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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