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clemelntine · 13 days ago

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Shitty analysis of Proletariat Expressionism by Yok

This form about the art in not me reminded me again of Yoks art and I have been thinking about it ever since.

I also do have to practice these things for school. So here is a visual analysis (with a particular look at art style) of Proletariat Expressionism, a painting by Yok, from Not Me. Original painting by Oat Montien

(Small disclaimer. I do study mostly Western art history, so my judgment on some things is clouded by that. However, as Yok focuses his art piece around the expressionistic art movement, one started in Europe, I feel I do have some insightful theories and interpretations)

(Another small disclaimer: I talk a lot about Yoks decisions for this art piece. I tried to look at it from the perspective of the not me universe to see how Yoks emotions might shine through. It's a lot of searching for meaning that probably isn't there. I know the decisions aren't Yoks and just thought I should mention that as to not discredit the actual artist (Oat Montien) who made this piece and a lot of the decisions regarding it.)

To start Yok already tells us some things about the piece; it is an expressionistic portrayal of a proletariat suffering, and the viewer is supposed to find beauty in that.

It is a pretty good subject. Nudes are common in paintings but usually fall into two categories.

*(There are many different thematic portrayals of nudes outside of the Western artwork that I didn't mention here)

Classic depiction of a nude form where the body is shown in a gracefull, idolized, or dramatazided manner, these paintings are beautiful. They portrayed male nudes as heroic and female nudes as innocent, they are supposed to feel like they are 'for the viewer'.

Around the 19th century, a second category emerged. Paintings where the nude was supposed to be provocative. For example, a piece like Olympia by Manet where we see a nude prostitute who isn't in a submissive position or trying to be pretty. The viewer is the customer in this painting, and Olympia knows that, looking us straight in the eye. She isn't a girl who was caught naked and painted for our pleasure. She knows her appeal, and she is claiming it.

Yok goes outside of these bounds, showing a vulnerable naked male body. He doesn't fit the classic archetype, but his nudeness isn't anything to cause controversy either. He is still supposed to be beautiful.

The piece is described to be expressionistic, an artstyle characterized by expressing feelings and emotion through abstraction of reality, and showing the personal, subconscious reaction of the artist to his surroundings. This is in line with the Proletariat Expressionism.

Expressionistic pieces use an exaggeration and abstraction of visual means to emphasize this aforementioned emotion. The different areas of abstraction are color, light, proportion, perspective, use of materials, and composition.

Color: The choice of red and warm tones is a really good one. Red, especially when on a body, is quickly associated with blood, whether within the body, from shy blush or red hot-faced anger, or out on the skin where it reminds one of blood. This color shows who Dan is, shows his anger at the world, and his embarrassment/shame to share it. It also doesn't hide his past. He's killed a man and has literal blood on his hands. Yok knows this, and he doesn't want Dan to hide it as much as he does. He needs Dan to realize that that experience has become a part of him. And on the painting shows that the blood he spilled is rubbed across his body.

The purple hues could also be a clue to the suffering Yok aims to portray. He wants to show the 'scars' that the proletariat suffered under the oppression they face. Dan doesn't have any scars (I wonder why he didn't add the gunshot wound to the shoulder Dan got during the making of this piece) but bruises show the effect of continuously being beat down on by the ones in charge (litteraly).

Warm colors also attract the eye, they draw us into the picture. Yok was very adamant about wanting to show the proletariat nude, and he doesn't want the viewer to shy away but instead to look deeply into the painting. Red is a wonderful choice for that.

Light: The lighting source is somewhere above him slightly to the viewer's left.

Dan casts some shadows on his own body but has no shadow from other objects. This isolates him even more, and although Yok already didn't paint any of the room that was surrounding them, making sure that none of the objects would cast shadows on Dan drives home the point that Dan is supposed to feel alone in this piece.

In the posing/drawing scene, there is also a lightsource coming from the left and lighting Dan from behind. Yok didn't depict this (there is some light points visible on the egde of his limbs, but they are not as big and there is specifically none on his face), and the singular light coming from above could be a metaphor for judgment. It could represent the light from God. This hints at Dan saying he feels he is confessing his sins during the drawing process and makes the piece feel more open and vulnerable, we see him not as just a viewer but as someone who he is sharing his secrets with

Disclaimer: this ^ is mostly rambling that could very easily be explained by the fact that the painting was made by Oat Montien in a different room than where they filmed the scene (different lighting and devoid of any object), but please indulge me in my nonsense

Proportion: There is nothing important happening with his proportions, and the piece is very lifelike in that area.

