Grace Nguyen COMPARATIVE

STUDY
In this comparative study, I will be comparing and analyzing Salvador
Dali and Toshiko Okanoue specifically through their theme of
phantasmagoria. I will express their thematic aspects in my own work,
From Okanoue’s art I am inspired to creatively manipulate my photos to
create unique distortions and morphs. I am also inspired to layer the
photos on top of each other and edit them to look as though I cut them
out of magazines. Additionally, her subtle messages of female social
issues inspires me to also depict issues that I also care about. I am
inspired by Dali to include a bright colour palette in my own pieces,
organizing the objects within them by colour and shape. I am also
inspired by his fantisful ideas of combining contrasting elements and
morphing them to create one object,
Who is Toshiko Okanoue?
Toshiko Okanoue is a surrealist artist born in 1928 (91 years old) Kochi Japan who is best
known for her Surrealist photo collages. In the early 1950s, while studying fashion in Bunka
Gakuin, she began making photo collages out of fragments from Western fashion magazines
due to the abundance of foreign goods post World War II. In post- war Japan, there were
shortages of goods which meant foreign goods filled the market such as fashion and lifestyle
magazines Vogue and Harpers Bazaar which will become her material for her collages.
Creating radical compositions of combining animals, body parts, and inanimate objects in
dynamic arrangements. Although the collages are of Western components, Okanoue
regarded her technique of image making as a form of hari-e (‘hari’ means pasting and ‘e’
means a picture in Japanese), a traditional Japanese technique. She produced over 100
works, her collages dreamlike and idiosyncratic in their juxtaposition of contrasting
imagery.
Her art career ended as she got married in 1957, only having 2 solo exhibitions at Takemiya
Gallery, Tokyo. Her art was forgotten for almost 40 years before a curator of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Museum of Photography rediscovered it and is now recognized for her
contribution to Japanese avant-garde. She is now retired in her hometown where her art is Retrieved May 5, 2019
displayed in Meguro Museum of art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum of http://amanasalto.com/en/artists-en/toshiko
-okanoue-artists-en/
Fine Arts, Houston.
 TOSHIKO OKANOUE

MODERN HISTORY
Description:
In this piece is two girls are laying gracefully in the centre bottom of the portrait oriented piece. One girl lying on her stomach
propped with one hand looking into the distance her face turned away from the viewer. The other girl seated, one leg tucked
under the other leg gracefully pointed to the side, arms in a 90 angle covering her face as she looks off to the right. The two
girls take up exactly the width of the canvas, wearing lingerie-like gowns with their hearts embedded by arrows. In between
the two girls is the head of a chicken peaking out in the direction of the right. The floor is a dark pavement grey with papers
lined up in aisles, getting smaller due to perspective. The ground takes up half of the canvas where the wall meets with four
large classic windows. The four windows are parallel to each other, displaying a scene of a horse stampede with the leg of
one of the horses kicking out of the window on the far right window. On the left side where the ground meets the window,
there is a mailman in a formal tuxedo one, one hand holding a newspaper and the other holding onto a stack of newspaper.
Above him are two birds soaring on top of each other, mimicking the position of the two girls with their wings. All scattered in
the mid-section of the piece are pieces of paper falling down in a descending motion.

