Rob Gonsalves Community Portrait Essay
The painting “Community Portrait” by Rob Gonsalves depicts a stereotypical community. The style of artwork, not particularly prevalent in this painting, which Mr. Gonsalves does is magic realism. This work shows the collection of various leaders of the town. Arranged on what appears to be a park or a village green, the individuals are deindividualized by the removal of their heads. It does’t matter who they are but rather how they fit into their community. This is evident by the positioning of the people according to how their place of work is situated in the town. The lack of individuation adds to the idea that all of them are a part of collective unit, a community if you will. The collection of people is symbolic of how community comes together to make up the town. The viewer is not left wondering what their face looks like but rather what their role is in the community as a whole.
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Many different jobs are represented here.
From doctors to priests and judges to businessmen. Above their bodies lays the painting of where they work. A painter paints the details to a tree in the park. It is assumed from the fact that the tree appears to be an accurate continuation of the real tree in the painting that the buildings are in fact behind the canvas and the group of people. From this one is forced to assume the individuals are posing for the painting based upon how their building fits into the portrait. There are many individuals whose role is not too clear based upon their attire and respective building. One so person is standing in behind the doctor and the man in the grey suit, who appears to be part of big business. Based on the building and the attire of the individual it is possible that they are part of the banking system, an institution that is typical to most
communities.
It seems interesting which buildings the painter has towards the front. There are several buildings which are more prominent than others. Some is the building of the judge, the businessman, the doctor, and the priest. The focus on these buildings may demonstrate their importance in a 21st century community. It can be seen, towards the background, that there is a factory. In the typical American community, where deindustrialization has been a trend since around the mid 80s, factory life and work has become less of a norm. For that reason, it probably has less importance than it once did in American communities. In the center is the man representing big business and the judge representing the law. These two are quite central to modern day societies and communities. For that reason, it makes to have them quite central in the communal portrait. To the side of them, one can see the doctor examining the priest. This is curious as to why this is happening. Perhaps the artist was trying to suggest that religion has become sick or dying. Statistically speaking, Christianity, the depicted religion, has had a movement towards a more reformed practice and has seen a great number of people switching to atheism.
The whole premise of the painting relies on the fact that the individual has stereotypes of the clothing that each of these people wear for their role in the community. Withholding judgement of the painting does fully allow the individual to properly interpret what the author is trying to get across to the reader. The use of specific clothing plays into the fact that viewer will make judgements of these people. This idea is the premise of pursuing a research topic based upon this. In reality, it is very rare for someone to withhold judgements about an individual. Clothes are very much a part of the person which is scrutinized and very well be one of the first indicators people use in judging at first. My question is how do specific articles of clothing cause judgments based upon societal norms. Additionally, are there stereotypes that exist only for very atypical outfits and to what extent does clothing effect one’s perception of another?
Many different jobs are represented here.
From doctors to priests and judges to businessmen. Above their bodies lays the painting of where they work. A painter paints the details to a tree in the park. It is assumed from the fact that the tree appears to be an accurate continuation of the real tree in the painting that the buildings are in fact behind the canvas and the group of people. From this one is forced to assume the individuals are posing for the painting based upon how their building fits into the portrait. There are many individuals whose role is not too clear based upon their attire and respective building. One so person is standing in behind the doctor and the man in the grey suit, who appears to be part of big business. Based on the building and the attire of the individual it is possible that they are part of the banking system, an institution that is typical to most
communities.
It seems interesting which buildings the painter has towards the front. There are several buildings which are more prominent than others. Some is the building of the judge, the businessman, the doctor, and the priest. The focus on these buildings may demonstrate their importance in a 21st century community. It can be seen, towards the background, that there is a factory. In the typical American community, where deindustrialization has been a trend since around the mid 80s, factory life and work has become less of a norm. For that reason, it probably has less importance than it once did in American communities. In the center is the man representing big business and the judge representing the law. These two are quite central to modern day societies and communities. For that reason, it makes to have them quite central in the communal portrait. To the side of them, one can see the doctor examining the priest. This is curious as to why this is happening. Perhaps the artist was trying to suggest that religion has become sick or dying. Statistically speaking, Christianity, the depicted religion, has had a movement towards a more reformed practice and has seen a great number of people switching to atheism.
The whole premise of the painting relies on the fact that the individual has stereotypes of the clothing that each of these people wear for their role in the community. Withholding judgement of the painting does fully allow the individual to properly interpret what the author is trying to get across to the reader. The use of specific clothing plays into the fact that viewer will make judgements of these people. This idea is the premise of pursuing a research topic based upon this. In reality, it is very rare for someone to withhold judgements about an individual. Clothes are very much a part of the person which is scrutinized and very well be one of the first indicators people use in judging at first. My question is how do specific articles of clothing cause judgments based upon societal norms. Additionally, are there stereotypes that exist only for very atypical outfits and to what extent does clothing effect one’s perception of another?