Masquerade: Winter’s Reflections on Autumn

BACKGROUND VOICES

Masquerade: Winter’s Reflections on Autumn
PAINTER: I know what you’re going to say. Are we in winter or
autumn? What’s going on with the reflection? Is it a realistic
landscape or a surreal fantasy?
MRS EVERYMAN: You took the words right out of…….
CRITIC: Her mouth, yes, yes. There’s more than a hint of
Magritte here. And do you see this picture as more light-
hearted and playful comedy, or as something with a more
profound layer of meaning? Climate-related, even?
MRS EVERYMAN: Well, as I was about to say, it looks like
Mother Nature is suffering some kind of breakdown here.
Reminds me of those snowstorm toys you shake, all in its
own little world.
PAINTER: Well, there is definitely a surreal layer to this one.
And the silver light effect came to me at a fairly late stage in
the composition and was a good excuse to use this fabulous
colour. But it’s also about being something that you are not.
CRITIC: Hence the word ‘Masquerade’ in the title? Who is
masquerading, and as what?
PAINTER: It is Winter pretending to be Autumn. Dressing up
in fancy colours.
MRS EVERYMAN: So she’s looking in the mirror and seeing
something else? We’ve all done that!
PAINTER: Precisely. It is a playful self-deception, but at the
same time reveals a deeper need to escape from the
limitations of your own identity; you cannot actually alter or
avoid certain personal characteristics, and the depiction of
the ‘character’ as Winter, all in harsh, frigid white,
exaggerates this limitation.
CRITIC: Isn’t it more of a silvery white? The colour seems to
change with the ambient light, and could therefore be said to
represent a hidden spectrum of identity, which perhaps an
outsider sees but the subject does not. We are more complex
than we think ourselves to be.
PAINTER: That’s certainly an area I haven’t explored. You’re
right about the richness of the white colour. She is sparkling
in her full glory and can be at the same time colourless. Even
though she is masquerading as someone else, she does not
disappear, as light usually does when it diffuses.
MRS EVERYMAN: Masquerade or no masquerade, she must
be quite confused then about how to dress for the weather!