The first was a black and white photo by Johnathan Davis titled “Rufus Davis.” It is a simple portrait taken directly of the front of the subjects face. The subject is an elderly black man wearing a World War II veteran’s cap. The man’s eyes were hypnotizing; they drew your eyes in. They say that “the eyes are the windows to the soul” and this picture seemed to capture that. Staring back into this subjects eyes he seemed as though he was about to cry. I have to think if the man wearing the hat is truly a World War II veteran or if it is simply a cap. Then if the cap is really his I wonder if people treat him differently depending on whether he has it on or not. But no matter whether he is a veteran or not he is elderly and has obviously seen more than his fair share of hard days. Each wrinkle on his face represents an experience and from the number you know he is wise. The picture uses light to reflect against the man’s dark skin making his lines of wisdom even more clear. Though the suit the man is wearing is neatly pressed and perfectly white his unkempt beard and mustache contrast with it.
The next is seemingly placed strategically within the eyeshot of the subject in the black and white photograph. This is a mixed media piece by Lauren Strain called “untitled” it is of a what seems to be a young woman’s face with her hair pulled neatly into a bun on top of her head. This piece is done in mostly red with only spare uses of blacks and yellow. Though the figure is fairly simple and two-dimensional she renders a feeling of grief like one that comes from a woman who has been beaten by her husband. The use of red leads me to believe that the artist wants the viewer to get a feeling of pain from the work. The use of yellow and black seems to show tears. Most of the detail is focused on the eyes making them look sad. It seems that the artist used water to make parts of the paint run further exposing sadness in the woman. The woman is not quite in the center of the painting but rather is set off to the right side. This placement makes her distant to the viewer. The woman seems to be hiding something, which the artist portrays by a solid red circle next to the woman. It seems to black her into that side of the painting.
Though the two works I discussed are done in two different medias with two different subjects there are some comparisons to be made between them. Both artists chose to focus on the face of the figure excluding their bodies from the piece. Both subjects seem to be focused straight ahead as to stare into the viewer and have the viewer stare back. The eyes of both subjects seem to hold sadness behind them. The artists seem to be making a statement about the sadness in the world. The veteran is disappointed in what has come of a nation, which he has fought so hardly to defend. Perhaps when he takes off his cap and clean pressed suit people treat him as another old man and judge him by his shaggy beard rather than the lines of wisdom on his face, treating him as a decrement to society rather than someone who fought to defend all of our freedoms. The woman is forced to wear her hair neatly up and make up to appear as though she is happy and the perfect wife. She is trapped in her own skin unable to tell anyone what really happens to her and how she is really treated. Both artists are making a statement about judging people from what they look like on the outside. Perhaps it is our jobs to look further into them. At first glance both works are simply a persons visage but by focusing on their eyes we seem to be able to learn more about the subject. We can feel closer to them by noticing the sadness in their eyes. While it is impossible to say for sure what each figure is thinking or feeling the sadness in their eyes is impossible to ignore.
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