Formal Analysis
Okanoue uses the elements of space and form and the principles balance and emphasis. The two women are the main
subjects of the composition, taking up half of the canvas. Their feet take up the width of the piece their picture is overlaid on
top of the other. By portraying them so close together that there is no space in between them, the artist successfully isolates Description:
them from the rest of the background and piece. By concentrating and layering photos with open negative space around Title: Modern History
them, Okanoue successfully uses space to emphasize the subjects. Her colour scheme of black and white creates a Artist: Toshiko Okanoue
solemn mood with a 50s olden television aesthetic, further emphasized by the pose, clothing, and setting of the piece. It
Medium: Photographs, Prints and
creates a solemn tone as the colour scheme is dull and the body posture connotes a melancholy and surrendering mood.
The stark contrast of the stampede of the wild horses further isolates the women as trapped. The choice of using lighter multiples, Platinum and Palladium
shades of grey and hues of white in the lower half of the canvas and darker tints of blacks and greys in the upper half of the Print on Archival Paper
canvas creates balance and contrast. Further creating a divide between the subjects and the open land of animals. The form Date: 1956
of two objects overlaying each other is repeated on the top left side of the canvas of two birds replicating the women's
position. This produces a repeated motif which brings balance in the piece.The dark wall meets the light grey floor in the Dimensions: 35.4 x 45.1 cm
centre of the piece, creating balance. The overall use of the elements of space (condensing and overlaying images while
uses negative space to create borders), and form (the repetition of squares and position) effectively creates the principles of
balance and emphasis.
- INTERPRETATION -
I interpret this dynamic, imaginative piece as a
message of freedom. By portraying the women
with no space and isolating them, this
represents imprisonment as there are arrows in
their heart like they are hunted, and their eyes
are covered either by their arms or their body
positions look away longingly. The stark
contrast of the stampede of the wild horses
further isolates the women as trapped with no
freedom. Through diving the piece with the wild
animals on the top half of the piece and the
women at the bottom, it creates a divide
between the two subjects. The two birds
repeated on the top left side of the canvas
replicates the women’s position. This may
represent their spiritual freedom leaving them.
Additionally, the man in the black tuxedo
holding the newspaper may represent society’s
opinions and views on the women and forcing
them to act the way society wants to.
TOSHIKO OKANOUE
MODERN HISTORY
INTERPRETATION -
Emphasized by the torn papers
scattered in the mid section of the
piece, the papers are strewn in rows
which conveys society’s straight cut
idealization of beauty standards that
the women have to uphold. According
to Okanoue herself, “I have planted
such delicate nuance of a woman’s
heart and sown seeds of such
sentiments into my works. The folds
of a woman’s heart were visualized by
my works of collage” (Amansalto,
n.d.). Expressing how her artworks
“not only belong to herself, but also to
all women who live in the same state”
photo historian Kaneko states.
Through depicting women with their
face usually covered, distorted, or
replaced, viewers believe that she
“provides rare insight into woman’s
dynamic imagination” (japan times,
2019) in a male dominated art world.
Thus, agreeing how this piece
represents women’s mind during the
time period
-JUDGEMENT -
I personally think that this is a
creative method of expressing
feminism and issues during the
time period during a time period
where women were not equal to
men in Art and Society. The
seemingless blend of the cropped
and cut out images unifies the
piece together without creating too
much of a stocky effect. The
overall colour scheme effectively
creates a monotone aesthetic
which I like as it supports the
demeanour of the two women. Her
choice of using various photos to
create a dense and detailed piece
compacted with a lot of information
in an organized yet chaotic manner.
This piece is successful in
portraying instrumentalism as
Okanoue highlights the social
problems females endure through
the use of high end magazine
where the issue originates from
(beauty standards). Through the
principles of design of colours and
space, she effectively criticizes and
bring to light social issues.
-CULTURAL CONTEXT -
This surrealist piece was inspired
and made by the goods and
materials during the reconstruction
phase of postwar Japan. During the
war, all goods and materials were
used to provide the war so Japan
was filled with imported foreign
goods. Taking cutouts from various
popular fashion and lifestyle
magazines such as Vogue and
Harpers Bazaar, Okanoue used
these goods to create dreamlike
collages through the traditional
Japanese technique of hari-e. During
this point of her life she was not
aware of surrealism and was
inspired to create more after meeting
Takiguchi, the leader of the surrealist
movement in Japan, who introduced
her to the collages of many other
surrealist artist such as Max Ernst.
Her pieces were made at a time
when men not only dominated the art
world, but society in general,
Okanoue wanted to add more focus
to the women of the world through
portraying them in mostly all of her
pieces. Her pieces were created
during the Contemporary Art
movement.
 TOSHIKO OKANOUE

