Michael Leunig Analysis

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Belonging is a fundamental need and value in the lives of all in society. It most commonly emerges from an individual’s experience and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding. Ultimately, to belong is to feel accepted, and this sense of acceptance is brought about by a complex combination of factors including the opinions and attitudes of others as well as one’s own sense of self-worth. This complex notion is clearly depicted in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible and Michael Leunig 2012 calendar artwork ‘September’. In both of these texts the opinions and attitudes of others affects individuals and their sense of belonging, however, there is a complexity to both which allows for a deeper exploration and a refined…show more content…
He often creates very alternate commentary on political, cultural and emotional themes in life using his whimsy characters. He describes his approach as “regressive, messy and vaudevillian - producing work which is both raw and sublime, loved and hated.” (Michael Leunig website). His artistic style often has a very playfully quaint or fanciful feel in the way creates his pencil and line drawings. These pencil line drawings often have heavy philosophical statements about modern society embedded in them. Leunig also uses watercolours in many of his thought provoking art works. These watercolour strokes will quite often have an ironic tone. Large watercoulour strokes that cover the backgrounds give a dream like façade that represents that the image is not always a true image of…show more content…
A single beam of light from a streetlight illuminates where they sit and surrounding them is a dark deserted industrial wasteland. This use of the small beam of light reflects how small the area for belonging is depicted in the painting. The use of the dark watercolour brush strokes that encompasses all around their single small area of light creates a vast sense of alienation from the outside world. Dark storm clouds covers the sky not showing any feeling of life, which becomes a metaphor for the dangerous alienation outside. The family, that takes no notice of this dark alienated world outside, all face inwards and have such a loving acceptance of each other, which creates a tight knit sense of belonging between them. The opinion of the son has to be the most significant theme in this text. The quote at the bottom of the painting “gee dad your fantastic!” shows the high admiration the boy has for his father who cares little what the opinions of others are and has no need for materialism and is happily disenfranchised from the rest of the surroundings. The contrast between the light colours of the family and the dull, dark colours of the background create a sense of detachment. We are able to see that although they sit within a normal environment, they are disconnected from reality. The family is juxtaposed with the background, which

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