Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Ong Chew Peng






The above pictures were created by Singaporean artist, Ong Chew Peng. Using photoshop, Peng has combined images we readily recognize and transforms them into something more profound.
In the first picture, a man is hanging over a steaming bowl by a rope that is severely frayed. A girl in the background is gasping. The man is smiling, which means he is happy and carefree, while the girl has a look of worry and appears fearful. By hanging over the bowl with that rope, the man shows he is a risk-taker. Steam from the bowl seems to be holding up which could represent some natural force that holds us up (e.g. gravity, the air). One thing I found to be funny was the fact that he has on a protective suit when he's only a few from the ground.
In the second picture is a woman (I believe it is Liv Tyler) sitting on the floor in front of a mirror. She has on very nice clothing. If you look closely at the reflection, you will notice that she has on a totally different outfit. She is wearing short shorts, boots, a sleeveless top, and curly hair. It is easy to assume that she is a party girl and likes to have fun. She may also not be very intelligent. Her reflection however says something totally different. Her hair is straight, she's wearing jeans, a jacket, and flat shoes. It appears that she is a calm person and very intelligent. The facial expressions are quite different. One is smiling with an open mouth and the other has the corners of her mouth turned up which further reinforces their personalities. This picture represents the struggle within ourselves as to who we appear to be and who we really are.
The third picture is of Jesus arm wrestling the devil. Jesus is the symbol for good and all that is pure, right, just and holy. The Devil is the symbol of evil and all that is wrong and sinful. The fact that they are arm wrestling shows the struggle between good and evil. Jesus' side of the picture is very light. The sun is shining, there are a few clouds, and he's wearing white. This illustrates the qualities of Jesus. On the Devil's side of the picture is a storm in the background. He is red, with no shirt on, and an angry, ferocious look.
All of these pictures are easy to look at understand what's happening, but it's a little bit harder to dig deeper to find out what it really means.