This picture challenged my ability to judge the message of the exhibit. My biggest issue was understanding whether this image was supposed to portray an emotion or a theme. At the first glance, I thought the image was supposed to represent the craziness associated with the club. That the face was the aftermath of exposure to alcohol and drugs. The facial expression of the person leads me believe that the person is either suffering or feeling a great deal of anxiety. The way his teeth are clenched and the way his eyes stare leads to believe that this person is not aware where he is. The way his hair looks leads me to believe that it is the a representation of what is going on in the persons mind. The long bright strands of hair could indicate that the person is experiencing a multitude of strong emotions. These emotions hinder his ability to focus and comprehend what is going on around him. I felt like this picture perfectly fit into the museum because it represented the craziness in clubs, theatres, and perfomances. There is so much anxiety when auditioning for a play. There is also a lot action and social interaction at the clubs. Additionally, clubs can also secretly deal in drugs. Finally, perfomances involve a lot of emotions. One character responds to another and vice versa. Essentially, I believe this picture is a prime example of insanity, how having fun and expressing yourself can sometimes lead to your own destruction. What challenges me the most about this picture is the background. The contrast between the dark blue and the light blue could mean the lack of perception of time. It could also mean the cycles of thoughts that run through the person’s head: going from calmness to anxiety. Nevertheless, this is a picture that has the title of “taboo”. Perhaps it was a representation of what sin looks like.
This could totally be a reach but when looking further into this painting and reading your analysis, I was paying more attention to the way that his skin tone changes across his nose and part of his cheek. Perhaps this can be interpreted as him feeling conflicted between two identities, one of which is “socially acceptable” and one in which he is truly free, such as in Club 57. The intensity of the painting could also be representative of how frustrating and imprisoning it must have been for somebody who was torn between these two very different worlds.
I think this painting in particular captures the exhibit. I like that you associated anxiety with the painting, and after reading that, I can’t separate that feeling from the painting. The colors running through the hair are sporadic. I also can’t stop looking at the ears because they just look like two giant, ill-defined yellow blobs. While one eye is clear, the other one appears smudged. The left side of the face looks like it’s in deterioration while the other half looks like the deterioration is spreading to it. The left background is a dark blue, while the other half transitions from a light blue to white. Maybe it’s a representation of sin or imprisonment in one’s body spreading.