Chester Arnold Part 2

When I looked up the word reclamation, on dictionary.reference.com I found that one of the definitions is "the process or industry of deriving usable materials from waste, by products, etc." and that the origins of the word is "in sense 'a protest'" and "crying out against". While this doesn't match with my own personal initial impression of a rebirth, it does fit with Chester Arnold's style. This made me remember another piece at the museum (I cannot remember the name). It was of a tree that had been felled. In the blurb next to it, the person wrote that the tree seemed to be "crying out" with its twisted limbs and roots. Back to "Reclamation", if the bramble is reclamation, it is dead having been cleared away from somewhere else to make that space more "usable". The thorns and tangles dominating the canvas arent exactly putting off a happy vibe. It seems the brush is angry at bing torn away and left dying against an old fence with other bits of refuse. The berries left on the vine seem to hint that in the process of making other space more "usable" by reclaiming it, whoever did so was wasteful in not clearing off all the berries, or perhaps using the waste brambles in some sort of mulch or compost. This theme of waste, especially to the detriment of the environment fits in with Arnold's work.
     Another thing I found a lot of when looking up the word "Reclamation" was the usbr.gov website "managing water in the west" there was a lot on that page that had to do with dams, powerplants, and similar projects. Knowing that Arnold is a western based artist, and the general theme of waste in his pieces, perhaps the choice of title means dissaproval for the Bureau of Reclamation, and for waste. Something "crying out against it. Also something I found interesting is that the website (usbr.gov/museumproperty/art) showed a project started in the 60's to showcase reclamation. There are many artists, but the artist from the west, Chester Arnold is not one of them, regardless of his great talent.