George Green Critique

The artwork by George Green titled, “…marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind” was created in 2011 and is on display at the Portland Art Museum. This particular painting has the dimensions of 48 X 80 inches. The artwork was created using acrylic paint on a piece of birch wood. The painting seems to be compromised of a discolored stormy sea picture surrounded by a wooden frame. On top of the frame and picture are objects randomly laid about such as spheres, scrolls, arabesques and small photos that all seem to jump out at the viewer. In reality this is all one painting; the frame, the center painting, and even the objects placed on top. Green started this by painting the edges of the frame on the birch wood, then moving into the center where the stormy sea is displayed. Afterwards, Green painted on the objects, seem to pop out, to create a sense of chaos on top of the painting.

I believe Green wants the audience to see the painting as if one is looking out a window. The chaos on the frame is all of

the things running through one’s mind. Then they “look outside the window” or into the frame at the dark illusion of a stormy sea with the lightening bolt seeming to be frozen in time. At that moment one realizes that the grass is not always greener on the other side. The other side, or the “outside” in this case, also has many issues to deal with despite its beautiful and mysterious appearance. The audience realizes they are not the only one withholding chaos and issues in their mind. The world outside is sometimes just as chaotic and beautiful as the world we hold inside our minds.
George Green created this particular work of art with just acrylic paint on birch wood. However, he controlled the paint so well it appears as 3D. This painting is considered a highly illusionistic 3D painting, however, it is only a 2D painting. The extreme precision and shadow painting done to create the frame is truly an amazing skill and really helps the painting be a window to look at the outside world. These skills tie into the role of the artist number one, because he is showing us the world from his perspective. I believe that Green is trying to prove that the outside world is just as beautiful and chaotic as the world inside our minds.
Art elements are very important elements to help the structure and creation of a piece of artwork. In “…marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind,” there are many of these elements brought in to help elevate the meaning of the painting. For example, this painting has all different kinds of lines, from the contour line on the frame to the expressive lines found in the scrolls and arabesques. The scrolls and arabesques create curved, jagged, thin and thick lines. Therefore, these lines have width variance which direct the viewer’s eyes around the painting. Another art element is the shape/form of objects in the painting or the painting itself. For this particular piece it appears to be 3D, but in reality it is actually 2D. The shapes are actually 2D, but some of the spheres and objects appear to have 3D form as they protrude from the frame. This appearance of the 3D form leads to the art element of using light.
Green uses the art element light by showing the sun through the clouds. Since the light appears to be far away, it helps create more depth in the painting, which in return helps out the appearance of a 3D painting. The artist uses very light colors to portray the lightning bolt, giving it a strong emphasis when looking at this painting. Another way light was used is the actual lack of light to help create the landmasses to appear far off in the distance. Another art element Green uses is a wide variance of colors in this painting to give the impression of dreaming. The painting of the stormy sea in the center has color distortion to help it appear like an illusion.
A couple more art elements that help this painting work well together is the use of texture, space, pattern and motion. The texture of this piece is more visual than tactile, because the objects and frame jump from the painting and appear separate from the centerpiece. Therefore, even though the painting is only 2D, the artist created the space to appear as 3D, by creating a frame and objects jumping out from the painting. In the objects that jump from the painting, Green uses patterns to help direct our eyes around the painting and to focal point. These patterns mainly consist of the use of triangles that seem to point the attention of the viewer to the lightning bolt. The two little landscape photos create a large triangle with the lightning bolt to give the bolt the most importance, therefore, creating the focal point. The scene displayed in the center seems to be in constant motion. From the rolling waves to the lightning strikes to the floating and moving shapes, create the illusion of constant motion around the painting.
There are also many art principles that helped in the creation of this artwork, for example, balance, unity, movement, emphasis, scale/proportion and rhythm. Asymmetrical balance was used in this painting, because there is more distribution of visual weight on the left side of the painting. The unity of the colors used in this painting also help balance the painting. The colors displayed on the scrolls and arabesques appear to be the same colors used in the center painting creating a sense of belonging/unity for both sides of the painting. The artist also used movement in this painting shown through the rolling waves and width variance of the swirling lines on top of the frame. The main emphasis of this painting is the movement the objects create, that always direct the viewer’s eyes to the lightning bolt. The art principles of scale/proportion are also used in this painting, by the way the two little landscape photos on the left are very small in importance and scale to the large picture in the center. The last art principle used in this painting is the use of rhythm. Rhythm is used by the swirl of the arabesques and the sharp edges of the triangles to create the sense of chaos during a storm.
I believe Green uses the distortion of color and illusion to make the viewer feel as if they are looking out a window.

The appearance of 3D chaos and objects full of motion on the frame is all of the things running through the viewer’s mind. Then they “look outside the window” or into the frame at the dark illusion of a stormy sea with the lightning bolt seeming to be frozen in time. At that moment they realize the perspective Green is trying to get across; the grass is not always greener on the other side. The other side, or the “outside” in this case, also has many issues to deal with despite its beautiful and mysterious appearance. The audience realizes they are not the only one withholding chaos and issues in their mind. The world outside is sometimes just as chaotic and beautiful as the world withheld inside the viewer’s mind. All of these art elements and principles help this painting have meaning and bring it together to make the painting work very

well.