Jon Mir

Iris Bedford
20 Century Art
Van Buskirk
th

There is a thin line between powerful, yet simplistic paintings, and sloppy,
poorly-rendered works. Artists enjoy pushing the boundaries as far as they can, and
in the case of Jon Mir, I find some of his works breathtaking, while others do not

receive a second glance. It is painfully evident in his early works that he is

experimenting with others styles, as in Prades, the Village, but it is interesting to
see in these less successful works hints of what is to come when Mir forges his
own style. When he begins painting surrealist and abstract works, Mir
demonstrates a great sense of play, with a winning combination of line, color, and
form that results in beautiful paintings that have character even while composed of
only a few, simple lines and shapes. It is amusing how closely he leans to drawings
that little children make, but his work is certainly deliberate and meaningful. In
fact, it is the duality of simple and complex in each painting that really propels his
work into the category of high art.
A painting by Mir that I enjoy immensely is People and Dog in Front of
the Sun, or Upside Down Figures. Although at first glance it may seem quite
child-like and superficial, I find it fascinating and complex. The simplicity of the
piece makes it easy to look at; it has blocks of bright color, black lines, and the
background is a wash of a contrasting color. The subject matter is not unique to this
painting; the sun and the star are common symbols in Mirs works. There is a
doodley aspect to the lines, with whimsical hairs and curlicues. The shapes are
organic as opposed to geometric, giving a homemade, comfortable feel. Since there
is no horizon, the space is flat, adding to the child-like nature, as if it is from a
coloring book.

However, there is more to the painting

beyond these preliminary observations. For
example, to most people it looks like two
people, one of whom is upside-down,
walking a little tuft of a dog that occupies
the lower left-hand corner. The way I prefer
to interpret the piece, though, is that the
small head belongs to a person, and the large
head belongs to a dog with bean-shaped ears
who stands right-side up. I choose to explain
the rest of the shapes as just that: shapes.
The larger black area with umbrella handlelike shapes in the upper right is somewhat balanced by the triangles to the left of
the dogs head, and the left umbrella handle arches nicely over the persons head.
One reason why I stay a loyal fan to Mir is that I feel I can take liberties with my
interpretations of his work. I have a strong emotional response to my favorite
paintings; they seem to emote serenity, and I enjoy getting caught up in their
simplicity because there is room for my imagination to run free.
Thus, as I interpret Upside Down Figures, I recognize that my ideas may
not correspond with Mirs original intent. However, the fact that I am completely
convinced of another way to understand the piece, and that I can analyze it in detail
should add weight to my argument that Mirs paintings are much more than what
any five-year-old could do, and were not done haphazardly, but with thought and
purpose.
For example, the figures are stick-like, but they have character. The person
tilts its head toward the sun, and the black overlap between the circle of its head
and the circle of the sun give both the feeling of warmth on its cheek from the
radiating heat, and, contrastingly, the impression of softness as if it were pressing
its cheek against a satiny orb. The dog has a nose which, in comparison to the

persons nose, seems to be pointing upward, indicating that the dog looks up at the
sun as well. Mir paints their eyes as black dots, just as he does for hands, feet, and
paws. Without the line of the nose, these expressionless dots would lack the
intensity and emotive qualities of eyes.
The direction in which the dog and the person gaze invites reinterpretations
of the initially flat-seeming space. First of all, the sheer size of the dogs head
brings the entire dog to the foreground, and the persons tiny head pushes its whole
body against the background. However, cutting the persons head out of the picture,
the checkerboard handling of the dog and person overlapping makes it impossible
to decipher who is in front of whom. Now taking into consideration where each one
is looking, the issue becomes even more complicated. If the person is leaning (I
use this word loosely) its cheek against the sun, then the sun is behind the persons
head, and the person is behind the dog (if we assume that the persons body
occupies the same plane as its head). Or, if the person is looking at the sun, then the
person is standing in the background and the sun is somewhere closer to the viewer,
but still behind the dog. Glancing down at the dogs face, though, its eyes reveal
that the sun is just above, impossibly infront of the dog. I cannot help but recall
Czannes use of perspectives with his impossible table in The Basket of
Apples from 1895. The effect of Czannes technique documents the passage of
time. The two ends of the table could not have been viewed in the same instant; a
twentieth century person could achieve the same visual effect by taking a
photograph of each end and pasting them together, presenting two separate
moments in time in the same context. This style is very objective, and of course it
provided inspiration for the artists who started Cubism. In contrast, Mir has often
been associated with the Surrealist and Abstract movements, but that is why it is
exciting to consider the effect of such a similar technique in a very different style.
As in Czannes painting, Mirs depicts the passage of time, but it also explores
two beings different sensory perspectives of the same thing, the sun. It is a more
subjective and playful effect, and gives the painting movement. The viewer realizes

