Representational Analysis. Visual & Performing Arts Essay

The two works that I have chosen for this essay are:
by Reiner E. Moritz. Grant Wood : American Gothic. Germany :ArtHaus Musik, 2012.
By Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring
These 2 works represent 2 different ways to how gaze has been utilized to convey different types of emotions. In the first painting, the American Gothic, critics point out that the main theme is a commentary on the repression of austerity in the life in rural America. The painting is ang artistic rendition to what Wood has witnessed in Southern Iowa, as he depicts social class and status. At the center of it are two characters that show intense emotions through their facial expressions and their gaze, integrated with symbolic representations of the mundane and the real. Wood decided to paint out the people who would live in such a home, and he was able to get his dentist and the dentist’s sister as the models. The figures in the painting. As an audience “looks” at the painting, his focus is directed upon the gothic vibe and mood of the setting and the characters. At the center of the piece is the spikes of the three-pronged pitchfork, symbolizing the type of society and lifestyle. It was also a symbol to their ethnicity, as pioneers of the new World, America. The art also delves to a power dynamics between the status of man and woman. The man is stern, and has a vibe that he can provide, and he takes the lead. This symbolizes patriarchy. At the back is the woman who appears to be gazing at the man, supporting the man, and being assured by the man. Aside from that, the gaze or the way how the subjects “look” somehow relates to a transactional exchange between viewer and subject. The American dream of a self made man, and the reality of how women were subordinates is portrayed ...