Perspective: The point of view is around his eye height. This isn't abstracting in any sense, but it does create a sense of intimacy. The viewer is lowered down to his perspective, and we are supposed to feel like we are on the same level as him. Which makes it easier to relate. This way, the observer also gets a better view of his eyes, which carry a lot of emotion.

Use of materials: Expressionistic pieces are usually in oil paints, but they definitely don't have to be. This artwork looks like it is pencils, pastels, or crayons. The texture of the canvas (the little white dots) is visible, but there are some well blended areas as well. So I'm not sure which one, but Yok used a soft material. The areas of canvas showing through and some of the sketchy unblended lines that Yok made are usually techniques to emphasize the fact that it is an artwork on canvas and not an accurate depiction of reality. This is a concept that is very prominent in Fauvism, an expressionistic art movement that started around 1905. Fauvism means wild animal, because critics thought the images that the fauvist depicted were atrocious, due to the harsh lines and colorwork. Henri Matisse, a fauvism artist, responded to this by saying that he agreed, and if he met a woman like 'Woman with hat' (a painting by him for which his wife modeld), he'd run away. That wasn't important though, this was a painting, not a woman. They wanted to let go of the rules of the real world and write new ones in their art.

The blotches of colors in Woman with hat are also very similar to Proletariat Expressionism. And I think it is a beautiful comparison that Yok too ended up making a painting of someone he loved just for him to want to run away from him after the piece was completed. There is no mention of Yoks opinion of the piece, and he did intend for it to be beautiful, so I doubt it was his intention to make a fauvistic piece in any aspect other than visual traits.

Composition: The composition doesn't leave much for the mind to theorize on. It is a very straightforward central composition. There is also only one subject so I can't say much about the relation of objects to each other. It all comes down to why the subject is centered and why the background might be empty.

You can actually see when comparing the first sketch and the finished work that Yok decided to crop it a bit. Part of the right leg is cut off. This removes the bit of Dan that was sticking out, making the subject into a sort of square instead of a triangle. This also makes it look like his head is sticking out of the form his body creates. The attention of the viewer is more to this painting because it doesn't 'fit in'. Eyes are drawn to difference. This even though Dan's head is one of the darkest points. Yok probably chose this because he wanted our attention on the face. Keeping the leg extended while it also has such strong highlights would draw the eye away too much.

I already said that I think the background is empty to isolate Dan and make him feel alone. I also think it is simply so as not to distract the viewer. Backgrounds can be great for telling stories about the subjects in them, but when there is no story, when it is just about the emotions of the subject, it can be a smart decision to leave out a background. The color black could allude to the night, which is when Dan does his activism art. A trait that yok finds very appealing. Or it could simply be because a dark background makes the dark colors in a painting seem less dark. It's a way to brighten up the gloomy scene. Because even though Dan is sad, suffering, and morally dark, the world around him is worse.

Finally no one needs any knowledge on art to see that this piece takes obvious inspiration from The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel. The positioning of the figures is near identical, except for the tilt of their head and the amount they are leaning back. This, however, isn't mentioned in the show, and they act like the position just came to Yok and Dan naturally (the actual reason is because it was a decision made by Oat Montien, as he explains in this post). Ignoring that though. This comparison in positioning allows me to compare the two in story and meaning as well.

The Fallen Angel is a depiction of the devil right after being cast out from heaven. This can be seen as a similar story as Dan and his departure from the police force. The angel fell because he wanted to much, wanted to be God. In the same way, Dan wanted to bring justice, something that wasn't his role, and when he got involved with the gang to do this in his own way, he asked/wanted to much and eventually got removed from the police force.

The difference between the two is that Gawin sits more upright and more of his face is visible. Dan's posture makes him seem like he is ready for action. The angel doesn't look relaxed necessarily but Dan looks less accepting of his fall. He is willing to get back up and redeem himself (he doesn't want to go back to where he fell from (the police system) but he wants to make it up to the world through other ways). Because of the tilt of his head the eyebrows of the angel cover his eyes more, making him look angry. This contrast shows that Dan's main emotion about his fall isn't angry. He is sad, as his little tear and sad eyes tell us.

I have some more things I wanted to add to this about Yoks other sketches and inspiration, but couldn't because it'd be to long. So I might still compile that into a different post.