Cosi Fan Tutte 

Editor: So, here we have Joshua LaRock's painting, *Cosi Fan Tutte.* It seems to be an oil painting, and I am struck by the way the figures are posed; there is a lot of tenderness. How do you read this image? Curator: I am interested in how LaRock utilizes this classical, almost Romantic style to portray contemporary figures. This harkens back to the Salon tradition but the lack of narrative ambiguity allows viewers to easily access the painting. In the late 19th century, similar paintings served to enforce certain notions of femininity or class distinctions. Here, that function is destabilized. What do you make of the composition itself? Editor: It’s interesting that you bring that up, especially about the women representing femininity. Even now the tenderness of the scene reads as classically feminine. Do you mean because LaRock's work is being produced in the 21st century and can't be bound by those traditional social restraints of the salon, or something else? Curator: Precisely. LaRock plays with that visual language. He evokes a historical framework while subtly subverting it through dress, pose, and perhaps most powerfully, the absence of a moralizing narrative. Think of the Pre-Raphaelites and the way they aestheticized female suffering. Is there any of that here? Editor: No, not really, they seem pensive, but ultimately at peace with themselves. It makes me consider what happens when historically loaded aesthetics get untethered. Curator: Exactly! It's a powerful re-framing. By invoking the visual language of the past, LaRock encourages us to reconsider those visual traditions and the social and cultural values they encoded. It's as if the artist invites a re-interpretation. Editor: This piece has offered me a totally different point of view; thank you! Curator: My pleasure. It is through questioning the institutions that shape art that we may truly appreciate them!