Every Thursday, as part of my personal “enriched environment” initiative, I post a piece of art, usually from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently released online some 400,000 high-resolution images of its collection. All artwork will show a sun (or sunlight) somewhere.
I won’t name the piece or the artist, but instead invite you to study the art and post a comment addressing one or more of these questions:
- What is going on in this picture?
- What do you see in the picture?
- What does it make you think of?
- What observations can you make?
Note: To embiggen the image, click on it!
SCARY !!! VERY SCARY !!!!!!! wWATCH OUT,, I THINK SHE’S ALREADY DEAD. !!!??? TOO LATE
I laughed when I first saw this. Then I gasped. It moves me in two opposite directions.
Clever!
And people call this “Art.”!
The questions are – –
1. Is the woman dead, sleeping, or just relaxing?
2. Is she aware of the man behind her?
3. Is he stalking her?
4. Why is he smiling?
5. What does his slicked down hair mean? That this picture is dated? Or that he’s a creep?
6. Are the buttons on the woman’s shirt unbuttoned for a reason? If yes, what reason?
7. Is the woman smiling lightly? Does she feel something pleasant?
Sun overhead and TO THE RIGHT.
The bumps on the part of her throat that’s in the sunlight are smaller versions of the bumps on the wall behind her.
The man’s face could be a painted balloon.
This just makes me so uncomfortable! I think because the photographer is being acknowledged by the man staring into the lens–and the two different directions that Lucia mentioned we are pulled in.
The guy behind the screen creeps me out. He has dark circles around his eyes, like a raccoon burglar’s mask.
Ugh !
The woman’s face is so clear and sharp. Down to the shadows her eyelashes create.
The man’s face is a blur, probably because of the screen. I laughed when I read the comment that his face could be a painted balloon. It’s both funny and eerie.
Weird!
I think if I was at a museum or art gallery and this was one of the pictures on view, As I moved through the gallery I’d keep on looking back at it, eve n as I was trying to pay attention to the other art.
Its a grand enigma in my view.
I also think that people’s reactions to this photograph (here on this website and probably anyplace else) says as much about the people themselves as it does the photo.
I mean, the photograph is merely a bunch of pixels ranging from white through gray to black. No color, either. Just black, gray and white pixels in a particular arrangement. But the responses you’re getting here say more about the comment writers’ personal history than , I believe , the photo itself.
It seems many people find the man in this picture to be creepy, or evil, or scary. In fact we don’t know this really. He could be an absolute angel watching over his wife/girlfriend/sister/cousin/friend as she relaxed for a minute in the warm spring sun.
We can’t really know yet we’re jumping to conclusions and condemning the guy with our gut reactions.
That’s pretty horrible if you stop to think about it ! ! ! !
I agree with Shayla that it’s weird that the man behind the woman and the camera/photographer are making eye contact, communicating with each other, while the lady sleeps.
I also agree with the observation that the man has gray circles around his eyes like a raccoon.
The picture is positive/secure for the parts that are in the sunlight, and questionable/creepy for the parts that are in the shade inside.
Mary Lou Ella had had a rough night taking care of three screaming children, two of whom kept vomiting all over the bed sheets and pillows. All three had the rawest sore throats she’d ever seen.
At last she gave them some strong medicine (codeine mixed with rum) and they are sleeping soundly for hours and guess what, they’ll wake up with no sore throat, no sick tummy, and no hang over.
She is zonked out on the porch.
Jimmy, behind her, just snuck in the house to wish her a happy birthday. He’s smiling because he hasn’t seen her this relaxed in decades. Jimmy is her brother and also her best friend. He sings jazz with Craig Claireborne, the French cookie.
Jimmy is about to sing “She’ll Be Driving Six White Horses When She Comes” in falsetto, lulling Mary Lou Ella into an Oz-like dream state for the next thirty-five years.
She’s getting her Vitamin D for 20 minutes in the sun, then she’ll go back inside. The man already got his daily dose of sunshine.
They know that you need that to stay healthy, but that you shouldn’t over do the sun because people with Parkinsons have a higher risk of skin cancer.
Don’t, don’t, don’t want that !