Paper 2: SynArts Gallery

Julia Burchfield
Adam Weinstein
EN 101-099
September 23, 2007
The SynArts Gallery
When I walked into the SynArts gallery I was overwhelmed by al l of the amazing pieces of art that were on display. However, the two pieces that were the most striking to me were the picture of the horse and the picture of the red face. I related to the horse painting because I have an interest in animals and I liked the way the artist, Laura Shill, depicted the horse. The horse was painted on four canvases that were put together to make the allusion that they were one; however the canvases were put together in different depths so that one canvas extend more than another. This impressed me because this clearly shows that Laura Shill had to do some mathematical equations to make the picture line up correctly. As for the painting itself, it was very eerie. This is partially because the artist painted in a style called encaustic. This style of painting involves painting with wax (bees wax and damar resin to be exact). Laura used this affect to make the picture give a haunting appeal because the wax gives the painting a cloudy, washed out, and yellow tone. The horse also makes the picture ominous because the horse is standing in front of a barbed wired fence with blacked out eyes. The artist obviously wants the viewer to think that the painting is spooky.
I was also attracted in red face painting because I have always been interested in paintings of faces. I love seeing how an artist depicts a person by the way they draw their expressions and the colors they use in their work. In this particular piece the artist drew the face of a woman, but the whole canvas looks as if it has been painted with red water color or liquid based paint. The paint however is not the same shade throughout the painting; the left side of the canvas is a light red, while the right side has more coats of the paint, so it is a darker shade of red. The woman’s face, which is drawn off centered to the right of the canvas, looks as if it has been drawn on with black ink. The woman looks to be of Indian race wearing a headdress. The artist emphasized on the woman’s eyes by making them the most detailed. They are strikingly beautiful, but the left eye stands out more than the right because the artist added white paint to it. There is also splotches of yellow water based paint near the nose and mouth of the woman. I think the artist did this to make the nose and mouth less bold, making the viewer focus on the eyes of his painting.
The reason I picked these two paintings out of all the others in the SynArt gallery is because I thought these two have a lot of relation to each other. Both artists put emphasis on the eyes of the objects in their work. The reason the artists do this is because people and animals convey emotion through their eyes. In the first painting, the horse’s eyes are blacked out. The artist did this because she is trying to tell her audience that the horse is broken down and tired. Horses by nature love to run free, but in the painting the horse is standing in front of a barbed wired fence. This is making the statement more clear that the horse is trapped and spiritless. The horse has no emotion which is why its eyes are blacked out. As for the red painting, the artist puts the emphasis on the eyes of the Indian woman. Since her eyes are beautiful and the painting is red, I think the artist is trying to convey to the viewer that the woman is passionate and strong hearted. This is painting is also appealing because in Indian culture, the woman are not allowed to show their face and are required to wear a scarf. In the painting, the woman’s whole face is showing, and the only part the viewer sees are her eyes, which ironically is the only thing she can expose in her culture. This goes to show that the eyes are the most important part of the face, because they are the link to the sole. I think that both these artists are trying to communicate a similar idea, that the eyes are the most important part of the face because that is where you find emotion.
Both of the artists communicated to me through their work. I was first drawn to these pieces because they had objects and colors in them that I am interested in. But as I examined the pieces I started to understand what the artists were trying to communicate through their work. The impression I got from the horse painting was that when you put a wild animal in an enclosed space, they lose their heart and spirit. The artist led me to think this by putting the horse behind a barbed wired fence and blacking out the horse’s eye. The impression I got from the red faced woman was that she is very passionate but no one knows about her passion and desire. I got this impression from the painting because the artist put all the emphasis on the eyes of the woman and painted the whole canvas red; this affect allows the viewer to make an impression of the painting on how the react to the color red and to the expression on the woman’s face.
I think that the public should go to this exhibit because not only are there these two wonderful paintings but there are also other incredible works of art. There is other art besides the still pieces in this gallery; there is people performing music, dancing, and artists painting. Although I interpreted the two paintings the way I did, another individual may feel differently about the paintings. I suggest that they go themselves and find out because it is worth it.