6 R M Walton Genovevea Munoz

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on September 30, 2012 at 8:36pm

Curator’s Comment:  

 

It’s interesting that despite the heightened representation of life and finely tuned surroundings in photorealist painting, images are generally devoid of emotion.  This piece seems to play with that sense of contemporary detachment purposefully, as the human subjects are turned away from the viewer, or are generally unaware- as in the (guarded) figure on the far left. The commercial environment has all of the requisite familiarities such as modular furniture, artificial plants, and an illuminated exit sign. “Real life” promises to exit just beyond the glass doors, but the view doesn’t necessarily lead to a greater understanding of the larger narrative.  The figures here are going on with their business of waiting, or leaving.  But the lack of color gives me the impression of a faintly bleak purpose.  The spotless floors and walls don’t offer human comfort or reflection, or succumb to them.  Of course the idea of “Security” conjures many levels of suspicion and submission in the present era of Homeland Security…So I’m especially intrigued by the juxtaposition of this image with the almost succulent landscape in your portfolio titled Bull River July.  At first glance it seems the antithesis of the former work- its pinkish orange puffs of clouds peering down from a blissfully blue sky.  Even the cement island seems luminous, sending its rippled reflection across the clear water.  But in trying to see a conceptual relationship in these two pieces, I’m wondering if there isn’t also a very subtle sense of loneliness in this image.  It’s concealed underneath or at least softened by the idyllic painting, but it ultimately offers up the subject of the banality of modern life.  Or maybe it is just a skillful painting created on a notably brighter day.