Julian Schnabel: The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Julian Schnabel is undoubtedly one of the leading living figures of the artistic world. The 2007 film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, directed by Julian Schnabel was extremely successful and thus, exemplary of Schnabel’s talent as a director. The artistic career of Julian Schnabel truly began when he had his first exhibition showcasing his now infamous plate paintings at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York in 1979. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and the series of plate paintings by Julian Schnabel rely tremendously on the viewer as part of the success of the works.(transition)
Julian Schnabel is one of the leading living figures of the artistic world. He is best known as a painter and a film director, and has had great success in both
It is a piece that showcases the known dissociation of sculpture and painting. 800 Blows is huge in size and has a very powerful presence. Typical of the series, it incorporates broken crockery and bondo on the base of three wooden panels. A portrait is painted on this agitated surface in generous amounts of oil paint. Some of the plates are left slightly uncoated so as to live in the space not filled by the profiled head. The face portrays a hopeful and yearning expression, creating an empathetic response from the viewer. The color pallette in 800 Blows is muddy and mostly browns but incorporates pops of vibrant fire-engine red and golden yellow. The face is painted in a white that imitates the color of the broken plates. Detail of the face is brought in by the muddled brown tone of the base. The shards of crockery disrupt the portrait in such a way that when viewed from different angles it can be be difficult to truly see the image. In Schnabels autobiography he states that “the concreteness of a painting can’t help but allude to a world of associations that may have a completely other face than that of the image you are looking at." This quote can help viewers understand how the plate paintings and more specifically, 800 Blows, are boundless in their interpretations. Regardless of intention, Julian Schnabel was able to contrive a unique artistic process that has made him a pioneer in the Neo-Expressionist period. He is able to transform what we know as a typical plate into a raw base for artistic expression. Just as Schnabels’ plate series creates an original narrative through it’s unique use of materials and expressionist form, the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a truly abstract way to tell a