Has anyone seen what an “evil eye” is? Or even heard of it? Its not actually an eye per say its one of those superstition that a certain cultures believe in. I by chance have seen an “evil eye”, matter of fact I have seen plenty, while my time spent in Greece over the summer. The “evil eye” is another term for expressing when someone for instance gives you, “the eye”, “bad look” or simply the “evil look”. This expression known in different cultures is a belief where people bestow a curse on victims just by a malevolent gaze of their “magical eye”. In other words, the “evil eye” is attributed to cause envy and is some cultures this is a form of bad luck where is the “evil eye” can cause diseases or even death.
Now I know your wondering on where am I going with this. Well I came across this gallery, Diversity in the C.N. Gorman Museum Collections: featuring Salvador Dali & Floentino Laime Mantilla held in Hart Hall at the University of California Davis. The first piece that caught my attention was Salvador Dalhi’s Surrealist Eyes (1980),
http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/photos_images/dateline_images/092509/Dali-1_W2.jpg
When I saw this the first thing that came to mind was the image of the “evil eye”. This is because the “evil eye” is always justified with the color blue and the eyes in this sculpture are blue eyes.
According to the piece description it says it is, “ based on an earlier rendering of an architectural project entitled Architectural Design (Eye Catching Economy) from 1976”. I found it very amusing that this piece was supposed to be representing the economy and how all the eyes are blue. So I guess everyone on Wall Street has blue eyes. Pause. So who is controlling our economy/society? Seems like Dalí was trying to get political in his piece, which is always good. On a side not this piece reminded me of the Geico commercial with eyes that are attached to a stack of bills and whenever this figure comes around a familiar song plays, “I always feel like somebody’s watching me” by Rockwell. This here can relate to Dalí’s sculpture in representing in the economy being watched.
This may also sound strange, however the reason why I saw this as the “evil eye” and I see this is representing the economy, I see that money is the major factor in this piece where money can be determined in some case being “evil”. This is because money is a very powerful object that people can cause people to kill for it or for instance give someone the “evil eye” because they envy someone’s wealth. It can either make or break you, some say. I personally characterize money as the devil.
Dalí’s piece is a very strong piece that can be interpreted in so many ways. Clearly I have interpreted in a way where he is saying watch your pockets and watch who surrounds you if it involves money, because they are watching you, and who knows, they may have the “evil eye”.
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