VISIT IN NIGHT
Description:
The background of the portrait canvas is a dark, grainy image of a cathedral or church. The buildings are layered in front of
each other much like a retro film landscape used for movies in the 40s. There are two prominent silhouettes of towers in a
light grey tint. These two towers appear connected and are slightly skewed to the right from the centre of the canvas. In
front of the two towards is a more rectangular building, with various spikes pointing upwards on the top. As this is layered
before the previous towers, it is a darker tint of grey. At the bottom of the piece are several smaller rectangular buildings,
varying from light greys to dark greys. On the very most left side cut in 2/thirds is a large tower that goes out of frame and
borders the left side of the piece with a smaller trapezoid shape building bellow it to its right side. The entire piece seems to
be skewed to the left as there is negative space on the right where it looks like the piece is cut off/endeded. Above the
trapezoid french architectural-like buildings is a umbrella without pole or handle tilted downwards in the left direction. At the
bottom left corner three umbrellas of a lighter tint are layered on top of each other also with their pole and handle removed.
This is also repeated on the left corner where there is a lone umbrella with the lightest tint of grey. In centre there is a
woman in a white dress contrasting the background image with her lighter tones. She is vertical mimicking the buildings,
and her dress splays out much like the fan that replaces her head. These shapes are faintly echoed by the umbrellas
floating behind her and the pointed spires behind her. Hanging over her bent arm is a coat and her square purse. Her hand Description:
is gloved in white silk gloves with her right arm parallel to her on her side pointing to the right and her feet is pointed
towards the audience, one hidden behind the other in a ballerina like stance. Title:Visit in Night
Formal Analysis Artist: Toshiko Okanoue
Okanoue uses the elements of colour and space and the principle emphasis. She uses a grainy, faded background to Medium: Photographs, Prints and
emphasize the principle subject and uses negative space to further isolate the objects. The background images are multiples, Platinum and Palladium
layered on top of each other, condensing at the bottom, to create various layers of tinted greys. The dullness of the
colour pallette further emphasizes the main figure as the stale background contrasts the vivid/strong white colour of the Print on Archival Paper
dress. She deftly plays the verticals of the building against the numerous triangle shapes. Which is the woman’s splayed Date: 1951
out dress and the fan. The repeated use of symmetrical shapes such as rectangles, trapezoids, triangles, and squares Dimensions: 35.4 x 45.1 cm
creates a peaceful mood and the principle unity. There is no visible source of light or paint strokes as the piece is made
up of photographs and mimics 40s Hollywood backdrops.
- INTERPRETATION -
I think that Okanoue is trying to express the
treatment of women in film and how they are
sexualized. Her use of masking the model’s
face, thus, emphasizing her body and
clothes forces the viewers to look at the body.
Additionally, with the background mimicking
the backdrops of silent films, she may be
connoting the woman’s lack of voice in the
profession. The open fan may represent how
she has to open herself so the audience can
her glammed appearance rather than the
plain closed fan. The umbrella generally
connotes protects and dignity and as the pole
is removed, it may represent the lost of
control and dignity.
TOSHIKO OKANOUE
VISIT IN NIGHT
INTERPRETATION -
According to Japan times, the
piece is interpreted as “a deep
sense of anxiety over the human
body” evident through replacing the
head with an inanimate object. This
is a repeated motif seen through
Okanoue’s pieces such as
“Aquarium” (1952) and
“Noblewoman”. Through depicting
an unidentifiable woman, viewers
can insert themselves into the
role/position of the figure. People
perceive the piece as exposing and
bringing to light of exploitation and
sexualization of women in movies.
This is further emphasized as the
image of the model was taken from
the fashion magazine Vogue which
is notorious for inducing beauty
standards.
-JUDGEMENT -
I like the way she portrays actresses
through an unidentifiable collage, as it
successfully conveys her message of the
treatment of women. Through the use of
emphasizing the woman’s figure from the
background and from the face, the viewers
are left to no imagination, staring at the
body dressed in a luxurious dress. By
taking away familiarity and identity the
viewers are subjected to a personalized
experience of relating to exploitation and
beauty standards even celebrities face.
The choice of using a grainy background
creates further value into the clear and
pristine body figure. Her choice of keeping
a minimalistic background that mimics
old backdrops from films such as Charlie
Chaplin further emphasizes her message
as it places the subject and her identity into
focus. This effect of being able to identify
similarities in background and model
depicts instrumentalism. Through this
piece she is able to subliminally comment
on social issues regarding women in
society and in the workplace. Thus,
creating a reaction of revelation. If she
were to use darker tones for the
background, it would further emulate the
mood of loneliness better than the pale
tones.
-CULTURAL CONTEXT -
The 1950s was a period of transition in
Hollywood and the most important was
the transition of women representation in
film. The roles of women were
oppressive to the desire and needs of
men, playing the role of subordinating the
male patriarchal protagonists and his
desires. The Hayse code was
Hollywood’s self imposed censorship
code stating how a woman was to be
portrayed in films. They had to be
married or want to be married, live a
domestic life and enjoy it, and serve a
man. Thus, growing up during this time
period, Okanoue was surrounded by the
exploitation of actresses and their
oppression. She spoke on the issue
through her art in a surrealist and
contemporary style during a time when
men also dominated the field. Unlike
many other photographic collage
surrealist artists like Max Ernst and Iwata
Kakayama, she focused solely on
women through distortion. Although her
art is surrealism, the more prominent
surreal artists focused more on colour
and expression such as Frida Kahlo,
René Magritte. Thus, her art was
discarded for many years until they were
rediscovered in the 20th century.
Who is Salvador Dalí?
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domenech was born on May 11, 1904 in
Figueras Spain and died on January 23, 1989. He is most famous for his works in
surrealism and printmaking and his explorations of subconscious imagery. His growth
of his mature artistic style was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s writings on erotic
significance of subconscious imagery and the Paris Surrealists who sought to establish
the greater reality of the human subconscious over reason. Dalí is famous for depicting
a dream world where objects are deformed, juxtaposed, or metamorphosed in a
irrational and bizarre fashion. However, the objects were meticulous and realistic and
placed in sunlit landscapes reminiscent of his Catalonian homeland.

