Muntean / Rosenblum Untitled [Everything was as it had

been a minute ago…], 2001 [painting]

Muntean/Rosenblum’s Untitled painting ^[fig1] depicts a scene in which three individuals stare back out of the painting intensely at the viewer. The work relies on the viewer’s interaction to create an aura of suspense and tension about the painting. This is further emphasised by the statement written at the bottom of the piece, ‘Everything was as it had been a minute ago, except for a sense of general suspension, as of things holding themselves in stillness, not daring to breathe.’, which confirms the artists intentions as to make the viewer feel as if they are intruding on the piece.

The compositional arrangement of the work ^[fig2] is composed of thirds and triangles, which takes the viewers eye around the three individuals in the painting but ultimately always leading back to the top right third. This creates a point of focus on the central woman and her nudity resulting in the viewer becoming awkward yet further questioning the scene that plays out before them. Further analysis of the individuals in the painting shows that the outermost figures depict strikingly similar facial features, bone structure and hair and eye colour. In this regard, they can assume to be siblings. Meanwhile the central figure is heavily reminiscent of Gustav Klimt’s ‘Danaë’ ^[fig3] a painting which depicts Danaë, mother of the demigod Perseus, as she has intercourse with Zeus.

The viewer then comes to question exactly what was going on before they stepped into the room, what a brother and sister would be doing alone in a room with a nude women, a bottle of alcohol, television and a clock. The clock gives the viewer a snapshot into the enigma before them, the time displayed is 8:05 precisely. The positioning of the clock suggests that the artists made it intentional for the viewer to recognise the time. 8:05 happens to be the title of a song by the band Moby Grape on their debut album ‘Moby Grape’, the song focuses on a breakup the last lines of the song being ‘I guess you’re leaving…goodbye’. This entices the viewer to keep viewing regardless, creating a paradox in which the awkwardness of the scene is inescapable.

 

Bibliiography

Gustav Klimt, Danaë. (2015). [image] Available at: http://www.gooly.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/gustav-klimt-danae.jpg [Accessed 2 Dec. 2017].