themselves. Those chunks of their lives that are bland, rehashed, uninteresting, or not a full or accurate representation of the viewers’ personas are done away with. There will be no more scribbles considered art and there will be no more good-enough construction projects, mediocre marketing proposals, rote and lifeless poetry readings. It is all or nothing.

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