Though he is most remembered for his paintings, he also turned to fashion, advertising,
printmaking, writing, and filmmaking collaborating with Luis Buñuel and Alfred
Hitchcock. He was renowned for his flamboyant personality and his mischievous
provocations. Through his hyper-realistic style and religious symbolism, he was Retrieved May 5, 2019
inspired by classical and renaissance art. Dalí photographed by Carl Van Vechten in
1939
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C
3%AD
 SALVADOR DALÍ
THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR
Description:
The entire scene is within a bullfighting ring, submerged under yellow and red tones, alluding to the colours of the Spanish
flag. There are various classical greek figures concentrated in the centre of the piece. On the left side of the midsection of
the canvas, taking up ⅓ of the column of the piece, are translucent images of Venus de Milo turning the other way showing
her back in a linear line. The images gradually become more opaque and saturturated. The two largest, prominent, and
most vibrant figures are on the right side taking up half of the canvas at the end of the line. The armless statues’ body and
clothes form the face of a man tilting his head slightly to the right. The clothes the women wear are the white shirt, green
tie, and red scarf on his shoulder. The blast of colour on the left bottom corner is a combination of simplistic circles and
the detailed river and object creates a contrasting aesthetic of minimalism vs. surrealism. The fallen object is shaped like
a bull on fire, blood coming out of its mouth, mixing with the blue river where a yellow raft is floating. The slain bull slowly
rises to become a mountain which is the landscape of Cap de Creus, Dalí’s living place. Exiting from the bull are several
flying insects in a linear line with Venus repeating in between the objects highlighted in blue and yellow. The top ⅓ row of
the canvas has the most empty negative space, consisting of the background which is a bullfighting arena. In the most
top left corner is a small floating face of a woman highlighted in a golden hue. There is a figure below her face which is also
illuminated in a yellow aura with the motions of a bullfighter raising its red cloth to attract the bull. The background consists
of the motifs of dots in rows that mimic the seats of a stadium. They fade/blend into the other objects, filling up the canvas Description:
with details of simplistic shapes. Some of the circles are then morphed in flying insects, with repeating statues and flies
Title:The Hallucinogenic Toreador
splattered sporadically.
Formal Analysis Artist: Salvador Dalí
The strongest principle is unity which is brought about by the elements colour and space. The choice of using a warm Medium: Oil on Canvas
colour palette creates a more dreamlike aesthetic as it gives a more warm and happy tone ( as yellow is associated with Date: 1970
happiness and warmth). His choice of using black to create repetitive detail contrasts the warmth of the painting,
Dimensions: 400 x 300 cm
emphasizing the objects encaptured in the soft hues as black is a harsher and dominant colour. The softer aesthetic
emphasizes the haziness of the dream which is highlighted by the clashes of imagery and the gradual build up of detail. Period: Classical Period
The colours connect all the various thoughts and images together to create unity. The clustered images on the bottom left
corner and the upper right corner blended with the larger simplistic images in the middle successfully uses space to create
unity and balance.
- INTERPRETATION -
I interpret this piece as the thoughts of Dali
while watching a bullfight. As his mind shifts
from one detail to the other, the images blend
together and transforms into something new
overtime you look at it. His attention span of
looking at the classical Greek culture that
decorates the building to the flies that zip
around on a hot summer day to his wife
begrudgingly watching the fight. He captures
his whole train of thought with the landscape
of his native land to create a piece that is
enchanting and fascinating.
SALVADOR DALÍ
THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR
INTERPRETATION -
According to Dali Paintings, in this
piece “Dalí transmits his wife’s
dislike for bullfighting”
(Dalipaintings, n.d). She is seen
encompassed in a golden hue
creating a soft countenance which
contrasts her stoic and impassive
expression which is interpreted as
her hatred for bullfighting. These
two contrasting details are
interpreted as Dalí’s view on his
wife which is warm and angelic like
the rest of the piece while also
highlighting the realistic emotions
of his wife. Through his own unique
method of depicting events and
object he portrays “his own visual
language” (dailyartmagazine,
2018). Viewers are overwhelmed
when they see this piece as there
is an abundance of small details
