"The Subway by George Tooker" by Mark Angelo S. dela Peña

My Creative Writing professor asked me to write about George Tooker's The Subway. Here's the result:

The painting describes a subway where there are many people. Tooker used white as a background to emphasize the weight of the other colors. Geometrical shapes emphasized the lack of space, uneasiness and crowdedness of the subway.

He used good perspectives and weights. These elements emphasized reality.

It is noticeable that faces portrayed therein are worried and sad. At a single glance, one could easily feel what the painting conveys – loneliness, fear and anxiety.

There are twenty-two people that can be seen in the painting. There are only twenty-two and yet the feeling of crowdedness overwhelms the atmosphere of the subway. This implies that the loneliness, fear and anxiety felt by the people therein are not brought by the physical characteristics of the subway. Something else is bothering them.

People in the subway seem not to know where to go or what to do. Most of them seem to be hiding something or hiding themselves.

Male features are dominant among the characters in the painting. The largest woman in the center-right is dressed as a woman; however, her hand, neck and facial features suggest contrarily. She has a hint of a bosom but aside from that and her dress, nothing distinguishes her from men.

A woman is also sitting in the farthest door of the subway corridor. She wears a bright red dress, has a black top and is wearing a headdress of some sort. She also has a hint of a bosom but overall, she seems to project characteristics of men.

Three men in the left side of the painting look like hiding and looking out for some unknown, imminent danger. This suggests fear. Another guy is crying while leaning his head on the wall which suggests failure or regret.

People on the right side seem to be waiting for something or someone. However, if they do, they must have waited for a very long time. Aging features are noticeable among their faces which suggest longing and grief over something lost or that never came.

The three men behind the largest woman in center right seem to be weary. Their sloped down shoulders suggest that they had been to a tiresome journey.

They seem to be professionals. They are holding file cases and schedulers which suggest white-collar jobs. Their weariness could not have been because of their job or profession. All distinctive men wear coats and pants to the neck, hiding almost everything. This suggests that they are weary of hiding.

We can infer that the painting is about homosexuality and gender discrimination. These people are hiding and have been hiding their sexual identity to the people above. The subway is an underground place.

They fear stereotyping, abuse and mistreatment. They are tired of hiding who they are. They are tire of staying in the dark, staying in the subway.