Additionally, Arnaldo Roche Rabell uses the contrast in the modeling and shading of greens, blues, yellows, and whites to establish volume and dimension. The bright white and light yellows act as highlights, while the greens and blues act as the mid-tones and shadows. The manner that Rabell layered the leaves on top of each other accomplishes the goal of developing depth. The larger pieces of foliage are seen towards the front while the smaller pieces fall back forcing the face to appear to have dimension rather than just being a pile of flat leaves.

        Furthering the illusion of depth Rabell portrays the leaves closer to the viewer in a more detailed way and makes the leaves in the back slightly less distinguishable. Rabell does this by using mark making to add details to his self-portrait. In using the oil paints he makes his brush strokes visible in the final artwork. This is vital to this piece because leaves have very apparent creases and are not perfectly smooth. Since the painting is very large the in-person details would be easier to see on such a large canvas.

        The composition of the piece is very centered. The eyes, nose, and mouth create somewhat of a triangle shape in the center, drawing the human eye in. At first glance, it seems very symmetrical;l but upon looking at the image closer, it is not exactly symmetrical. While the silhouette of the face on both sides is nearly identical, the individual leaves are not reflected perfectly on each side. This is actually very true of the human face. When you first look at someone, their face appears to be symmetrical; but in fact, no one’s face is perfectly the same on both sides. 

        The next element of this artwork I would like to deconstruct would be the meaning. For context, Rabell grew up in San Juan but moved to Chicago in the ’70s to study art. Rabell continues to travel back and forth between these places. The layering seen might represent the layers and complexity of himself as a person, son, artist, student, etc. This along with the colors might reflect his emotions. Blues and greens representing his calm and balanced feelings. He uses the orange to put specific emphasis on the eyes. This could possibly indicate that what he sees and observes in his environment is very important to his identity.

Rabell uses the powerful tools of contrast, color, mark-making, layering, and depth to create his self-portrait, and in some ways his own personal story. Overall throughout this piece, I get an overwhelming sense of calm from the color scheme as well as the element of nature. His painting really embodies the neo-expressionist period: “a revival of expressionism in art characterized by intense colors, dramatic usually figural forms, and emotive subject matter” (Neo-Expressionism). This is exactly what Rabell did in his self-portrait. I find this period of art very intriguing because of the emotions and thoughts the artists were able to portray through their art. As John Berger expresses in The Ways of Seeing, “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe” (Berger). Rabell’s art showed the world how he saw things, which is different from the way I see things, or you see things because of his life experiences and his beliefs.

 

 

Works Cited

“Arnaldo Roche-Rabell's Self-Portraits.” George Adams Gallery, www.georgeadamsgallery.com/news-and-press/arnaldo-roche-rabell-s-self-portraits. 

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series with John Berger. British Broadcasting Corp., 2012. 

“Neo-Expressionism.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neo-Expressionism.