and outburst of colour which
alludes to his dreams.
-JUDGEMENT -
Inspired by bullfighter and fighters in
Spain in the 1940s, Dali combines
symbolism with optical illusions with
various motifs to create his own visual
language. The versatile images with the
combination of his paranoiac-critical
method (technique invoking a paranoid
state) successfully creates a mystifying
aesthetic. His academic style art truly
brings out his traditional sentiment for
his country and culture. The viewer is
subjected to an abundance of detail
that would be lost without context. Thus
this piece is successful in portraying
institutionalism as it is necessary to
understand the cultural significance and
the thought process of Dali to
understand the piece. I admire the
outbursts of colours and the warm
tones used in the piece as it depicts a
happy memory/dream although the
subject is more solemn. His choice of
using warm tones to represent a happy
memory on a sport he loved so much is
really successful in creating a mood of
fondness. In order to highlight the
deeper and darker meaning of some
objects he could have used more dark
and contrasting tone to emphasize
despair and death.
-CULTURAL CONTEXT -
Dalí grew up in Spain where it is rich in
culture and tradition. He was fascinated in the
traditional activities of bullfighting and spanish
culture he included them in his piece. The
face of the man that morphs into the bodies of
the two statues is wearing the attire of a
bullfighter. Which references to the “greatest
bullfighter of all time” Manolete who died in a
bull attack that took the world by storm.
Additionally, he includes other traditions such
as lighting bull’s horns on fire which is
depicted in the bottom left corner. The
gruesome tradition is depicted with an
inflamed bull whose body transforms into a
mountain representing the mountains around
the town of Rosas near Dalí’s studio. The bull
may as be Islero which was the famous bull
that killed Manolete. Dalí was highly
influenced by his spanish origin especially
after the Spanish Civil War. Dalí was also
influence by his wife Gala who is a repeated
muse throughout his works. She played a
large role in his dreams which is seen in
many of his erotic surrealist art and themes.
He was also heavily inspired by classical and
renaissance art which is seen through his
Venus statues. During this time he also met
Miró and Pablo Picasso who are also
prominent surrealist artists of the same time
period who would influence his works greatly.
His technique of combining classical and
modernist techniques through an
avant-garde style attracted much attention at
the time resulting a mixture of praise and
puzzled debate from critics.
 Purpose
COMPARISON Okanoue is more specific in what object she
uses. She draws inspiration from various
magazines, such as Vogue, and then creates a
Colour combined image around multiple cutouts to
Okanoue’s colour palette revolves around the colours found in magazines and printing press at the time during the create a new meaning or image. She focuses on
40s which was a black and white colour palette. The colours are usually flat, with the main subject distorted using female social issues such as beauty standards
stronger and lighter tints of white. Her contemporary art with surrealistic style uses a very limited/monotone and exploitation in television through her crafted
colour palette with the background usually a combination of various settings. Typically grainy and dull to emphasize pieces. Dali on the other hand paints his thoughts
the principle subject. Dalí’s surrealism has a wider colour palette that is much more vibrant and warm, typically and dreams through symbolism and optical
using warm tones to emphasize the dream-like state and reference to his country. His paintings are filled with detail
illusions. His art is institutionalism where the
through an academic style with no brush strokes through a realistic aesthetic. There is minimal negative spaces
context and origins of his thoughts play a huge
and each object is filled with its own meaning and symbolism, emphasized through their unique aura and colour.
role in understanding the details.
Style
Okanoue uses cut out photos from fashion and lifestyle magazines while Dali uses oil on canvas. Okanoue revolves
around instrumentalism with rough stockier cuts and layering of images on top of each other. Her collage art
principally includes various details brought together from other magazines, smoothly integrating the different cuts into
one piece in a more contemporary art. Dali has a more academic painting style where he is influenced by classical
and renaissance art styles. His brush strokes are very smooth, creating a realistic image with incredible detail. Dali
revolves around institutionalism and is a prominent surrealist artist due to his expression of thought, his use of
optical illusions and symbols, and his use of colour. .

