Thursday, September 17, 2009

Retroactive

What i think is interesting about this painting is that it was painted in 1964, the year after J.F.K. was assassinated So, for me, that puts a whole new perspective on the painting. And after doing some research on the artist, I learned that he deeply respected Kennedy and this was just one of six paintings that the artist painted of him. First, i think that the black smudge is very symbolic of his death. It represents that something dark is looming over him. But the in the center of the smudge there is a white spot. So to me this means that within his death we can find hope. Also, Kennedy's pointed finger is also very symbolic. I think the artist is challenging the country. Challenging the country to pick up the pieces and move on and celebrate the great things that he did during his presidency. On the bottom right there is a red section that looks like an explosion. I think that symbolizes how quick and shocking his death was to our nation. And then in the top left there is an astronaut and that represents hope and dreams of the future that Kennedy had. And that we, as a nation, can carry out his legacy. Below the astronaut there is a yellow section that looks like balloons. I interpreted this as that we should celebrate the life that he did live.

2 comments:

  1. I like this picture. I like all the crazyness of all the different pictures he used. And how they used JFK's fingure twice. And how every picture isn't in it original color.

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  2. I definitely think the black smudge above his head represented his death, it kind of looks like a black raincloud that 'follows' you on a bad day.. it could also repesent that he was killed, it was bad luck.

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