Dark Passage Analysis

There is an interesting piece of artwork by Robert Dale Anderson called Dark Passage. He created this piece in 2002, most likely with oil paint on a canvas. The theme of the painting is very simple: a road through the mountains to a Dark Passage, but the meaning of the painting is very multidimensional. The painting demonstrates an unknown aspect, which to me, relates a lot to life. Life has a general direction, but there are so many different experiences unknown to us, but the major one is like a Dark Passage.
At first glance, the artist draws the viewer’s attention to the cave. It is the only area of the painting that is pure black, but upon further analysis, the artist draws the viewers’ attention to the surroundings to try and distinguish where that cave actually goes. By using various geometric shapes and only black and white (grayscale) color for this painting, he created imagery that extends beyond reality. The rocks that make up part of the mountain vary in terms of size, shape, color (shade of gray/black) and positioning. The artist uses layering and stacking to make the rocks appear as one formation, but uses shadows to portray individual shapes of each rock. …show more content…
Some of the rocks have a smooth texture that reflects light well. These rocks lead to the cave making it look like a road to the Dark Passage. On the side of the road, there is a very Lords of The Rings Vibe. There is like a wall of rocks and the rocks have varying textures in which each capture the light a different way making it seem as the reflection of the sun as it sets in the evening. The further the viewer looks from the path, the darker the rocks gets giving the idea that the sun is not hitting these rocks. It also gives the perception the main place the artist wants people to look is at the road leading to the cave. It gives a perception of a path to the