Art Analysis: Kiss V Roy Lichenstein

When I was at the Chicago Art Institute during a recent trip, I was in the museum store trying to looking for something "cool" to take home. I saw the Roy Lichenstein Kiss V print in the store, and although I had seen this image a countless times,  I was immediately drawn to it. It impacted me differently since I had last seen it.

Well now I realize that it was positioned the wrong way in the store.... LOL

I've been looking at this print for the past month, wondering why it looks like the man is swallowing the woman's face.

If you take a look at how it's supposed to be (on the computer) and I how I had it on my desk, you get a very different feeling from it.  The woman on the left is clearly a victim of heartbreak, and has a more sexist connotation.

Wow, but if you just change the angle slightly suddenly the gender dynamic is more equal in the painting.  In my perspective, the woman on the left has succumbed to man's choice to leave her. She is devastated, and her man dips her and cradles her as if she were a child.

Now take a look to the right. The decision to end their love appears more mutual. As if these two have done all they could, but it's just not right at this moment. That's exactly what I was thinking before I purchased this print, and it was the image that I needed to see to inspire the two characters for a play that I'm working on.

I don't think I would have bought the print if it were positioned the right way, simply because I identify more with the woman on the right than I do on the left.  Most importantly because I would never let a dude dip me.

When I look at the painting to the right, it evokes more emotion for myself and my characters. It makes me wonder what these two went through that made them decide that there was nothing else that they could do. I feel their charge every time I look at them.

Why had their love run its course? It's obvious they have completely surrendered. No couple surrenders in this way, unless they've done everything that they could to save it.

Don't you think this is a more interesting story than being dumped and dipped like a jackass?

I think I'm going to keep it the way that I had it.  It's funny how a change of angle can change how you feel about a story.