Ch 3 Robert Rauschenberg's Windward vs. Shahzia Sikander's Hood's Red Rider #2

Ch 3 Rober Rauschenberg’s Windward, 1963, is not a just a regular painting

but was constructed from several photographic images. The artist
worked with the photos over time until he created the arrangement that
we see, making this brilliant work that I think is bursting at the
seams with bright colors, patriotism, and wonder. The book does not
say who took these photographs, but they seem like they could have
been picked from post cards found randomly throughout the United
States and then put together in this intriguing manner. The photos
represent many facets of American life including the statue of
liberty, the eagle, rainbows, buildings, trains, and one section even
has what looks like a water tower and a building on fire.

Shahzia Sikander Hood’s Red Rider #2 was created in 1997 in an attempt
to express the artist’s heritage and her multifaceted unique
experiences and beliefs. Now living in the United States, Shahzia
Sikander grew up in Pakistan in a Muslim family, but she is also takes
an interest in Hindu art and belief, the other main spiritual
trandition of the South Asian subcontinent from which she ascends. The
painting has many facets of her life including a hindu woman, camels,
mountains, her country’s flag, and a turtle on a stick which I’m
guessing symbolizes a religious belief. The floating Islamic woman
with many arms wearing a veil to me is kind of odd but in many ways
expresses the artist’s individuality, and how she is floating between
cultures and not rooted in just one belief.

The most significant similarities I see between these two pieces is
that they both consist of many small pictures within one, creating a
theme, and both also pay a tribute the individual artist’s heritage
and beliefs. Both paintings also have several different colors and
have images of animals.
There are many differences between these works including the theme
behind the collages, and that Rauschenberg’s work is bright colors
with a lot of blues while Sikander’s piece is composed of darker and

sort of dull colors with a lot of browns and reds.