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(posted on 15 Nov 2024)


As this was an imaginative response to the horse I decided to give it a pattern that one might expect with a zebra, but the colours are unique. The eyes are compounded and enlarged like a real fly. You might think that each lens is one of thousands which make the fly hard to swat but in reality the fly only has five eyes. The two that are enlarged semi circles that we see and then three smaller ones on top of its head. Even though it only has five eyes it is still hard to capture a fly by hand.

Being able to see the world differently has always reminded me of the “Scream” by Edvard Munch. He did it as a print and as a painting.

I don’t know about you but if somebody were behind me screaming the way this figure seems to be my reaction would be to turn towards the source and see if I was in danger, then see if somebody else was in danger. This makes me think that the scream is internal, expressed in the body but inaudible to the strollers further along the board walk.

Munch distorted the figure to emphasize the screaming and he moved the hands up on either side of the face, similar to the burial figures of ancient Peru. In researching this image I found various experiments by Munch where he tried different portrayals of the figure in the foreground. I also ran across a diary of his which indicated that his inner turmoil was real but was focused on what was being done to the land by those in his country. This would have made him an early environmentalist even though a number of people have used it for psychological pain.

It is one of the ugliest art pieces produced and yet it is one of the most memorable and has a place in art history because it is impossible to forget.

Edvard Munch

The Scream