Blog Assignment 2

Find a Surrealist artist and one of his/her artworks to compare with 1 work by Lucia Hartini --- List down 5 similarities and differences in terms of techniques, use of color and subject matter.


Men Shall Know Nothing of This, 1923 by Max Ernst

Horse by the ocean , 1998, Oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm by Lucia Hartini

Techniques
Hartini and Ernst
Oil-paints on canvas.
Brush strokes with occasional smooth blending.
Realistic portrayal -- textures, details, proportion and light/shadow to create 3D modeling.
Use of symbolism -- Hartini paints horses horses (signifying gentleness and virility), flowers (fragility, beauty and femininity), earth and sea (dynamic interacting forces of nature) to create personal narratives emblematic of contemporary Javanese gender relationships. While Ernst uses a single image narrative in this work where he references to the Elephant Celebes in Alley.A revolutionary and selef-destructive element that tells of deep and intense despair triggered off from the War.A kind of cuteness by the subsequent, reverential appreciation of Dada.

Use of colour
Hartini and Ernst
Hartini has a more obvious gradient or blending of colour. Her usage of dramatic colours is highly commendable. A perfect blend of black and blue of different shades seem to complement each other. Ernst is more conservative in the use of colours in which this work is generally of dull hues - greyish and bluish tones that signify a certain sense of pessimism.


Subject Matter
Hartini and Ernst
Most of Hartini's works are seeking to examine the intersecting boundaries of gender and culture in Indonesian society. They are relatively feminism-based.Ernst developed an autonomous system in which the origin of the separate elements is submerged in the final, total image. He was out to produce irritating imagery in which, as in the perfect crime, every clue to its identity had been erased. A posem is inscribed at the back of this work:

"The crescent (yellow and parachutic) stops the little whistle falling to the ground.
The whistle because people are taking notice of it, thinks it is climbing to the sun.
The sun is divided into two so that it can spin better.
The model is stretched out in a dreaming pose. The right leg is bent (a pleasant exact movement).
The hand hides the earth. Through this movement the earth takes on the importance of a sexual organ.
The moon runs through its phases and eclipses with the utmost speed.
The picture is curious because of its symmetry."