Man in Curlers at home on West 20th
Stacey Selzam
Man in curlers at home on West 20th Street. That short phrase does not
explain much, but neither does the art that it is described by. It depicts a man, with
darkly drawn-on eyebrows. His own have been shaved off, exposing his tired eyes
with slept-in eyeliner. He has large, pouty lips that have a light sheen of lip gloss. His
dark and course hair is haphazardly rolled onto large plastic curlers, and his
masculine fingers gently hold a just-lit cigarette. At the end of his fingers are sharply
manicured nails polished in a light hue.
Diane Arbus photographed the man, in black and white. I believe she chose
that medium to capture the exchange between herself and this man because she did
not want to soften what she saw with chalks or paints. If this image was re-created
via another medium, she couldn’t possibly convey the feeling of looking directly into
his eyes, just as she saw him. The photograph captures the exact moment that the
artist wanted to freeze, and it is unchanged.
The style of the art piece is representational. It is not trying to make the
image into something other than what it is. It is a direct depiction of what the artist
saw in real life, and its intention is to show the image to us in that way. The fact that
this art piece is representational shows us the Diane Arbus wanted us to be caught
off guard and maybe intrigued, as she possibly was, by the oddity of seeing a man
wearing makeup with his hair in curlers.
The visual elements most noticeably at work are organic mass, value, and
implied lines. To begin with, the man in the photograph takes up our entire view.
There is nothing else to draw our eye away form his gaze and strange appearance.
The man himself is the figure, or mass, and the empty and dull room he’s in is the
ground. Value exists in this work rather than color because it is black-and-white
photography. We don’t know the color of the walls, or the color of his skin, but on
the value scale, they are in the mid to light range. The scale of value is completely
represented here. The lightest value, white, is in the cigarette and the rollers, as well
as the white of his eyes and his teeth. His eyebrows and sweater are black, the
darkest value. There are varying shades represented all throughout the rest of the
photograph. It has several implied lines that draw the eye up to the center of the
man’s face. The v-neck of his shirt, the knuckles bent like a peak on a raised hand,
fingers at an angle toward the face and the cigarette encouraging us to slant our
gaze to the left. Even his long, slender nose guides our eye up to his and if you draw
away to the top of his head, you come across the corner of the wall that draws your
eye back down.
The principle of design, emphasis and subordination is seen in this work
because he is the mass, and the emphasis is completely on him. He demands all of
the attention. The use of black and white photography creates a perfectly
subordinated background for the subject. Even his dark shirt that blends into the
shadowy background at his shoulder leads our eye up to his face, as the white of his
eye pops against his skin. The emphasis and subordination would not be so strong if
the photograph was in color rather than black and white. All of these principles and
elements at work suggest that the artist wanted us to meet her subject’s stare and
feel something for him. Looking into a person’s eyes suggests she feels her subject
matter was important. This man was interesting to her. Most of all, he should be
paid attention to.
This was the first work of art I saw out of all the options, and I couldn’t pull
away from it. I had no interest in even seeing what the other choices were because
this one demanded all of my attention. His gaze caught mine and just kept me
thinking about him and who he was, what he did, what he was getting ready for.
Who was his family, where was he, who were his friends? How did he come to dress
as a woman? Was it all the time? The shaven eyebrows show commitment to his
lifestyle.
The harshness of his look is disturbing to me. Particularly, the smudged
makeup that looks as though its been slept in, and his coarse and greasy looking
hair. The cigarette makes me think of the stink on his polished fingertips, and
wonder if there is gloss left from his lips on it. Where does he go for his lady
supplies, and what does he do for work? Is he a drag queen? What is his name? Does
somebody love him?
This photograph fascinates me. My appreciation for it could not be
fully realized without a basic knowledge of the creative process of artists and the
tools they use to obtain the desired result for their unique vision. It is a true
pleasure to view art now that I have an understanding of the hard work and time
taken to express a vision in a material form.