This James Guppy piece, Beacon, was created using acrylic on canvas. It is part of the surrealist art movement and plays on the surreal technique of scale with a vibrant rose dominating the image. The rose appears to be floating in the middle ground of the picture and is almost reaching the sky in height, part of it obscured by the storm clouds. Just touching top of the rose there is a split in the dark clouds, allowing sunlight to pour from the blue sky and pierce the lighthouse that is situated in the very background of the picture plane. In the foreground of the image there are two sailboats being tossed by the raging seas. The mood of the image is dark and gloomy.
The focal point of this picture is the rose, which controls the picture. Guppy used form and tone to create the roses’ three-dimensional appearance. This piece uses the rose for emphasis due to the bright colouring of the rose, its scale and juxtaposition which is what makes this piece surreal. The piece is balanced though asymmetrical with its placement of boats, the roses’ shape and the lighthouse in the background. The picture uses a variety of textures and subject matter in the piece; juxtaposition. The texture of the waves is created by directional line, making them appear choppy and short and giving a sense of movement, one of the principals of art. The lines used are primarily organic; the curves of the rose and clouds. This piece has value as it incorporates many shades of the same red and purple tones. The image uses a fairly analogous and harmonious colour scheme, incorporating reds, purples and blues but due to the contrast of the red and the blue it could be also be described as contrasting. The piece uses mainly a warm colour scheme, except for the blue skies and sea, but the dominance of the red and warm purple make the colour scheme on the warmer side of a contrasting colour scheme.
This image suggests emptiness but there is also an angry side to it, and even a constituent of hope. The large red rose represents love and this rose is not being affected by the ruggedness of the waves in the same way the boats are. Instead of being tossed about the ocean it floats serenely above the water as if it is above the anger, which is literally an “underlying” emotion of the lost love, and the emotion portrayed in the sea, which is created using directional line and movement. The rose, or the love, is physically the stopping the ships from reaching the lighthouse which appears to be the beacon of shore in the distance. The scene is fairly dark and it feels empty; the image is full of subject matter, but all the subjects in the picture are large, not plentiful, and it begins to make one feel small and empty compared to the scale in the picture. Due to the largeness of the rose which, in this picture, represents love or love lost, it makes the viewer feel smaller and insignificant, empty, in comparison to the rose. Although the scene is dark there is light shining down as possibly the beacon of hope in the title “Beacon” as it is shining on the lighthouse, which is also a beacon. The artist is trying to illustrate the emptiness of lost love how it can stop people reaching their destinations, with an expression of underlying anger but that there is a beacon of hope. It is a beautifully depicted and created artwork of emptiness, loss and regaining strength.
This is an etching - we've been doing a lot of etching in art recently of various surreal collages - when I finish mine I'll scan it up here but it's looking tragic and ... well, not finished yet so hopefully my use of directional line will improve and it'll just generally get a lot better.
So, anyway, happy art Ms Hampton.
The focal point of this picture is the rose, which controls the picture. Guppy used form and tone to create the roses’ three-dimensional appearance. This piece uses the rose for emphasis due to the bright colouring of the rose, its scale and juxtaposition which is what makes this piece surreal. The piece is balanced though asymmetrical with its placement of boats, the roses’ shape and the lighthouse in the background. The picture uses a variety of textures and subject matter in the piece; juxtaposition. The texture of the waves is created by directional line, making them appear choppy and short and giving a sense of movement, one of the principals of art. The lines used are primarily organic; the curves of the rose and clouds. This piece has value as it incorporates many shades of the same red and purple tones. The image uses a fairly analogous and harmonious colour scheme, incorporating reds, purples and blues but due to the contrast of the red and the blue it could be also be described as contrasting. The piece uses mainly a warm colour scheme, except for the blue skies and sea, but the dominance of the red and warm purple make the colour scheme on the warmer side of a contrasting colour scheme.
This image suggests emptiness but there is also an angry side to it, and even a constituent of hope. The large red rose represents love and this rose is not being affected by the ruggedness of the waves in the same way the boats are. Instead of being tossed about the ocean it floats serenely above the water as if it is above the anger, which is literally an “underlying” emotion of the lost love, and the emotion portrayed in the sea, which is created using directional line and movement. The rose, or the love, is physically the stopping the ships from reaching the lighthouse which appears to be the beacon of shore in the distance. The scene is fairly dark and it feels empty; the image is full of subject matter, but all the subjects in the picture are large, not plentiful, and it begins to make one feel small and empty compared to the scale in the picture. Due to the largeness of the rose which, in this picture, represents love or love lost, it makes the viewer feel smaller and insignificant, empty, in comparison to the rose. Although the scene is dark there is light shining down as possibly the beacon of hope in the title “Beacon” as it is shining on the lighthouse, which is also a beacon. The artist is trying to illustrate the emptiness of lost love how it can stop people reaching their destinations, with an expression of underlying anger but that there is a beacon of hope. It is a beautifully depicted and created artwork of emptiness, loss and regaining strength.
This is an etching - we've been doing a lot of etching in art recently of various surreal collages - when I finish mine I'll scan it up here but it's looking tragic and ... well, not finished yet so hopefully my use of directional line will improve and it'll just generally get a lot better.
So, anyway, happy art Ms Hampton.
