Lot 359: Swindle, 2007

Swindle , 2007
Oil on canvas.   31 2/3 x 38 1/3 in. (80.4 x 97.4 cm). 

  Acquired directly from the artist

The artist's inclusion of himself in the present lot as a puppet, being manipulated by one of the figures in the painting, is a visual trope Park Min-Joon has also visited in such works as Golden Path--which features the artist as the puppeteer--and Annunciation.  The dualism at work in these representations can be considered the artist's interpretation of the human conscious and subconscious mind and recalls as well the auto-illustration present in such classical masterworks as Michelangelo's The Last Judgment.  More freighted with meaning than simple self-portraits, works such as The Last Judgment and Swindle can be understood as allegories for the painter's relationship to both his subject matter and his viewing audience.