European Endless: The Art Of European Endless By Nick Potter

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Europe Endless is an oil on canvas painting by artist Nick Potter (5.5ft x 7ft) created in 2016. It is painted from a perspective that outlooks a moonlit lake from the inside of an isolated, contemporary styled sitting room with a large, ceiling to floor window. Across the lake, a mysterious structure looks to be on fire. Another painting by Nick Potter in 2016, Orientalism (4ft x 6ft), is an oil on panel painting that features purely architectural imagery, rather than the lake that is painted along with the interior of a building in Europe Endless. Within the painting, an old time, Asian architectural design stands between two adjacent modernistic buildings. The two buildings seem to tower over the smaller one, which looks to be either sinking or emerging from the ground.
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Many elements place emphasis on the smaller construction, such as the saturation and variety of the onion domes, which greatly juxtapose the uniformity and monotony of the larger constructions. Furthermore, the typical, Asian building is not to scale; in reality, it is not as small in comparison to the symmetrical buildings that dominate it within the painting. This proportional inaccuracy emphasizes the overwhelming and conquering atmosphere that the grand, modern buildings emit. Through contemplation of the title, the symbolism displayed in the painting is more apprehensible. “Orientalism: the representation of Asia… in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonist attitude.” With this in mind, the painting now seems to represent the dominating presence that the western civilization radiates. The Asian architecture is the “stereotyped” symbol that represents the collective culture, while the imposing buildings symbolize the western and modern

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