Year: 2023
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 69.8 x 117.8 cm (27 1/2 x 46 3/8 in.)
Acquired from Gagosian, 2023
Colen has been working on the “Mother” series since 2008, primarily featuring works inspired by the background art of the movie “Bambi.” In his previous works, he has created many paintings using Disney movies as reference such as “Pinocchio” in the “Candle Painting” series and “Fantasia” in the “Miracles” series. By referencing the “background art” from animated films, Colen inherits the narrative quality of these films without the characters that form the core of the stories. In essence, he aims to use these images taken from existing animations as symbols in a pictorial sense. This work depicts a quiet residential neighborhood covered in snow. Light can be seen in the windows of the houses, but there are no human shadows. The composition of the painting is designed to draw all eyes to the single house in the center. This scenery would be recognized immediately by anyone familiar with it. It is the opening scene of the animated movie “Lady and the Tramp” which is also famous in Japan. In the movie, the imagery zooms in gradually on the house in the center with a voice singing for world peace. Near the warm window, a Christmas tree is decorated inside the house. Eventually, a gift with a ribbon that is placed under the tree is opened, revealing a dog inside as one of the main characters, marking the beginning of a joyful tale. This scene should have depicted some people outside the house, but Colen intentionally erased them, seemingly to emphasize the sense of loneliness. The title of this work is “Mother,” the movie tells the story of two dogs discovering their love for each other and forming a family. The single house depicted in the painting symbolizes something beyond loneliness, serving as a contemporary narrative picture.
