Shabaz Khimani's Museum Visit

I visited the Arlington Museum of Arts, and encountered great pieces of art that were created by artist in local Arlington. There were many captivating pieces there, but one caught my eye, “Changing World” by, Oregie Navero. The vibrant colors was the first thing that blew me away, the way the Artist used a great mixture of warm and cold colors to create a illusion of a changing world. One the part of this painting that I fell in love with is the use of lines to create a pleasant flow in the painting. The artist does a great job of using the characters eyes to show a vertical upward movement, as if the character is staring out to the tops of large skyscrapers. I believe this brings upon a meaning of the painting. I used the word skyscrapers instead of buildings because the artist once again uses lines to emphasize the heights of the skyscrapers surrounding the character. The winds like lines also help bring on a perception of tall standing buildings. I also liked the way the artist used the checkered box illusion to make the skyscraper seem even taller. The checkered boxes also create a subtle rhythm throughout the painting, which seems to really bring the painting together. The face on the character seems to reflect the idea to tall skyscrapers, as she has a worried / concerned facial expression glowing out of the dark background placed behind her. It seemed like the artist was trying to show the character coming out of a dark place into a new colorful, but overwhelming world. I believe the dark space behind the character represents a form of hiding or a cloud of the knowing. This is where the title comes in. I believe that the artist was trying to show the character’s first view of the “new world” as a little kid would when first leaving the home and entering the large city. This is shown with the straight clear eyes and the relaxed facial muscles of the character, and her tense shoulders. In the painting, the artist sticks a pair of lips on one of the skyscrapers. These lips, to me, seemed to have been place there at random, and after trying to understand the placement of these lips, I was unable to understand the meaning and the purpose of this shape. The artist seems to try to use all the space he can in this painting. The only place where there is a break in the action of intensive colors is where there is break between the skyscrapers. Here the gray sky seems to still show as a strong white sky coming from behind the skyscrapers. I believe is gives the viewer’s eyes a quick break as the colors seem to get brighter as closer to the top your eyes go. This painting is asymmetrically balanced, as there is more action happening near the bottom left corner, and the changing of the colors, from the dark and black color to the lighter and livelier colors towards the top. The last thing that I liked was the way the artist used two different styles of painting. On the character, the artist used a choppier, almost blot like style. I believe that helped show the expression on her face. Then the rest of the painting was done in a smoother and wind like style which I believe helped emphasis the heights of the skyscrapers. Overall, I believe the artist did a great job on including many different meanings and styles to express on single thought of a,”Changing World”.