Culture
Okanoue originates from Japan, her culture influences her art making process hari-e, which is the process of pasting
pictures. Post-war Japan was imminent in her art evolution as Japan depended on western goods which is where she
encountered Vogue and other lifestyle magazines. Thus through western sources and traditional japanese art making,
her culture influenced her art. Dali, however, was absorbed in his own culture which was Spanish. Everything he
painted had his pride for his country, including motifs relating to traditional spanish activities or landscapes. He was
inspired by everything around him including his wife Gala and his home land.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Okanoue depicts female social issues through surrealist contemporary art. Through the hari-e art making process she
uses western magazine sources to cut out pictures of models and actresses to distort them with inanimate objects or animals. Her
creative use of distortions and morphs allow her pieces to have different hidden meanings and add unique detail to her art. Her art is
overcrowded with an abundance of detail that add on to her message and her use of organizing her pictures by tones and hues brings
about balance through her piece. From her art I am inspired to creatively manipulate my photos to create unique distortions and
morphs. I am also inspired to layer the photos on top of each other and edit them to look as though I cut them out of magazines.
Additionally, her subtle messages of female social issues inspires me to also depict issues that I also care about.

Dali expresses his own dreams, emotions and thoughts through art. Focusing more on creating an intricate, detailed painting he
reflects his state of mind including symbolism of events around him through surrealism. Taking context and experience he creates an
optical illusion of morphes and distortions. His expressive and colourful palettes bring his paintings to life and adds energy to it. I am
inspired by his piece to include a bright colour palette in my own pieces, organizing the objects within them by colour and shape. I
am also inspired by his fantisful ideas of combining contrasting elements and morphing them to create one object,

The theme for this piece is phantasmagoria which is a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream. Inspired by
both Okanoue and Dali, I wanted to reimagine reality into a visualized thought. I believe that both artists effectively use phantasmagoria
as their principle theme uniquely even though they use different colour palettes, style, have different culture, and purpose. In my
own series I will be creating, I will take inspiration from their artworks and mimic their method of surrealism into my own piece.
Ideation
Idea 1: I wanted to explore new ways of distortion and morphing through photography. Following Okanoue’s technique of hari-e, I
wanted to print out the various photographs and cut them and replace certain body parts and television screens. I would then saturate
them with various vibrant colours onto one final canvas.I did not go with this ideation as I wanted to also emphasize the digital aspect
of art to further emphasize the message around social media.

Idea 2: I wanted to create a series that when placed side by side, create a larger image. Each piece would have its own individual
meaning yet when combined may serve a greater purpose/meaning. I did not go with this idea as I felt that the final larger piece will
demeane the individual meaning of each piece as the viewers would be too absorbed to see the smaller meanings.

Idea 3: I want to do a photographic piece that mimics a collage almost but is filled with distorted faces. It will be a series with three final
pieces each with brighter contrasting colours. I also want to show the more fashionable side of this piece by dressing up the model
with more high fashion clothes and more Vogue-like abstract makeup. Through the use of the RGB colours I want to allude more to the
technical photography aspect of the art. Through blending and creating stocky collages, I want to express and over exaggerate the
use of photoshop/distortion in media.

