My Tahitian Selfie by Ron Marlett.

My Tahitian Selfie   48" x 36"   August 31, 2016
 

In this piece, Ron Marlett wanted to illustrate how the desire to take pictures of oneself using a cell phone can sometimes be inappropriate and obnoxious. Ron chose Paul Gauguin's painting Two Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms (1899) and painted himself into the composition. He used the classic selfie pose with his arm extended out to give the impression that the image we see was taken by his phone. An interesting twist to the picture  is that Ron painted himself to look as though Gauguin painted the picture. This suggests that Ron magically entered into Guiguin's painting to take his selfie. The disasterous result of this intrusion into the private two-dimensional space of the two women has disrupted the balance and tranquility of Gauguin's painting. The platter of flowers is knocked out of the woman's hands and below the two women's thoughts are revealed in Tahitian, "We are disgusted with Ron Marlett!" To see the painting created by Gauguin, please click on Two Tahitian Women (1899)

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