Analysis About a Painting
Rob Gonsalves
A Canadian artist of magic realism, Rob Gonsalves, was born in 1959. Being a child, he used various media sources to paint from imagination. By the age of twelve, he became more competent in architecture as he learns techniques of perspective. Then, he created his first paintings and rendered imagined buildings. Studying in college, Gonsalves worked as an architect, painting murals and theatre sets. In 1990, after the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Gonsalves began to spare all his time to painting. Gonsalves started to paint in surrealistic style when he got acquainted with artists Dali and Tanguy. The future work of Gonsalves was strongly impacted by Magritte’s approach of “Magic Realism” and Escher’s precise perspective illusions, which depicted impossible realities. These influences combined allow Gonsalves to create paintings that depict unfathomable worlds of overlapping perspectives, invoking a true sense of magical presence.
Naturally, Gonsalves’ paintings are extremely imaginative. Gonsalves’ works differ because he distinctly plans the paintings, which come from conscious thoughts; therefore, they are frequently considered to be surrealistic. Generally, the surrounding, scenery, and human activities help to generate the ideas for artist’s paintings by using developed devices concerning illusions. Gonsalves, in his works, combines realistic things with magic elements. Consequently, his paintings are sustained in the style “Magic Realism”. The artistic vision of Gonsalves is directed at depicting humans’ ability to accept unbelievable things.
In June 2003, Simon and Schuster presented Gonsalves’ first hardcover book “Imagine a Night” with sixteen images to North America and Canada.
“Imagine a Day”
The book gained a huge success that in 2004, Simon and Schuster published another book called “Imagine a Day”, the illustration category of which earned the 2005 Governor General’s Award in the Children’s Literature. In 2008, Gonsalves’ book “Imagine a Place” was published. In 2009 and 2010, his first wall calendar, called “master of Illusion” was released. Evidently, Gonsalves has become the most famous living surrealist artist in North America. At present, he is regularly published by Huckleberry Fine Art in Rockville, Maryland.
At the moment, Gonsalves’ art counts 70 paintings and more works are expected. The artist devotes plenty of time to create perfect pieces of art that result in four paintings each year. Besides, Gonsalves creates original paintings, limited edition prints, and images for his own books. Various corporations, embassies, and many people around the world, including a United States Senator collect them. Rob Gonsalves had exhibitions and one-man shows at Decor Atlanta, Art Expo New York and Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, Hudson River Art Gallery, Marcus Ashley Gallery in South Lake Tahoe, Saper Galleries, and Kaleidoscope Gallery, at Discovery Galleries, Fine Art Forum, Ltd. Some of Gonsalves’ optical illusions are Bedtime Aviation, Carved in Stone, Chess Master, Deluged, For the Birds, On the Upswing, Still Waters, and so forth.
Generally, an optical illusion makes the individual see the thing from different views due to the trick of perspective. The artist has to be aware of few perspectives to create an optical illusion. Combining complicated perspectives into one picture is extremely hard to achieve. Rob Gonsalves’ painting, The Sun Sets Sail, is an image of a water aqueduct standing on clouds, which are mixed with a gradually fading range of sailing ships. Here, Gonsalves plays with the spectators’ perception by depicting ships as the space of the arches under the aqueduct. Ships depicted in detail jointly with the aqueduct create an optical illusion, which is considered to become a splendid piece of artwork.
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The elements of design saturate the painting with the feeling. Shapes used by Gonsalves aimed at outlining the sailing ships. Therefore, the shape of ships and arches under the aqueduct is similar. The arched aqueduct deflects to the right. The diagonal structure gives the impression that the ships are moving while the space created in the painting seems to be unlimited by the edges of the canvas. Generally, none object in the painting is limited by space. The edge starts from the aqueduct however, beyond there is more space for arches. Primarily, this optical illusion occurs due to the transition between the aqueduct and the ships which are established by the texture of the sails on the ships. At once, only the nearest two ships are clearly depicted on the canvas. The optical illusion as well is affected by the color scheme in the painting. Thus, the blue color of the aqueduct coincides with its silhouette on the left and the color of the sky on the right. Blue and white colors make the illusion facile and smooth. The design rules establish the textures in the painting.
