Takumi Akin    next        Spring 2011 index     156A
Assignment 1  Getty

Large Butterburr Leaves and Grass, Gilles-Francois-Joseph Closson 
Belgian, about 1825 - 1829 
Oil on paper, 13 1/2 x 24 in.

This painting reinterprets Closson’s, Large Butterburr Leaves and Grass, as mountains, replacing the intimate setting of the original with a sharpened digital landscape. Inverting Closson’s magnified viewpoint and monumental treatment, the image embraces a distant point of view and employs bright duotone filters. It preserves thematic elements of the original by focusing on similar notions of change and divergence; the mountains undergo several transmutations in shape and color. The image leads the viewer to meditate on relativity and transience: Mountain ranges, symbols of solidity and longevity, are nevertheless ephemeral entities.