Mar 1, 2021
One and the Same
By Lylyan Yenson
Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s portrait “Mend” showcases different aspects and images to create a single face. The unique aspects are haphazardly put together to represent the different parts of a person that make the whole. Although the face isn’t the whole painting, it is the main aspect Quinn focuses on by using colors, shading, and positioning.
The part that stood out to me was the long neck. The face did capture most of my attention, but when taking a step back I noticed that the neck was longer than usual. I started questioning to myself whether or not that that was on purpose, or had a purpose. Was there another message Quinn wanted to connect to the painting? The neck blended in with the background at first because of its darker shading, but compared to the background it definitely stood out from the rest.
Art is subjective to the person as there isn’t one singular way to interpret the artist’s message. While Quinn might not have had this in mind when painting, the image can be seen as different aspects of people in general and how they combine to create humanity as a whole. The images making up the face don’t blend, but rather stick out making it obvious the images shouldn’t be together. Regardless of this, Quinn mashes it and creates a face.
“Mend” shows how that even when people are different, we are also one and the same because at the end of the day we’re all human and our differences make us who we are.
