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Selina Li
Period 4 2D Level 1 (Ms. Cheung)
Alex Confer Cheap Allegories Research Paper

While looking at Confers Cheap Allegories series, my initial thought was that the
paintings were odd and somewhat horrifying. Several immediate observations include the
identical mustard yellow background in each painting, the appearance of an animal in several of
the paintings, the rigid poses of the figures, and the dehumanization of facial features. After
reading the Artist Statement, I learnt that this series is based on ten masks sculpted from
materials including paper mach, synthetic fibers, animal pelts, wood, plastic, and latex. Confer
starts the piece with just the mask, then uses extra props to add attributes to the figure and thus
gives life to fantastical creatures that materialize in thoughts and dreams. Once he is happy
with the placement of the mask and the props, he transfers the composition into a painting.
I was definitely curious about his thoughts behind this series and what message he
wanted to convey through these paintings. Each painting must have had a hidden story and
meaning, as the name Cheap Allegories suggest. I was most interested in the yellow background,
and decided to do some research on the meaning of the color. I found out that yellow is known to
be a positive, optimistic and enthusiastic color, but there is a dark side that can represent
cowardice, betrayal, egoism, and madness. Later on, I stumbled open a website where Confer
explains that this series examines how human conditions, like cruelty, loneliness, and calm, can
be perceived in creatures that seem so physically and mentally apart from us. ultimately, the
line between human and beast begins to blur.
My hypothesis is that Confer is somewhat unhappy about certain parts of our society and
human behavior. This suspicion is supported when I started to look into some of his other series
like the Migrations and the Perishables. In Migrations, Confer conveys how nature is at odds
with defunct industry; in Perishables, Confer paints the unnatural deaths and treatment of
undomesticated animals that have been captured or killed. One possible reasoning could be
that Confer is upset that humans are mistreating nature and animals.
For instance, in the particular painting, a bird is trapped at the back while a woman with a
hairy face is sitting with food and a glass of wine. As birds are commonly associated with the

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notion of freedom, I interpreted this as restricting the animals
freedom. The womans nice attire yet hairy face shows that on
the outside, she appears to be sensible but her darker motives
and actions are hidden from view. This could also explain the
yellow background, conveying the madness of the way the
woman is treating the bird.
An extra observation would be the way Confer chooses his
colors for the painting. As we learnt in class, the three
primary colors are: blue, yellow, and red. In this painting, I
realized that Confer uses these colors, bringing a nice balance in the piece. I further noticed that
the foreground (the woman) is painted mainly blue while the background is yellow. As yellow
and blue are opposite colors, this brings a sense of contrast as well as leading a point of emphasis
to the foreground.

In this example, the mummy-like figure can be seen to be


treated the two different animals differently. On the left side, the dog
is being petted and is comfortably positioned on a rock; on the right
side, a dead fish is hanging from a string. I think this example
conveys the mistreatment of certain types of animals, and represents
mankind as an evil, mummy figure.
An additional remark would be how this painting is essentially
entirely yellow, but Confer was definitely able to show the
contrasting textures and values of the three objects and unify the
whole piece.

In conclusion, I learnt that art can be a very powerful tool for artists to convey a hidden
meaning or story. In Alex Confers interesting series Cheap Allegories, there can be many
possible interpretations available, but I think that Confer uses his choice of colors and images in

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addition to an incorporation of the elements of art to show the inner meanness of mankinds
behavior, especially towards certain types of animals.

Works Cited
Morton, Jill. "Yellow." Yellow. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.
<https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/yellow>.
"Bird Symbol ***." Bird Symbol ***. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.signology.org/bird-symbol/>.
"Alex Confer." Saatchi Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.
<https://www.saatchiart.com/Greenfawn>.
"Re-title.com." Alex Confer (Artist) in New York, NY (New York) from Re-title.com. N.p., n.d.
Web. 19 Nov. 2016. <http://www.re-title.com/artists/Alex-Confer.asp>.
Www.Portfoliobox.net. "Artist Statement - Alex Confer." Artist Statement - Alex Confer. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2016. <http://www.alexconfer.com/artist-statement83>.

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