
Elizabeth Neel
Click the Tongue, 2014
Oil on canvas
96 x 76 in
243.8 x 193 cm
243.8 x 193 cm
Click the Tongue: This work is both an anatomical diagram and a vertical landscape. The title is meant to have various interpretations/ simulataneous meanings. Clicking one's tongue can be a...
Click the Tongue: This work is both an anatomical diagram and a vertical landscape. The title is meant to have various interpretations/ simulataneous meanings. Clicking one's tongue can be a noise that symbolizes regret or disapproval - it can also be used to urge on an animal or it can be made by an animal to communicate with another animal. I chose the title because it's various meanings have to do with language and interpretation and it is evocative of a sound with many referents. All the referents do make me very aware of the architecture of the mouth and the creation of sound through coordinated devices and organs. I consulted images of x-rays and ultrasounds of soft tissues when making this work as well as images of Duck anatomy and images of Medieval and Renaissance maps and apocryphal sea creatures.