Analysis Of Oscar Dominguez's Wheelbarrow

1103 Words5 Pages

John Hanley
Visual Communication year 2 semester 1 k00143151 Surrealism and Design essay.
Oscar dominguez's Wheelbarrow.

Oscar Dominguez’s “wheelbarrow” is a fascinating example of a surrealist piece art. The everyday object is padded with the most luxurious looking satin. The piece is quickly identified as different, the viewer must investigate as the wheelbarrow is clearly not “normal”.

Oscar Dominguez was a successful surrealist painter in the early 20th century. He spent most of his professional life in France. He was born in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna on the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1906.
In 1927 Dominguez moved to Paris. It was there that his path as an artist would be designed. He befriended …show more content…

The statement hardly does it justice. Looking at the piece the viewer has many thoughts and many connotations come to mind. The red satin on this wooden wheelbarrow. Something that we associate with luxury and sophistication alongside something we use to carry gravel from one side of the garden to another. The object is an example of Bretons principle concerns brought up in his second manifesto of surrealism. Breton defined Surrealism as “a pure state of mind that allows someone to express thoughts freely and without the encumbrance of rational thought and societal rules”. Breton along with other artists were trying to encourage a more open minded, free thinking ideas that would allow people, particularly artists, to become self aware without the heaving and often crushing influence from the outside world. Breton pushed artists to look into their unconscious minds for …show more content…

The surrealist artists of the time were pioneers, offering a dramatic insight into their thoughts and ideas. Dominguez was no different. He suffered from a growing disorder that left his body and face distorted from an early age. This affliction had a great impact on the course of his life and created many of the characters and themes of his work. He created many works that appeared gross and darkone of which being a self portrait in 1931 showing his deformed arms with wrists cut open. This was frightening as Dominguez would later go on to kill himself by cutting his own wrists in 1957. Dominguez is not known well for his sculptures, he was successful mainly as a