Salvador Dali IV of XX

  • Salvador Dali IV - 24x24.jpg
Fan - 2 Expert - 9
$1,400.00

Artist Series Statement
“Fading Identities” is an homage to the individuals of our past and present, who may not always be there as a picture-perfect image in your mind, but rather, as a general image of their identity.  This is not something that is intentioned to occur, but it is just a process of being human and having fragments, or pieces, of these memories unavailable for recollection.  Throughout the past several decades, there have been psychologists studying cognitive ability that have defined the two primary memory systems in the human mind.  There is a short-term memory, or “working” memory that holds information about just a few things that are currently on the individual’s mind, but only for a temporary period.  Then, there is a long-term memory that can hold immense amounts of information gained through the individual’s lifetime of thoughts and experiences.  Each of these memory systems vary in the capable extent of the amount of detail that can provide to the individual.  Working, or short-term, memory provides very detailed mental images about a few things that have been on the individual’s mind.  While long-term memory is about providing a vast assortment of numerous details, but all to a less crystal-clear image, which the memories, based on their experiences and sights, might seem fuzzy to the viewer.  Over time, it is inevitable that the memories begin to fade from their crystal-clear beginnings, and that is where science comes into play again.  The information capacity of human memory has an important role in cognitive and neural models of memory, recognition, and categorization, because these process models implicitly or explicitly make claims about the level of detail stored in the individual’s memory.  Detailed short-term representations allow more computational flexibility because they enable processing at task-relevant levels of abstraction, but this is traded off with the amount of additional storage available in the mind.  We cannot always encode the details of these images perfectly, yet the human mind is a wonderful tool that consistently is able to interpret pieces of a memory and shape these mental forms into a successful recollection of the thought.  Much like this process of memory, the façade of celebrity status is held on to in the same way.  Whilst the celebrity is focused on by society the image remains clear, but as time progresses, the number of images of such celebrity flashing before the eyes of the viewer begins to dwindle.  Over time, that celebrity’s image might fade, but pieces will always remain. Those pieces, like long-term memories, are preserved in the mind and in these paintings which thusly help keep the supports of our society alive within the mind.

Responses (1)

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John Crowther
John Crowther Critic

March 08, 2022

From subject to composition, Sean Ward’s Salvador Dali IV of XX is rife with art historical references. I almost hesitate to write about the present work as Ward's description is too detailed and expansive to do it justice in a weekday newsletter, but, as usual, I can't resist (and I'll have to wait to write about his cognitive and societal musings for a weekend letter). I will focus on what I see in the work for this newsletter and what draws me to it. Salvador Dali IV of XX recalls the work of two major pop artists: Andy Warhol’s Celebrity paintings series and Roy Lichtenstein's signature Ben-Day dots. Like Warhol, Ward paints Dali based on a photograph but eschews Warhol's obfuscating super-imposition of images so that Dali confronts the viewer more directly. He employs Lichtenstein's Ben-Day dot pattern but avoids Lichtenstein’s extremely stylized comic book-like approach to reflect Dali's piercing gaze more accurately.

If you like Pop Art, and you like Dali, I can think of no better painting for you.

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Sean Ward
Sean Ward Creator

March 09, 2022

Thank you for critiquing the work, I really appreciate you taking the time to do so.

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Sean Ward
Creator
Category
Pop Art, Psychedelic
Type
Painting - Unframed
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
Dimensions
24.00 inches wide
24.00 inches tall
1.50 inches deep
Weight
5.00 lbs
Location
Wichita, KS, US
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