The Formal Criticism Paper: Sweetness By Ben Glezen

Blair Frances Gray
Mr. Popowitch
Humanities 101
February 25, 2015
The Formal Criticism Paper
This beautiful artwork I chose was actually my friend’s friend painting of his kids that lives in Batavia. I will explain a few of the elements that I think that are important to me in the picture. I personally think it’s nice to know that there is someone in my area has such great talent. I hope he continues to share the world his artistic vision and passion for art, because his work truly inspires me.
The masterpiece is called “Sweetness” by Ben Glezen. The medium is an oil painting; the way it’s painted gives it a well-blended and 3D effect of a perfect middle class family setting. I love how the little girl’s cheeks are so rosy and the wrinkles on her shirt shows the shadows between the creases. When you zoom in on the little boy’s side, you can see the painter tried a little bit to defined his rib cage. I also liked he put other kitchen appliances to give it a more a home welcoming look like the coffee pot. If you look at the ceiling the gradient effect gives it a nice smooth texture look. The painter includes a shadow underneath the fan ceiling in the kitchen, it kind of look like a reflection of a mirror when you look at it far away. He evens plays tricks on your eyes, for me a kitchen floor should always have a shiny gloss to it. When I look at the kitchen, I have to look multiple times to see if the floors are shiny or not. Ben definitely gave the floors a different allusion than what I’m used to seeing. There is really a lot of contrast in this painting that he plays around with.
You can tell he does a lot of blending when come to colors. Nothing in the portrait is one solid color, for example the orange walls on the top left side it goes from a dark bright orange to a regular color orange. I like that technique, because the way the light reflects then wall shows realism to the painting. Another thing I liked is how the boy’s jeans fade from a medium blue to dark blue from to the front, but the style he paints the jean is perfect the laid back atmosphere. I also noticed he has his bright colored walls going from bright to cooler colors, when you look through the rooms. It’s like he wants you to look at each room properly, so he put the orange color first to catch the audience’s eyes. The color choices a very bright and it achieves more of a happier setting, which it help looking at the children eating sweets. I can connect to this painting, because when I was younger I can remember days going to the kitchen getting candy out the cabinet. It just really brings back good memories of my childhood that I could never forget.
Speaking of the word childhood, I believe that is the symbolic message the artist is trying to point out. Maybe the word youth, because most children enjoy candy and for me sweets were an important part of my life. I still eat candy just not as much as I used to; but I think comes a time were you never get to old of something or history never changes. I know for a fact people will still buy ice-cream like the little boy is about to have or the little girl’s candy ring pop will never go out of style. I think what he’s trying to say that everyone can relate going through that sweet tooth phase, which has me questioning are sweets an important factor of America history? Is it something in life that will never change or is it something we need only as a children. Maybe he’s pointing out that as adults

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