Blog exercise




"Mother" by David Hockney.


I've always liked portraits, because of the fact that people's expressions are always changing, and how they reveal something deep within them.

I think it's daring to do a photo montage on people. And challenging in a way, to bring out the essence of the person's emotion without distorting the face so much that it becomes ugly or distasteful.

I think David Hockney managed to do this pretty well. Despite having the face cut up into many parts, the face remained pleasant looking, probably due to the heavy emphasis on the smiling mouths.

This piece of art is surreal in the fact that it is a photo montage, and the different pieces are pieced together not in a seamless and coherent fashion. Also, Hockney included side views of the subject in the portrayal of a front view. That adds a surrealistic feel to the art too.




"Swans Reflecting Elephants" by Salvador Dali.


This is another piece of work I'd like to comment on. This painting is surrealistic in its portrayal of things, with shaped clouds and twisted tree trunks.

And as the title suggests, there are swans in the painting which, when reflected by the water, reveals three elephants. This is an optical illusion.

I don't know about you, but I think this is really really cool. Swans and elephants aren't exactly the animals I'd link together, and I wonder how on earth did Dali get his inspiration to do such a painting.

I don't know what was the original intention behind this painting. But to me, it shows that when we reflect upon some things--figuratively--we may surprise ourselves with a totally new perspective of looking at things. That many a times, things are not just what they look like at first glance.