Saving Clementine

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on October 2, 2012 at 11:06am

Curator’s Comment:

 

The divided frame compositions seem to be referencing film narratives- split second intervals between images revealing the construction of the storyline, and providing visual tension.  For me the strongest in this grouping is Saving Clementine. The female figure’s lurid gaze and posture is dominating and yet almost coyly provocative.  Her raised arm may have been left intentionally ambiguous in the top frame, but it’s unlikely it’s raised in a threatening manner because of the bottom male figure’s passive expression.  It’s also curious that her arm casts a shadow-telling the viewer it’s suspended in space, and not relaxed. The lower image reveals her open hand, but without the inclusion of the rest of the picture, the actions that are transpiring are still unclear.  I keep looking back and forth between the female’s double expression- do I detect a slightly curled change in her smile in the second image, or is this just a slight trick of shadow?  Psychologically, her shock of red hair dissolving into the red slashes of her shirt casts her as an active participant rather than an observer in the scene.  The background shifts slightly, though it doesn’t offer any more clues about the interior space or story. As in more traditional diptyches, the duality of this painting creates diametrical opposition with ironically concordant associations.