Nov 26 2009
Surreal Realism
Walking into the American Folk Art Museum I thought, am I going to find anything interesting in here? After walking on the first and second floor, I wasn’t too sure. Sure there was a tree with buttons attached to it and a waterfall that popped off the painting… but none of this produced any feeling within me. It just wasn’t my kind of work. That is, until I reached the third floor and saw the paintings by Thomas Chambers.
Thomas Chambers was an American Marine and Landscape Painter and also hailed as “America’s first modern” painter. He painted with a bold vivacity that is captivating to say the least. While his paintings are of real scenes, the way they are portrayed are from straight out of a fairytale book or maybe a dream. His choice of vivid colors creates surreal scenes that one can only imagine.
What makes his landscape paintings so interesting is that he didn’t simply paint what he saw. His paintings, represented the beauty that he saw in the world (and he certainly saw a lot). He didn’t merely paint the scene before him. Rather, he painted his interpretation of the scene, complete with bright, bold colors.
I preferred the sculptures at the Folk Art museum. They were so cool.
i went to the American Folk Art museum too, and I found this painting interesting. Although in that section there were many other paintings like these and so I couldn’t really decipher the meaning behind all these similar paintings. What I liked the most in that museum was the Approaching Abstraction section as there were so many practical pieces of art that were made of daily waste materials or other normal things. That was truly artistic for me.
What I like most of the paining is the coulds. They look as if the sun’s ray made them get tanned.
Why is this under Barber of Seville?
I also visited the American Folk Art Museum, but I dont recall seeing this painting. It seems quite interesting from your description of it.