Hello everyone it’s me Tom. The gallery I chose to go to was the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach. They have a section for permanent display with works by various artists in different mediums. In this section of the museum I saw a piece by Manny Farber called “Have a Chew on Me (1983)”.

            Manny Farber was born in 1917 in Douglas, Arizona. He went to UC Berkley and Stanford. He won most of his renown as a film critic in New York, but was also known as talented still life painter. In 1970 Farber left New York to take a teaching position at UC San Diego, where he focused on his art and teaching. He completely retired from film criticism in 1977. Manny Farber died in 2008, near Encinitas, California.

            The materials used, for the piece “Have a Chew on Me”, were oil on board. The work features many seemingly disparate drawings. There are gesture drawings, figure drawings, still life drawings, and a kind of portrait. There are drawings of tools, books and either tiny people and/or dolls. The information next to the display says the work may be a narrative of his life as a film critic and his love of film. The title “Have a Chew on Me” is actually a line from a 1931 film “Other Men’s Women”. The information also goes on to say that this work is a reevaluation of 1930’s culture and ethos.

            I have not seen the film “Other Men’s Women”, but inferring from the title, from the information I already know and from some of the imagery on the work. I would think it is a tale of infidelity and covetousness. The nude drawing of women from the behind seem that it was an only amorous and not romantic rendezvous for the characters, or for at least one. In the only front facing drawing of a woman we see her with a man and both of their faces are left out. We also see one woman who seems to be balancing on a precipice. It seems like we are viewing this work from above, like we are looking down on a workers table with various tools strewn about it.