Critique #1

Brandon Salvas

3-7-11

G Block WAVI

Critique #1

Gaia

            In Ancient Greek Mythology, Gaia is known as the Goddess of the Earth. Gaia personifies the Earth and is sometimes depicted as a large tree or she is made up of the different elements that are naturally found on this planet. In the painting, Gaia, Alex Grey uses the emphasis of contrast, juxtaposition, and background to show the viewer the transformation of the world.

The juxtaposition that Grey uses in “Gaia” shows the emphasis in the transformation of the world that he has throughout the image. The Sun and the Moon show good and evil. Other parts of the image that are contrasted through juxtaposition are the luscious branches covered in green leaves with the burning branches on the opposite side of the image. Grey uses juxtaposition to show how much the world has changed and how mankind is ruining Mother Earth with pollution, over population, and industrialization.

The contrast of the images in the painting helps express the change of our planet that Grey is trying to show. On one side of her is what the world was like before man came to be; the left side of her trunk is composed of breasts pouring water into a stream filled with swimming fish and deer drinking on the banks. In the branches of the tree are many heavenly birds and creatures surrounded by luscious green foliage. The background under her branches is painted as an African plain that is populated by all the types of animals living peacefully with one another. On the opposite side, her trunk is covered by outlets which are connected to power lines leading into the horizon. Next to the power lines is a factory letting off plumes of smoke into the polluted sky populated by planes. The branches on the right side of the painting are engulfed with flames and have demons hanging by the limbs of the tree. The contrast that Grey uses shows the transformation of the world in a negative way, showing how much man has polluted and rid the land of its beauty and resources.

            Most of the detail and meaning in the painting is seen throughout the background. One of the key details in the painting is in the upper corners on the right and left. In the upper left hand corner is a Sun which can be a metaphor to the happiness, flourishing energy, and purity of the left side of the painting. Also in the upper left hand corner surrounding the Sun is Space with Planets, Galaxies, and Stars. In the opposite corner is the Moon in its waning crescent stage surrounded by missiles and satellites flying through space. The stage in which the Moon is painted has great significance. The waning crescent stage is the last phase the moon goes through before the New Moon where the Moon is no longer visible. This can be interpreted by showing that the Earth could be reaching it’s final stage and is close to it’s end through the great transformation it has gone through. You need to pay attention to the background in the picture to realize its true meaning.

There are many different elements that Alex Grey uses throughout his works of art that sets his paintings apart from everyone else. He focuses on making the entire work intricately detailed to show the meaning of each piece. Some of the elements he uses include juxtaposition, contrast, and background. Gaia is an example of a painting in which he uses each one of these elements to show his view on the transformation of the Earth.