Looking Paper

Looking Paper

Dan Devine Untitled 1982

This piece of art caught my eye as soon as I walked into the museum. The most important feature of this painting is the black square shaped building directly in the center of the piece. The artist places emphasis on this object in many different ways. The black building is the only building that is not destroyed in the piece it is the one surviving remnant of the city. The pieces of rusted steel made to look like buildings bend and twist towards the middle placing further emphasis on the middle building. There is a dark line running up the side of one of the buildings flanked on the other side by the shadow cast by the steel this combination creates almost a separate framed picture of the black standing house. The colors and texture also lighten up in this area, like the artist is trying to tell us that beyond all this destruction there is hope to be found one just has to look hard enough.

Starting from the top corners of the piece we have black sky progressively getting lighter as it gets to the light building in the center where we can see some pink in the sky. The sky is also marked with large horizontal gashes, to me this is showing clouds but it also adds to the theme of the destruction and despair. The middle building is flanked on both sides by the crumpled pieces of rusted steel shaped to look like buildings. The bottom of the piece is again covered in more steel a greyish rust covered shape. To me it looks to be mountains but the artist could by implying that it is more destruction from the buildings around the outside. And peaking almost directly over the crest of one of these mountains/piles of rubble is the middle house untouched by the damage surrounding it cloaked in a pinkish sky and accented by the lights shining from within. All of these elements combine to convey the message and point of interest that the artist is trying to show the audience.

When looking at the piece my eyes are first drawn to...