Andre Masson: Man In The Guggenheim Museum

If people can give an accurate concept of art, then it is better to say that art gave the artist a definite goal and motivation. Any work of art is needed imagination to be created and completed. I always love to draw, but when I really put the painting as a major, I feel very confused. Because I think I am too lack of imagination, and there is no way to create the ideal work for me. Until I see Andre Masson’s art work “Man in a Tower” in the Guggenheim museum, I know that creative ideas could be inspired by many basic and normal elements of our life. Gradually I have a deeper understanding of art and have the confidence to complete the painting.
When I leave my hometown in Jin Lin Province, China and live in New York, this unfamiliar environment makes me feel lonely. I'm not fluent in speaking English. When I can not express myself very accurately and communicate with other people fluently, I am nervous and I do not have confidence. Although there is the family with me , I still have been in a state of confusion and my attitude is negative about the future. In order to avoid embarrassment due to language barrier, I just stay at home and I am

frightened of going outside except having classes every day. Until I choose an art history class, I need often to go to the museum with my classmates. Although I am asked to go to the museum, I still feel lucky that having the chance to see a favorite work I like. I have always resisted the new environment and culture until this painting has given me a new understanding of western culture.
I am attracted by the painting because the man dress makes me think of Buddhist monks at the first time. The reason is that I like Chinese ancient history, and i study a little history of Buddhism. The overall image of the painting gives me a warm and familiar feeling. It's exciting to meet people or things we know in a foreign country. The more wonderful thing about the painting is that it does not merely represent religious beliefs, but it incorporates more western elements. The whole universe is abstracted painting as a background, expresses the human yearning for the unknown world.
I am quite curious about the character’s profession in the painting, why the hands are very large and extremely prominent. So I search for information about Andre Masson in Wikipedia, and wonder know his creative concepts. He is a French surrealist artist, who has been recruited during the First World War and is seriously injured. This experience let he is pessimistic about life. Then he begins to pay attention to people’s natural qualities and behavior, He is more attentive to his research of destiny, and the mystery of the universe. These hobbies became his inspiration. He is especially keen to use automatic drawing to create, which means let himself in an extreme state without conscious restrictions to complete works. At the same time he also interests in Zen Buddhism.
When I find that I have the same religion as he has, it seems that I can find a common language in his works.

Also I hope that I can better appreciate and understand his creation. In another work, In the Tower of Sleep, the center of the picture is a stripped man lying in the trenches, and it looks like the body is became by the continuously gushing liquid. The huge frightened eyes and instruments with hands seemed to exaggeratedly play the terrible music. The messy and horrible shapes combines a strange image, and it is expressed he is pulled into the deep abyss by the endless nightmare. It reminds me of he is wounded in the war, and because the wife is Jewish, they have to hide and be oppressed I like his exaggerates but very vivid expression. Although the picture is very distorted, emotions are fully

expressed.
Although turbulent life forced him to flee everywhere, he never gives up painting. Painting has gradually become a his way of expressing the feelings. I often wonder if I can like him to calmly face, accept and solve the difficulties or not when I am in a bad situation in life. It suddenly occurs to me that I always stay in a room and refuse accept new things. This behavior has been getting me down. If I refuse to try something new, how could I know that life is still wonderful? When I have a curiosity about the painting, I feel that it was not hard to accept the culture of the West. I should slowly take the initiative to understand the differences and find pleasures of distinctive cultures, rather than go to classes on time every day and after returning home to watch TV to kill the time. Maybe something new and interesting can be a new idea in later paintings. Life is not as boring as I think, so I am grateful that this painting could make me find interests in Western art. At least would no longer feel very difficult to accept and understand in the art history class.