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Duane Hanson: The Treachery Of Images

Decent Essays

The French phrase “Trompe l’oiel” means “To deceive the eye” in English. A famous work of art that uses trompe l’oiel is the work of Rene Magritte, “The Treachery of Images”. A more recent trompe l’oiel artist is Duane Hanson. His work focuses on trying to create a resemblance of human beings using materials like different kinds of resins, fiberglass, bronze, and bondo castings. He is often described as a “Realist” or “Hyperrealist”, also being included multiple times in the “Pop Art” movement. Hanson’s works revolve around typical American lifestyles and stereotypes, usually obesity (determined by how large many of his works are). His works are unmatched in realism; the pieces are so lifelike that one could easily mistake one for a real person. …show more content…

In Hanson’s’ “Woman Eating”, we see a woman (made out of polyester resin and fiberglass) sitting at a table in a chair, with food and a magazine on the table. The woman’s mouth is slightly open, and her hand has a spoon in it that is lifting towards her mouth, creating a sense of predictability and movement. The artist uses the shape of the human body by casting parts of other people’s bodies and then puts the parts together and makes almost the same human. Using polyester resins and different oils and paints, Duane carefully recreates the human body and then dresses them up and places them in a scenario. Duane also intricately attaches hair to his works, including facial hair and arm and leg …show more content…

This painting shows an image of a pipe, but underneath the image is a line of text that says “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” Translated to English, it means “This is not a pipe.” Magritte’s meaning is that the painting is not a pipe, but just a painting of a pipe. She is trying to convey the message of surrealism, a type of art movement that tried to complete or resolve certain disagreeing conditions of dreams and realities. Simply put, this movement allowed artists to explore their subconscious by painting odd and confusing pieces of artwork. There are definitely lots of similarities between Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images” and Hanson’s works of art, the main factor being that they are both examples of trompe l’oiel. Magritte’s work deceives the eye by picturing an image and then saying that the image is not what the image is, an example of an oxymoron (contradictory terms). Hanson’s art fools the eye by being so realistic that it looks like his artworks could get up and start walking

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