850A The Second Skin 1986

Curator: This artwork, titled "850A The Second Skin," was created by Friedensreich Hundertwasser in 1986, utilizing mixed media to explore themes of figuration. Editor: My first impression is, these guys are on their way to some very important, yet slightly awkward, hat convention. It's playful, but also… are they ghosts? Curator: Indeed. Hundertwasser's stylistic choices, with heavy nods to Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession movement, embrace abstraction, lending a fantastical or even surreal quality to his figures. Note how the repetitive patterns serve as visual skins. Editor: Skins is a good way to put it! Those checkered patterns, the almost Seuss-like hats. There’s something delightfully anarchic about it. It feels like a rebellion against straight lines and expected color palettes. Even the faces look a little mismatched! Curator: Precisely! The composition leans towards caricature, distorting features and proportions. This approach emphasizes emotional expression and perhaps social commentary through distorted representation. Editor: Commentary, yes! The lack of clear differentiation, are they individuals or just extensions of this one collective self? This almost… regimented chaos makes me question how we all wear these social “skins” we are assigned. Curator: Analyzing further, you see how Hundertwasser used layers, depth is distorted, disrupting traditional perspective. He has collapsed fore-, mid- and backgrounds. Editor: It also has an air of pop art; though with more handmade warmth than industrial cool. He's taking something serious—identity—and treating it with levity. Are those even hands and feet on the figures. Are those moustaches real? Or tattooed?! It makes me feel, somehow, both unnerved and cheered up. Curator: A sentiment that echoes Hundertwasser's own philosophy that emphasized the integration of art with life and a deep respect for the environment. The mixed-media technique helps him build and create multiple dimensions. Editor: So in essence it seems "850A The Second Skin", wraps deep questions in cheerfully strange coverings. Almost… baiting you to look closer, but not take it all TOO seriously, know what I mean? Curator: I agree. It challenges conventions through the means of stylistic approach to form. Hundertwasser achieves complexity, simultaneously provoking questions about what lays beneath the layers.