UNDERSTANDING THE SUBJECT OF ART

EXPLORE
EENGAGE

The Luksong Tinik of Vicente Manansala portrays children playing in the familiar Filipino
game of luksong- tinik where the youthful participants use their hands to form a spine of
thorns over which another child has to leap. As you can see, the images are evident through
the concrete appearance of three players. Two are seated on the ground, their right feet
slightly raised to touch the other’s feet. Their raised feet serve to be the base for the spine of
thorns formed by their hands. Leaping to cross over the “spine of thorns” depicts the action
of the third participant in the said game.

In the second painting, do you perceive any object, shape or figure that is
representational of anything found in reality? If the images presented in the first painting
were recognizable, you might have found the Convergence to have no such perceptible
objects. Accordingly, his painting is a collage of colors splattered on a canvas that created
masterful shapes and lines evoking emotions and attacking the eye.

The perceptibility of the images depicted in the two paintings differs because the
types of subject the paintings represent also differ. Luksong Tinik is an example of
representational subject of art and the Convergence exemplifies a non-representational
type of subject. To guide you in understanding further the subject of art, read the notes
provided for you.

What is subject in art?

Ø Subject in art refers to any person, object, scene or event described or

represented in a work of art.
Ø The definition of the subject in art refers to the main character, object, or
anything else that is presented as the main focus in the work of art.
Ø The subject can appear in the center of the piece, or in any other part
of it, but it is always the most recognizable thing in the entire work of art,
regardless of its size.
Ø To a majority of people, the appeal of most works of art lies in the
representation of familiar objects.

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