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Description Art Encounter

Cruella De Vil- Keith Haring 1984

Keith Haring is known for his simplistic, but iconic figurine paintings and drawings. Although this 1984 painting doesn’t feature his signature character, his famous style still depicts a powerful image. “Cruella De Vil” portrays a woman torturing Dalmatians in a cruel and un-human like manner. Cruella De Ville is a character in the book and movie 101 Dalmatians. Her character is the evil menace in the film and she plots to hurt the poor puppies. Much like the movie, she is depicted to be an evil ghoul like figure. Cruella’s face and hands are arranged in an almost demon or… gargoyle like manner, maybe in order to allude to how dehumanized she is. Her finger as twisted in a demonic nature, and much like the rest of her image is used to allude to her inhumane mannerisms. De Vil’s teeth are also arranged in a monster like manner and allude to the ever-reoccurring idea that she is a beast of nature. Also her extravagant clothes and jewelry, establish her vain character and evil nature.

Although Haring’s figurines are not a part of this intrinsic artwork, his signature movement lines are. Haring constantly uses these wavy lines to signify movement, dance, or emotions. In this depiction Haring’s lines add a lot of significance to Cruella’s evil acts, and the pain or suffering these puppies are enduring. Each individual line correlates to another movement or noise. Cruella’s movement lines all give off violent and demeaning intentions. From the few lines surrounding her mouth, to the lines illuminating the burn of her cigarette, Cruella’s movements are encased by evil. Her cigarette also signifies a sword or weapon, as she uses the lit cigarette as a weapon against these poor puppies.

The two puppies in this painting are in clear distress. Not only is one of the puppies getting tortured with a burn, the other puppy is forced to watch. Regardless of whether you are a dog or cat person, on of the saddest images in existence is the face of terror from a puppy. The puppy in the bottom right corner is in blatant distress as he/ she is forced to watch his/ her friend deal with torture. The look in the little dog’s eyes is polarizing, as I personally have seen my dog make this face, and I vowed to hopefully never see a dog in that much distress.

The overall theme in this painting is clear; chaos. From the wild textures that encase Cruella’s monster like skin, to the clear struggle of the two puppies, chaos is all over this painting. De Vil is a clear depiction of a monster or ghoul like character and her torture of these innocent dogs clearly exemplifies the chaos that is this painting. It is difficult to pinpoint one specific aspect of this painting that drew me in to selecting it for this description, but the vibrant depictions within it are certainly enticing to any viewer.

Art of Coffee Reflection

The video featured in class titled “the art of coffee” was divine. On the surface the artistic clip appears to depict a random assortment of shapes, colors, and sounds. However, after re-watching the clip a few times, it is apparent that these random colors and shapes do create a significant meaning. The beautiful alignment of patterns and shapes display the natural and glorious process that is; making coffee. Each individual section within the video signifies a step along the way to making coffee. After all the commotion and bright colors all throughout the video, it ends in solace or peace, a brown, calm, cup of coffee.