that two companions who are side by side cannot be stationary if each is to see the
sun at a different point in the sky.
After getting to know Mirs more famous style, it is jarring to discover his
early work, in which he experimented with several styles of painting. Two
examples are Prades, the Village, from 1917, which he deemed to be Fauvist, and
Nude with Mirror, from 1919, which was an attempt at Cubism. Both seem too
busy, stuffed with pattern and color, and not especially remarkable. Prades, the
Village in particular, focuses on color, form, and line so intensely that one does not
dominate and let the others enhance it, nor is there a harmonious blend of all three.
Geometric forms, including pointy shapes, curves, and squiggles, are piled atop one
another. The style for which Mir is famous is so successful that it seems ludicrous
that he ever tried anything else. The painting feels stiff and forced; the colors are
bright, but not carefully chosen. The pinks, yellows, and light blues contrast
strangely with the more subdued sky, and the application of color seems random.
Some areas are carefully filled in, while others have highlights or splotches. The
row of buildings in the background are rather realistic shapes, but covered in
various color like patchwork. There is a triangular section in the middle ground (the
base along the buildings and the point extending into the large tree-like form)
which seems to fit in the style of the buildings, but that seems to be all that is
coordinated. The wavy lines to the right suddenly introduce soft pastel pinks and
blues that float in the yellow field, and these are the only forms without contour
lines to enclose them. On the far left, the stacked lines appear out of place because
they flatten the painting in only that spot. The bright rows of color in the lower lefthand corner are their only connection to the rest of the piece. At last, Mir goes a
step further and introduces jagged lightning bolts and scallops on the lower righthand side. Perhaps the jagged forms are meant to repeat the shape of the pointy
greenery, but the shape itself is very vibrant, and becomes overwhelming repeated
in different colors. Furthermore, there are other tree-like forms that are gentler, like
grains of rice, scattered across the middle of the painting, and then some shapeless

green below the yellow field on the right. It is as if there are four or five paintings
squashed together
into a sampler
platter with
clashing colors,
styles, and shapes.
There is too
much going on; the
viewer looks at
everything at once,
without focusing
on any one point.
Ironically, I wonder
if his more
successful works, though refined, have not left either Nude with Mirror or
Prades, the Village too far behind. Although Mir did not continue painting in
any sort of Analytic Cubist style, he certainly kept the Cubist idea of denying
recession into depth. The similarities between Mirs Prades, the Village and his
later works, however, are not so obvious. Yet, in the former, he paints a busy
landscape against a subdued sky, the focus being the landscape. Then, in a painting
from the Constellation series of the 1940s, Poetess, he paints a busy arrangement
of shapes against a subdued sky. Of course, major differences between these two
works include a simplified palette and a narrowed choice of forms. Poetess has
only four colors besides white and black, as opposed to more than fifteen in
Prades, the Village, and it is composed mainly of circles. The viewer still may
find his or her eyes darting around, trying to take in everything at once, but it is
because the subject of the work is a constellation. Like Prades, the Village, it is a
busy scene; however, in Poetess some of the busyness comes from the black lines
and smaller black shapes that do not forcefully hold the viewers attention.

Although Prades, the Village is in many ways completely unlike Poetess, it is

interesting to note that this key idea does not seem to have changed drastically.
In fact, it may be seen in Upside Down Figures as well. If Mir had
forgotten to paint the eyes and noses, this painting would have one abstract,
complicated figure with an asterisk beside it. He has developed a recognizable style
of organic shapes and few, bold colors, which is a far cry from Prades, the
Village. Yet, maybe it is possible to imagine that this work is still a busy image in
front of a washed-out background.
Mir is an amazing artist who has
come a long way from his early attempts at
painting. He finally developed the unique
style that I love, of combining carefullychosen bright colors with smooth, simple
shapes to produce child-like compositions.
However, his work is not superficial or
juvenile; rather, it is deliberately executed so
that the result is easily and immediately
enjoyable. In addition, continued viewing
may reveal deeper meanings or multiple
interpretations. I am filled with contentment when I study my favorite paintings of
his of which there are many but there are also plenty that I would rather not
spend time with. For instance, even though I profited intellectually from Prades,
the Village, by recognizing a connection between that and later works, I did not
enjoy all of the time I spent studying it. It is difficult to make a painting that is
simple enough to make the viewer feel free, yet successful enough that it is miles
above a childs scrawl, and when Mir accomplishes this, it is magical.