Painting Analysis Essay

Jamar Brown’s “My First Collage Catch,” [sic] is a painting done using oil pastels. Perhaps one of the charming attributes of the painting is the fact that it communicates with its audience as well. The artist illustrates one of the significant events that happened in his life. The main focal point of the painting is a tanned skin football player, who manages to catch the ball in mid-air. The picture displays intense action; from the background of cheering crowds, the stunned game officials, players whilst highlighting the main character in his moment of success.
The painting clearly achieved the unity of design. The figures are organized which successfully intensified the action happening inside the painting. As if the artist is also sharing his own moment of glory with his audience. Some of the shapes formed a repetitive pattern in order to isolate the irrelevant figures away from the main character. Looking closely, the artist managed to picture the large crowd gathered, probably at the stadium to see the football game. The faces of the people were not clearly shown; instead of drawing the faces of every person who attended the game, Jamar Brown used repeated patterns of ovals and circles. Even the colours were repeated in the background. Hence, the viewer is shown a large number of people portrayed by a cacophony of swirling colours of red, blue, brown, and earth tones such as flesh, brown, white, and a bit of green on the upper right corner of the artwork.
Meanwhile, the bottom part of the painting shows the astonished players and game officials. Unlike the main character, they were portrayed as humanly as possible; but their facial expressions were vague and indiscernible. Probably, this was Brown’s way of saying, “this is my moment, and I won’t allow anyone else to take it!” They were drawn on a smaller scale figures but with blurry facial features to suggest that were only of second importance. The only thing that was distinct to them was their attires; especially the referee man at the bottom part. Among the other figures at the bottom, he was the only figure with a different colour of clothing. On the other hand, Brown used the repetitive colour pattern again to indicate the uniform of the players. The painting displays a careful bilateral symmetry as exemplified by the main character, as well as the bottom figures in the painting. The physique of Brown’s main character shows well-toned muscles, strong bone outlines and the shadowed parts indicate the muscular depth. The waist is in proportioned with the slim, yet muscular body of the athlete. In conclusion, Brown’s painting is not just an ordinary painting. It is a visual record of the artist’s significant life event. He was delighted, and happy to share his moment with others. His happiness and emotions were symbolized by the balance of warm versus cool colours in the painting. Moreover, the artist successfully expressed his elation and shared his triumphs with his viewers.