Idea 3 was chosen as I felt that it was successful in alluding to the media aspect of my piece which would highlight/emphasize the
message. This draws inspiration from Okanoue as I still layer and distort my photos while also mimicking the clean cuts from cutting
magazines. This also allows me to easily organize my pieces to mimic Dali’s clustered and detailed pieces. I will also use his method of
colour organization in this ideation.
Artist Statement
The theme for this piece is phantasmagoria which is a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream. Inspired by both Okanoue and Dali, I
wanted to reimagine reality into a visualized thought. In this series I wanted to convey an exaggerated version of photoshop in media. Mimicking the colours of RBG,
I focused more of showing a digitalized art piece that magnifies disproportions in media with high fashion makeup. Everyone has an idealized beauty standard that
they dreamed to be and I used distortions to show how these idealizations can go sour. In the red canvas it shows the worst case scenario of idealization where it
has a more devilish aesthetic. The face is melted and twisted and the makeup is smudged and ruined. The sharp ears and the devilish horns with the devilish
background emits a more nightmare and disastrous tone. I wanted to emphasize the effect of media of photoshopping people to become an unrealistic goal through
a sequence of images.

The green piece has the most obvious distortions in them and the trees in the background hidden behind the distortions and the picture of the city represents
how the we are furthering away from ourselves. A lone tree surrounded by the demanding city and the distorted people. The green picture of me smiling represents a
twisted version of me, mockingly grinning at how lost I have become. The butterflies fly around as a motif of hope, the green representing envy and jealousy as I
stare seriously at the camera in a solemn and sad mood. The small green figures are mocking and represents me spiralling further away from who I was.

The blue piece represents how no matter how much you change of yourself you will never be happy. This is seen in my shocked expressions, the car
crashing around me, the tear made out of my eye falling down my cheek, and the third eye opening. The bright blue brings about a mood of peace but the colour of
blue is associated with sadness. The repetition of mouths represents the inner voice trying to escape the nightmare of the mutation and distortion.
Final Artwork
Overall, I am really pleased with my work.
Through a similar theme of Dali and Okanoue I
was inspired to create a very bright
photographic piece filled with detailed motifs and
distortion. I feel that I could have added more
detail to the green piece to match it better with
the rest of the series. I feel that my strongest
principle is unity with the supporting elements of
colour and shape. Each piece is organized by
its colour pallette, which is red, blue and green.
All the objects in each piece correlates with its
thematic colour. The photographs generally take
a rectangular or square shape with various other
objects that also take a geometrical shape.
There are some negative space that further
emphasizes the photos and unifies the entire
series.

Additionally, I have decided to keep my final

artwork digital, projected into a movie where the
objects are moving or distorting to go with the
theme. The reason for such is because the
printed images were less vibrant than the digital
images and this will allow my to further
emphasize my message through a unique way.
Connecting to Art Making Process
After finalizing my ideas I began to take photos of myself in various makeup looks and clothes.
Unlike Okanoue I took my own photos rather than cutting out from magazines and Incorporated
majority of the portrait without cutting anything out. I, however, enlarge some features like my hand
and duplicate others like my mouth and eyes and edited the photos to look very rough and jagged
rather than smooth. I also layered various images on top of each other, creating a collage much
similar to Okanoue’s style.

Following Dali’s very expressive and optical illusions I made various faces ranging from surprise to
serious and photoshopped my features to have duplicate features, stretched out skin, and twisted
features. I organized all the objects by colour and put them in their matching coloured canvas.
Much like Dali, I wanted colour to help guide the mood of the piece, thus, my red piece is more
demonic and firey, the green piece is more stoic and peaceful, and my blue piece is more surprised
and sad. The emotions in each piece ranges which confuses the audience as they don’t know
which feeling is more prominent. As I took inspiration from Dali’s quote "The fact that I myself, at the
moment of painting, do not understand my own pictures does not mean that these pictures have no
meaning; on the contrary, their meaning is so profound, complex, coherent, and involuntary that it
escapes the most simple analysis of logical intuition."
Bibliography
Toshiko Okanoue: A Surrealist in Japan | Huxley-Parlour Gallery. (2018, April 14). Retrieved May 13, 2019, from
https://huxleyparlour.com/toshiko-okanoue-a-surrealist-in-japan/

Toshiko Okanoue. (2019, April 02). Retrieved May 13, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiko_Okanoue

Toshiko Okanoue. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2019, from http://amanasalto.com/en/portfolio-prints-en/1500/

The Hallucinogenic Toreador, 1968-1970 by Salvador Dali. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2019, from
https://www.dalipaintings.com/the-hallucinogenic-toreador.jsp

The Hallucinogenic Toreador. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2019, from

https://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/hallucinogenic-toreador-1970

Atlas Gallery. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2019, from

http://www.artnet.com/artists/toshiko-okanoue/visit-in-night-1951-a-V0V5MpbRfms6zssmTPMekA2