Fascination with the Obscure
By: Gavin Mannino
February 2nd, 2022
I took some time and viewed the various works of Man Ray and one thing that jumps out at me about his work is his style. His photo gallery is very diverse from portraits of subjects to miscellaneous items that could be found lying around a house, but all of the photos give off an emotional feeling of sadness. A lot of the photographs' contents lead me to believe that Man Ray is some kind of "tortured artist" or someone that is misunderstood. His photography and art can be weird, and it can be hard to decipher the meaning of them, which is right up my alley!
I love art because it is able to transport the viewer into a different world. I love how Man Ray is able create art with photographs in the real world and still give them a sense of other worldliness, or surrealism. I do not think art needs to be explained. I think all the questions make art more attractive and appealing than answers would because it would destroy the imagination and fantasy of the viewer, I like to wonder and be perplexed when looking at a photograph or a work of art. I feel Man Ray's Tears is one of those works that just stand out, because of how surreal it is and how it captures the emotion of sadness.
"Larmes" or Tears by Man Ray is not some kind of provocative or complex piece, it is a simple photograph created by a model putting glass beads on her face and posing with an upward glance. The way the photo was created is not the interesting part, but the why is to me. According to a Getty Article on the artwork, "Man Ray made this photograph in Paris around the time of his breakup with his lover Lee Miller, and the woman's false tears may relate to that event in the artist's life." It would appear that Man Ray was trying to photograph "crocodile tears" and was making a piece that was personal to him. Without that information, the photograph would seem like someone just crying but with the context of the information from the article, it appears Man Ray was making a personal statement on the cruelty and fakeness of his former lover.
Man Ray was able to make one photograph communicate multiple messages or conclusions that could be assumed, and this is not even one of his more obscure works. Man Ray understood surrealism and created so many fascinating works that were a obscure and bewildering, just my kind of art.
Works Cited:
“Larmes (Tears) (Getty Museum).” The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles, http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/37756/man-ray-larmes-tears-american-about-1932/.
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