The Lovers

Tags

Apple, Apple Product, iphone, Les Amants, magritte, MOMA, surrealist, The Lovers, The Son of Man

Kim Tran’s The Lover, 2013. Print on Canvas, 50cm x 70cm. London.

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Rene Magritte’s, Les Amants [The Lovers] 1928. Oil on canvas, 21 3/8 x 28 7/8″ (54 x 73.4 cm) MoMA, New York

 See how it works here: Video In Magritte’s The Lovers, a “barrier of fabric prevents the intimate embrace between two lovers, transforming an act of passion into one of isolation and frustration.”[1] Today the barrier is not made of fabric but of metal and glass: the phone in your hands. While we hide behind our machines, it is only when there is connection with the machines does the point of contact become unveiled. Once the QR code is read, the fabric is lifted, exposing an extreme close-up of the lovers’ embrace. We now hold on our phones, the two lovers, at such a close proximity; it is embarrassing, as if interrupting the moment. For a second, we are fooled. The phone only gives a false sense of intimacy, until we turn it off and pack it away. Then are we reminded that we are isolating ourselves the moment we hold our phones as barriers to the world in front of us.

Unveiled

Why is there a barrier in the first place, and why do we want still want it? In his The Son of Man, Magritte has an apple in front of a man’s face, creating this feeling of curiosity to see and to know who is hiding. Magritte talks about how the hidden evokes an interest that the seen cannot evoke in the same way. Today, we do the same, holding Apple products in front of our faces; and many times, our “friends” find our status updates more interesting then our physical presences.

Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man, Oil on Canvas, 1964. 116 cm × 89 cm (45.67 in × 35 in) Private Collection.

Next click here. Or go back to the first. The Treachery of Images The Lovers The Future of Statues

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[1] http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928