Gallery Activity

Lara Woolfson

When I first approached this image there were two things I noticed. The first was the actual size of the picture. It was much larger than the rest hung around the gallery which definitely beaconed me toward it because the detail was easier to see. After I was in front of it and started to analyze it the second thing I noticed was the thickness, or the particular fatness of the yarn. The reason this was brought to my attention so quickly was because everything else in the frame seems pretty normal to some extent; the normal living room scene.

As I continued to look, the next thing I noticed was that the eyes, feet, and hands were the only skin exposed. This is not something I completely understand the symbolism in. At first I thought it was because feet, hands, and eyes are part of the primary body part grouping that we think of for use and importance. I also noticed that because of the thick knitted clothing, the exposed body parts look smaller than they normally would and were more subtle. This was part of the reason why it was not the first thing I noticed when looking at the frame.

The figure in the middle is really what bridges the top of the image to the bottom of the image mostly based on color for me. Because the couch is blue and much darker that the rest of the frame, the person in the middle, whose shirt is red, is really matching the wall behind and cutting across the couch into the floor. This is where it meets with the more yellow bottom section of the image given the pants and oriental carpet. If the person would have been wearing cooler colors or darker clothing, this would have separated the frame into 3 sections making it more awkward for the eye to flow across the image.

One of the last pieces of composition I noticed was the picture hanging on the wall. I tried to image it without that which in my mind would make the room seem much more empty. I think the very rigid, angular structure of the picture frame contrasts the soft edges of the couch very well. I also feel that this picture hanging in the back sets a relaxed feel of the scene. I don't know the reason that the photographer picked that photo in particular but I feel that it works well there in terms of "normalizing" the reset of the scene.