This painting is an adaptation of Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte’s famous work, The Son of Man.
Photo of The Urban Son of Man, 30"x40" Acrylic on Canvas
The idea came from my client, who showed me a few photos of different types of artwork he liked and said he had always wanted a painting with a graffiti-like background, with The Son of Man in the middle. I loved this idea and was so excited to work on it.
Every artist builds a piece with some idea in mind, however, the same art is subjective to interpretation by the individual, meaning the same art can be interpreted in so many different ways. The Son of Man has endless interpretations, which was Magritte’s aim.
Magritte was commissioned to paint a self-portrait in 1963. He was challenged by the idea of painting a traditional self-portrait, a “problem of conscience”, so he committed this painting to a surrealist style, which arose after World War I, a painting technique that uses unusual imagery to unlock the creative potential of the unconscious mind.
Magritte used the apple to hide his own face and discussed the human desire to see what's hidden behind the visible. He spoke of the conflict that can arise between "the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present". Magritte cleverly captures this feeling within the picture. The viewer is both curious and frustrated about the face which cannot be seen because of the position of the apple. The viewer has to imagine what the face is like, his form obscured from what people see, but also obscures what is shown to other people.
Photo of The Urban Son of Man with flash, to show how the metallic paint elements shine
After some deliberation, the client and I determined that in this case, the apple was representative of success. The man behind the apple is looking at the world, but the world can only see the apple, defining him solely by his successes. The man as a person disappears behind the object, as though he could be anyone.
About the painting, Magritte said:"At least it hides the face partly. Well, so you have the apparent face, the apple, hiding the visible but hidden, the face of the person. It's something that happens constantly. Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present."
Along the lines of hidden messages, there are several motivational quotes embedded in this painting. These quotations are intended to encourage drive, not giving up, and having a successful mindset. These quotes are not fully visible due to the many layers of paint and design, meant to be interpreted along with the full painting by each and every observer in their own way.
If you look at some of my other pieces or read some other blog articles, you’ll notice that I am often inspired by street art and graffiti. This is ultimately what led me to call this piece The Urban Son of Man, as it is an adaptation of Magritte’s famous painting that incorporates inspiration from urban visual art that brings colour and life to public locations in cities around the world.
Photo of me with The Urban Son of Man painting
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