Tracey Tawhiao Subversion AS 90913 v4 internal assessment 4 credits - Literacy (Blog Post 4)

 Surrealist subversion; read or listen and watch.

Locate one artwork
- Quick Thumbnail label everything.

Original Artwork

 Name: Mystery and Melancholy of a Street 

 Artist: Giorgio De Chiro

 Genre: Modernist urban landscape.

 Movement: Metaphysical painting.

Thumbnail

 

Describe the Artwork

The artwork comprises two buildings and a girl running with a hoop. The girl with the hoop looks like running towards the shadow of a large man with a stick or a spear in his right hand. The light is coming from behind the right building and illuminating the arcades on the left. In the dark area, we appear to see an open horsebox. This artwork of De Chirico is a set of parallel lines. 

Explain how subversion is demonstrated in this artwork's subject matter. 

The predecessor of the Surrealist movement, Giorgio de Chirico, intentionally subverted fictive spaces, typically city squares bordered by arcades or brick walls, to create an enigmatic experience and refute reality. The artist became interested in the notion of the eternal return and re-enactment of the myth after reading the German philosophers, particularly Friedrich Nietzsche. It was French poet Guillaume Apollinaire who first called de Chirico’s work ‘metaphysical’, from where the Metaphysical Art movement originated, with Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà as its leaders. - Statement from Gallery Intell

Explain subversion is demonstrated in space and paint applications used by De Chirico.

Subversion is showed by spacing out within the objects and show a vanishing point. We see the vanishing point in the left building as the end of the building is fading away from the further away it goes from us. We can also see a colour contrast. The building on the right has a shade of black, the street and so the sunlight illuminates the architecture on the left side. 

In the painting, it has a girl with a hoop and a figure of a man and few materials (two buildings and a horse-box). The lack of interest in the materials in this painting is probably the point he is trying to highlight and the colour of his choice for this artwork is the idea he is trying to convey.

 What similarities can you list between Tawhiao and De Chirico's artwork?

- Tracey and De Chirico are both subversive artists. 

- The two artists both use grids, but De Chirico's artwork is less noticeable. 

- They both use a subject that will emphasise their artwork.