The paintings created by Alex Garant cannot be compared to
anything I have seen before. In all her works she creates women with the
appearance of double vision to the audience. Because of this, Alex Garant is
commonly known as the Queen of Double Eyes in the art community. Her style of
painting “double” women occurred as a result of having a heart attack in 2012.
Alex Garant has stated that the experience has changed her views of everything
on life and her perception of the world. Since then she has completed 60 oil
paintings that can all be viewed on her website www.alexgarant.com along with commentary.
Her work is well recognized through her use of duplication of body parts,
patterns in the background, and symmetry. She uses a technique called double
exposure to include two different images into a single one; it is basically
layering two objects over each other. Alex Garant also works as a makeup
artist, which explains the focus on facial features in her art. Each painting
is a portrait of a woman, but Alex emphasizes that she creates Pop Art. She
claims that portraits only attract the person drawn, and other people cannot
connect with it; through her illusions everyone has the opportunity to make
their own interpretations of the work.
The
painting I want to feature is called “Death Flight” and it features a woman
with two sets of eyes with a butterfly making up her face. The art presents a theme
of how people hold differing views on everything. This is seen through the
double eyes featured in the painting. The eyes are identical but by making two
sets of eyes, Garant stresses that humans will never see situations in the same
way as others. Both sets of eyes are looking at the butterfly and see the same
thing, but the use of two sets of eyes shows the different understandings that
can be held by people. Then there is a second theme, which presents the idea
that death can be beautiful. This is seen through the skull drawn on the back
of the butterfly. Also from looking at the title, the contrast between death
and flight is very shocking. Death to most people is drowning, but Alex chose
to show death as a flight. The artist portrays this idea again when using a
butterfly to represent death. The butterfly is seen as a beautiful insect
whereas a cockroach or spider would have changed the entire meaning of this
painting. The butterfly symbolizing death is layered over the face of a
beautiful woman. The idea of death seen through the painting is very inviting
and calm rather than chaotic and feared.
Ever since
I have seen Alex Garant on Tumblr, she became my favorite artist. I personally
find beauty through feminine features. Through the plumpness of the lips, the
hazel eyes, and the long lashes I find the woman in “Death Flight” attractive.
Then to have the optical illusion with the butterfly, I sat down and looked at
it for five minutes. I saw meaning through the art and personal contemplations
of the piece. Afterwards, I searched up more of her artwork and began to see that
it revolved on women and facial features. Each one has a message behind it and
is very distinct from one another. It can be arguably beautiful because of the
fact that is focuses on women and certain features. Just look at the colors she
uses in her paintings. They are pop against each other without dominating the
whole painting. They all blend to create a soft visual on the eyes. People can
see beauty in paintings of nature and food, but to draw a person’s face in such
precision and color I believe Alex Garant has great talent. To recognize that
she has talent means that her art in the end is good art although it may not be
considered beautiful to all.
