Artwork Analysis: The Lingerie Family (Club 57 Exhibition)

Description:

       The Lingerie Family is created by painter Frank Holliday, who is one of the founders of the Club 57. This approximately around 30in x 40in painting is currently exhibited in the Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village 1978-1983 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. This piece is a multimedia collaboration between the artists in the club. It was commissioned for a science fiction movie- The Age of Insects, made by Eric Marciano in 1983. The three human figures in the painting are expressed in an abstract way, such as, the uneven face and false proportion of human body. Clown-like costumes and stiff poses shows sense of cubism. The blue background contains abstract ghostlike faces, warped and distorted, create a separation from the colorful human figures in the front. Even though it is acrylic painting on masonite, it does not have a 2D feeling. I can see the artist’s emotional expression through its rough brush stroke. The center figure in the painting does not have a painted eye, it rather has a eye shaped hole which is a window for the electronic display that is set behind the canvas. The display presents the rolling eye of the artist, Frank Holliday.

 

Deduction:

       As more the viewer spends time and pays attention in front of this multimedia artwork, the more they will be involved with this piece. From the close observation, the figure in the center is observing the other two figures by rolling its eye side to side, while these figures on each side are both staring nowhere, creating a mysterious dark mood.

 

Speculation:

       The painting attracts the viewer’s attention and it drives up their curiosity and imagination to understand the situation of the scene in the painting. The moment seems to be depicting a dilemma between the moving and non-moving, for instance, the physical human body and the spirits in the painting. Without any sound nor smell, this piece creates an anxious feeling towards the viewers through the visual elements.

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