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Summary Of Untitled By Gerald Dono

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The painting of Untitled by Gerald Donato displayed in the Taubman Museum in Roanoke allures attention by the chaotic combination of figural pieces and the collided whirlwind of vibrant yellows, oranges, greens, and undertones of black. The background information shares that Gerald Donato was a talented, beloved painter and teacher whose work anticipated references to important art-historical developments. Ideological forces, such as familiar cartoon imagery, “Steamboat Willie”, and formally represented figures, are clearly influences in his work as his interest of hidden subject matter is visually bursted on an oil canvas. He created a blended cartoon-like scene of abstraction and figuration by incorporating a mysterious feminine figure “Moon face” and a recurring character “Mr. Man” to embody a message of escaping from the spiral cage that represents the constraints in life. Mr. Donato borrowed images from past history and radically transformed these elements through his own blend of abstraction and figures to send a message about the conflict between society and individuals.
The artist depicts an initial confusing and weirded-out thought for the viewer at first glance, but as one deeply examines the art, the subject matter begins to become more clear. The vision being shared in this non-objective painting has a context of placing one in the standing of Mr. Man by gaining height and freedom from the (white) bars that are rising on each level that represent conflict which traps one in a “cage” of misery. The unbalanced symmetry of having the left side take up more space with little action, and the right side being smaller with the action unraveling, makes the viewer break down each composite perspective. For the left side, the mysterious female muse, Moon-Face, has an unproportional face that is almost blushing with shades of light pasty orange, with the mouth wide open. The energetic mood is amplified by the tone of yellow that is splashed in the mouth, representing a loss of words or at a state of disbelief. The female’s lower half is created with tints of red that enhances the curves on her body, as if chiaroscuro connects the light and dark contrast to show outline of the breasts, stomach, and hips in

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