What Happens? (EB)

The idea for this image came to me when I was contemplating the fact of how we make sense of what we see and how this understanding of an image can change once we learn what we don't see. For example, to create this phonograph I made my girlfriend crawl into the bathtub and hide herself in there to support and place the sculpture in a particularly expressive manner. From our perspective, however, we can not observe her presence at all. Does that change anything when I tell you that there is another "hidden" person on that photograph? What we know is that either a miniature sculpture was put or maybe even abandoned within the realm of an empty bathtub or a gigantic bathtub is embracing the sculptural body of a life-size nude. A strong vertical rapture of the sculpture is contrasted with horizontal linearity if the bathtud, the floor, the wooden block, even the shape of the concrete bricks in the background making the overall dramatic and unstable effect. Also dark and light contrast of the colors in the bathroom and the brightness of the bathtub gives an image even more anxiety. David's "Death of Marat" and one of Francesca Goodman's works, (I'm attaching images above), this composition, in my opinion, has a very intense explosive yet somewhat melancholic allure to it. The ambiguity of what is depicted and the fact that there is another subject within the frame that is is not pictorially represented is what I find especially fascinating.

Is it important to see what went on during the process of making of the piece of art or the actual final result is what matters? Also is this a work has a universal reading, meaning can anyone relate to this in my opinion bizarre juxtaposition of a bathtub and a clay sculpture? What feeling does this combination awake? Since the rest of torso of the sculpture is not directly shown, do we assume it anyway? And if so, what is the position of the body? The sculpture is breaking out from the tub with its head expressively thrown behind, like in the moment of deep pleasure or perhaps sorrow or pain? Which one is it for the viewer and why? Also if we were to separate these two objects how could we think of them then? These are some of the questions I would like to bring up in our discussion.