A Brief Bio of the Artist:
Born 1963, Oud-Zuilen, Maassen
Lives and works in Amsterdam
Education:
1983-88 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
1988-90 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam
This piece is by Hannah van Bart, a Dutch painter. The man is depicted in a strange, almost childlike manner, with little importance placed on realism; more emphasis is placed on the awkward emotional content of the piece.
THE COMPOSITION:
The strong contrast of the whiteness of the hands compared to the rest of the piece makes them really pop out at the viewer. Additionally, the dark fur or material of the sleeves draws the viewer's attention to the pair of hands resting by the subject's sides. From here, the small fluttering ribbon on the left points upwards towards the man's third hand and face, where there is a second emphasis of sorts. The piece is somewhat monochromatic, and the line quality is very raw and unpolished. The figure is described with a combination of contour lines and outlines. This lends the piece a very fresh look; the artist has certainly tapped into her inner child to create this piece. Perhaps she was inspired by primitive art or children's drawings (examples below). It does not seem as though van Bart made a lot of preliminary drawings or sketches for the piece; it looks very spontaneous and unrehearsed.
The man has multiple hands, as well as multiple collars and ties. He is a little on the portly side, and looks like a tired middle-aged businessman.
Perhaps van Bart was inspired by the image of a balding businessman, perhaps he is someone she knows, or an image found in a newspaper or magazine.
3 comments:
hmmm... like it
more
interesting...
why do you think the artist cropped the work so close to the subject's head?
you should expand a bit more and write about the use of positive & negative space, balance, pictorial movement or how the eyes travel across the picture plane
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