Pain Declaration

Everyone shows emotion. Whether the emotion that you harvest be happy or sad, angry or gloomy, and etc., the emotion is still there. Thus, the concept I came up with was pain. I came up with this because pain is a type of emotion in a way, and there are so many other things can be classified with pain such as anguish, heartache, etc. Since I love to observe emotions and how they are effecting people and how it is predominant in art work, I thought pain would be the best, because it has many areas to branch off from, and pain is a very raw feeling that no one wants to experience, but at some point always does. Thus, this is why I thought that this would be the perfect topic to do my concept folio on.

Concept - Folio Critique # 1

Looking at Edward Munch’s “The Dead Mother,” the person viewing the painting is brought too a depressing room. There is a burnt orange colored floor and a bed which is colored with white, blue, and a small bit of reddish orange which is applied in a smoky shaded effect and the back wall is a mixture of shades of blues and grays. The room is somewhat dark and the mood is very dark, sad, and depressing. In the foreground, there is a young child. The young girl has short blonde hair with blue eyes. She has a light blue dress on over a white shirt and has black tights on. Her hands cover her ears, like she is trying to block out some kinds of noise. In the background there is a woman, who is her mother, who is still and motionless in the bed behind the young girl. The mother’s hair is black and her eyes open like she was looking at something before she died.

The young girl in the foreground is the focal point of Munch’s painting. The viewer’s eyes see that she is very young and innocent. As stated above she has short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, which when stared into, the viewer can see the subtle worry that is in her eyes. The artist creates an outline, so to speak, around her which is actually the shadow cast by the girl, which draws in the viewer to the girl, because it helps to emphasize the small girl’s large presence in the picture. The background with the deceased mother in her bed helps to balance out the picture. Since the mother is located on the right in contrast to the young girl slightly positioned to the left, the image balances out just enough, so that there is equality, but the strong presence of the young girl in the front is still predominant over the rest of the images painted into the masterpiece by Munch. The young child putting her hands over her ears could mean something different to every observer in that the young girl could be blocking out noise, blocking out her own thoughts, or somehow just trying to stop her pain anyway she can.

This artwork is open to as many interpretations of narratives as the viewer can think up. One of them a viewer could imagine would be as they enter the room they smell, something strange. The room is dark and dreary, and could depress even the happiest of people. He/she sees the young girl standing there with her hands over her ears. The worry in her eyes says that she is scared and doesn’t know what to do, she just wants it all to stop, and she wants her mother back. She tries to stop all her thoughts and all the noise by blocking her ears hoping all that has happened will go away and everything will be back to how it was before. The pain inside her that is eating away at her, the viewer can’t help but feel hurt inside. The viewer then knows the unusual smell has come from the lifeless women behind the girl. The viewer sees that women was staring out at the world before she died, and now is most likely looking down at the world feeling the pain of her daughter who she left behind. Overall, Munch creates a story that many people never hope to experience as a young child, or anytime during their lifetime.

Mind's Eye Critique

Viewing “Two Halves” by Brett Gamache, the viewer is brought to the mountainess wooded area which produces the feeling of a hot summer. The only shade that is visible to the viewer is the shade brought on by some of the trees, and the inside of the shack which is roughly made out of wood, possibly gives an area of cool air and space. On the right there is a chiaroscuro in that there is dark shaded path that leads to a bright light, which helps the viewer wonder where this path might lead too. On the left there is two tan dirt and sandy paths that merge together almost at the end, and lead up to the mountainess hill with a variety and multitude of trees. The scene gives off an aesthetic aspect that it is serene and calming and being in the country mountains and the hut is like a little getaway from the hustle and bustle in the rest of world. With the shack located in the middle of the oil painting and then picture being divided evenly on both sides of the shack, the painting produces a feeling of equality and balance. Also, the tone of the oil paint colors and the many different hues of green associated with the trees and the mountains help to make the scene more realistic to the viewer.

There is a focal point that is obvious to the viewer as soon as their eyes set on the painting. The focal point is the wood shack in the middle of the painting. The shack is a safe haven from the rest of the world and the viewer can see that it might protect someone from something whether it is physical or mental.

The art work could produce many possible narratives to the viewers. The one that seems prevalent is that of a person living in the shack away from the world. He/ she have been there because they do not know what to do. There is a path on the right and a path on the left and they can’t decide which one to take. He/ she can take the one on the left in which the person sees what is in front of them, a hilly area full of trees and light, and no surprises. Or he/ she can take the path on the right. The gray path is dark and mysterious. There is a light at the end of the path, but he/she doesn’t know what the light is from. This person doesn’t know what surprises will arise from this path, and whether it is better to take a risk and find something better, or find something a lot worse than the path on the left. All the person knows is that the shack allows them to stay as long as he/she wants until this person finally makes a decision. Overall, Brett Gamache’s manages to produce a story for the viewer through his work.