Artist Statement - Erin Zheng

René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. He was known for his witty and thought provoking images. These images often portrayed ordinary objects in an unusual context that challenged people’s perception of reality. As he has said “My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?' It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing, it is unknowable.” Personally, for me, his logic was entirely correct because I wanted to know what his paintings meant, but I could never truly understand his paintings. This is because they were 2D, and I could only see so much from my perspective. René Magritte’s concepts, artworks, and ideas were so unique to me, I decided that I wanted to portray his surrealist artworks on my pair of shoes.

The shoes that I have painted incorporated multiple paintings that were made by René Magritte and an image inspired by two of his artworks. These include The Son of Man, Golconda, The Voice of Space, The Hesitation Waltz, Decalcomania, and The Listening Room. I had recreated many of these pieces to the best of my ability. First and foremost, I split the painting, Decalcomania, in half and painted each half on a different tongue of the pair of shoes. Then I proceeded to give each side of the shoe a painting of its own, except for one. I decided that I also had to leave my own mark on the shoes that I will be painting. In this case, I took inspiration from The Voice of Space and The Listening Room. I liked the idea of an ordinary item, or the apple, from The Listening Room taking up the entire space of the room. Then this idea led to thoughts about the painting of The Voice in Space. I decided to combine these two artworks into one image, and paint apples that were floating and hiding everything that was hidden behind them. Although practically every space on my shoes were filled with color, I didn’t think that was enough. Finally, I decided to add the final touch, which was to dye the shoelaces a sky blue, a color that was commonly used in René Magritte’s paintings.