Comment on Cheeto devouring his nation

state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  One of my favorites. I wish we knew if that’s really what he intended to depict - people just guessed.

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  • NielsBohron@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I dunno, I think that’s part of the magic of the Black Paintings. To me, what makes them truly unsettling (in the best way) is the fact that he painted them exclusively for his own desire and that we’re limited to guessing the subject matter (which, although ambiguous, was undoubtedly dark).

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    • oeverbloem@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      kolpeshtheyardstick made a pretty great video essay about the work and its historical context and cultural impact. (01:04:19)

      I never heard about how it was made before and that really changed how I view the work.

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      • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Thanks, I’ll listen to this on the commute home.

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    • whoisearth@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Insanity created some of the most definitely gothic images ever. Goya is so slept on. I’m especially partial to his etchings

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      • NielsBohron@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The political prints about Spain and Spanish politics are particularly interesting to me

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    • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      True, I just always want to know the facts about everything, no matter how insignificant, for historical posterity and my own curiosity.

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      • vala@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Part of this art is that there really are no “facts”. It was painted on the wall of his home some time before his death but wasn’t found before he died. He never gave it a name or said anything about it.

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  • vala@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah he didn’t even actually name this painting. We really don’t know who the subjects are for sure.

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    • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      4 feet tall and painted directly onto the wall of his dining room, too. My kinda guy.

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• vala@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Imo in this original painting Saturn is horrified either to be doing this at all, or to be seen doing it.

  So I don’t think the poetry transfers to trump here.

  I know this is shit posts but we’re also discussing high art so…

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  • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s hard to say for sure. I always interpreted his expression as maniacal rather than horrified.

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    • Liz@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      He certainly wasn’t horrified about doing it in the original myth, as far as I remember.

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      • vala@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yeah, I’ve always seen Goya’s version (if this is even Saturn at all) to be an inversion or some kind of commentary on the original theme. There are a few famous paintings of this scene from before Goya’s time.

        If anything it feels to me that Saturn was in the darkness doing this act but now there is a bright and sudden light being shown on him and he is shocked or ashamed. Almost like he has possibly “snapped out” of the state he was just in and is now maybe seeing what he has done for the first time himself.

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      • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Considering he ate FIVE of his children, I don’t think he was.

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      • vala@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yeah I’ve heard few different intersting takes. I think most people agree the expression is mechanical like you said.

        This is just my impression. It’s the lighting more than anything that makes me feel this way. The painting seems to be illuminating the devourer in a way that suggests he might be seeing his own act for the first time himself.

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    • vala@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah I’ve heard few different intersting takes. I think most people agree the expression is mechanical like you said.

      This is just my impression. It’s the lighting more than anything that makes me feel this way. The painting seems to be illuminating the devourer in a way that suggests he might be seeing his own act for the first time himself.

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• M137@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  But why did you post a weirdly cropped version? I just don’t see how that happened.

  Here’s the uncropped, original framing:

  Image

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  • state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Actually, no idea. I could’ve sworn the version I copied wasn’t cropped.

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