The wave pattern used by Gonsalves was aimed at decreasing the presence of water in the foreground. This method makes the spectator distract from the water and objects in the painting. The range of numerous ships and the arches makes the piece be uniformed. Thus, movement is created with the diagonal structure of the aqueduct. The objects of optical illusion such as ships and the aqueduct have a strong balance. In comparison to the works of Escher, Gonsalves’ paintings do not provoke gravity or change the perspective. Furthermore, the distant look at the painting from a distance gives a little contrast. The ships almost disappear while the aqueduct is distinctly seen.
Sun Sets Sail
Besides, the Sun Sets Sail has few Gestalt Principles used by Gonsalves. Arches are appeared to be restrained as well as the ships are contained by the edges of the arches. This piece of art seems to be harmonious. Therefore, the aqueduct and the ships have a very smooth transition and do not break the quality of the piece. Nevertheless, this transition disrupts the painting. The definition of the objects rapidly changes within the painting, thus none of them are similar. The painting seems to be closed looking from left to right. On the left, there is a clearly seen aqueduct and simple arches. In the middle of the painting, the aqueduct is fading while the details of the complete ships are appearing. On the right, the aqueduct is simply a silhouette of space, and the last ship is completely depicted in detail. The painting is finished by the ship presented at the end. The Sun Sets Sail is a simple, soft optical illusion. Such artworks always develop the imagination extracting its possibilities. They provoke inspiration for the intuitive intellectuals who inhabit the contemporary world. Illusions like this saturate reality with the impossible things, breaking the accustomed perception. They extend the artists’ creation boundaries.
To my opinion, the painting Sun Sets Sail is an artwork, which is worth to be hanging in the house of every connoisseur of magic realism, partially, of the Gonsalves’ art. This painting attracts the spectators’ eyes due to its calmness and simplicity. At the same time, the picture gives the impression of freedom and eternity. When I look at this artwork, I feel bliss and harmony. To my mind, the blue and white colors saturate the painting with nobleness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Rob Gonsalves, whose artistic vision was extremely influenced by the surrealists like Dali and Magritte, managed to create his own style, called magic realism. He successfully applied his knowledge of architecture in the artworks, which burst out the individuals’ minds up till now. His painting The Sun Sets Sail is characterized as one of the optical illusions, which excites and at the same time calms the spectator. A Canadian artist of magic realism, Rob Gonsalves, was born in 1959. Being a child, he used various media sources to paint from imagination. By the age of twelve, he became more competent in architecture as he learns techniques of perspective. Then, he created his first paintings and rendered imagined buildings. Studying in college, Gonsalves worked as an architect, painting murals and theatre sets. In 1990, after the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Gonsalves began to spare all his time to painting. Gonsalves started to paint in surrealistic style when he got acquainted with artists Dali and Tanguy. The future work of Gonsalves was strongly impacted by Magritte’s approach of “Magic Realism” and Escher’s precise perspective illusions, which depicted impossible realities. These influences combined allow Gonsalves to create paintings that depict unfathomable worlds of overlapping perspectives, invoking a true sense of magical presence.
Naturally, Gonsalves’ paintings are extremely imaginative. Gonsalves’ works differ because he distinctly plans the paintings, which come from conscious thoughts; therefore, they are frequently considered to be surrealistic. Generally, the surrounding, scenery, and human activities help to generate the ideas for artist’s paintings by using developed devices concerning illusions. Gonsalves, in his works, combines realistic things with magic elements. Consequently, his paintings are sustained in the style “Magic Realism”. The artistic vision of Gonsalves is directed at depicting humans’ ability to accept unbelievable things.