Meeting

I’m not sure how I feel about this as it appears to be a photo of another’s art.

I have thoroughly enjoyed spending almost ten minutes looking at this simple picture. By putting the two forms onto a common plane (the shadows on the wall) and thereby not only putting them into the same "image" but also changing their distance from each other and their relative sizes, the shadow cat-and-child are made into a new work of art. My ten minutes was spent savoring the shadow picture — in which the cat has an intense connection to the child (proximity, size, elevation); and then looking at the sculptures where the cat merely observes the child or silently, cautiously, requests permission to approach. In the shadow relationship, the child almost seems to bow to the cat.

Primarily two features of this image stand out in my opinion: its relative simplicity, and the appearance of selective color (even though Suburban may not have created the effect in post). To me, the image's story line can be summed upon by quoting an old song title, "Me and My Shadow."

Leaves me a bit cold, I'm afraid. I assume the fact that the lighting makes the two shadows appear to meeting each other is the point or purpose of the picture. As we can see the source of the shadows are clearly just sitting in an exhibition and clearly not together, this, to me, greatly reduces the impact of the shadow image and just clutters up that simple idea.

I'd respond more positively if it were cropped from the left, so the actual statue of the girl wasn't part of the picture. I think it would have both more mystique and more dynamics. To me, the statue of the girl anchors it too much, renders it a bit too literal, and makes it more static than it needs to be.

I think, I would agree with Fred. Omitting the girl does impart a sense of magic or twist to the whole scene and the viewer is given a free hand in imagining. With the girl included, the scene looks a bit like a demonstration of light/shadow and perception. I still like the image, the idea and the execution.

Although the picture is seen as simple yet its interpretations are quite diverse, which challenges the apparent simplicity.

 

My vision is that while there is still an appreciable distance between the girl and the cat they do want to come closer to each other and their intentions are projected in shadows on the wall.

Contrast, repetition, imagination!