PROJECT 2: ROOM AND NARRATIVE

Narrative:
"A chain of drifting carriages for a sleeping carefree person."

Attempts on Narrative:

I feel that for the surreal side of the painting (empty vastness of the open sea) sparks an idea of a daydream or a state of subconsciousness, so for this to become something that is tangible and realistic I have decided to translate this idea into a space for sleeping. A program for the client to be relaxed, well rested, a space that allows warm light streaming through casting soft lines onto the ground as if you were looking at train tracks. There is an adventurous side to this painting but also a silent facade, the struggle between the two will push the the client (myself) to explore both.

Note: These lack architectonics, but is part of the stages that will soon progress to the final one.

3) Inside a chain of drifting carriages he is carefree and asleep.

2) Asleep in a drifting compartment the journey for one will go beyond no return.

1) My eyes adjust to the light as if i had just woken from a dream, drifting into this abundance of space, floating timelessly. (Far too abstract)

Trying to develop a Narrative...


Some thoughts that have been discussed:
-Surrealistic painting, where by a door immediately opens out to the sea.
-A play between being lost, cast out far away but a place that is very much at home.
-Is the house/building floating? was the house there before the sea?
-The Light is extremely calming and soft against the white walls.
-No figures in the painting suggest feelings of solitude and peacefulness.
-Presence of furniture indicates some form of life.
-A fine line between reality and a dream
-A contrast between inside and outside, far and near.
-No motion from within and indicative movement from the waves outside.
-Nature comes close to liberating the subject (the viewer) and yet we feel trapped within our own civilized wilderness, looking out.

Edward Hopper - Rooms by the Sea (1951)
Painting from ArtInvest (Click image for reference)

Edward Hopper, well-known painter of American realism, like so many other struggling artists, wasn't widely accepted until near his death in 1967. His works, such as "Rooms by the Sea", seemed too sad for the art critics of the day. But with a further understanding of the artist, you can better appreciate the solitude and introspection within the painting. Hopper's art, bleak and simple, is full of nostalgia for Americana. Motels, trains, theaters - wherever people gather - these places emphasize his theme of 'loneliness'. "Rooms by the Sea", a rare prized 'architectural' print of Hopper's, accomplishes this with no people - only angles of light patterns and shadows.


Hopper and his fellow-artist wife Josephine Nivison
Painting from ArtInvest (Click image for reference)


Edward Hopper Summer house in Truro in 1934
Photo from New York Times (Click image for reference)

In 1934, Edward Hopper built a modest summer house in Truro on a sand bluff, overlooking nothing but dune grass and an empty stretch of the sea.Summers at the outer Cape meant capturing the tranquility of seaside cottages, fisherman shacks and a light like no other.