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The Conversation is a study for The Annunciation: Eatons Christmas Window, Toronto (in progress), one of a group of large oil paintings of department store windows on which Tolmie is currently at work. There is also a watercolour study of this same window. The Conversation clearly shows the artistic influences that Tolmie’s latest work combines. The composition is Cubist in its formality, flatness, and theatricality, but the subject-matter is Surrealist: the mannequins, with their featureless faces and hard, polished texture, are placed in human clothing and postures, creating an eerie, otherworldly effect. The painting’s title refers to the human tendency to interpret objects by constructing a narrative around them: confronted by a paradox, the viewer imagines a human situation that could account for the observed image, even though it is patently impossible that inanimate mannequins could participate in this situation. The conversation is thus also between the viewer and the painting, since the viewer perceives, interprets, and responds, just as in a conversation with another person. The vibrantly coloured clothing of the mannequin on the left complements the subtle tones of the clothing of its counterpart; in this delicate blending of tones to produce texture, Tolmie brings the strengths of his watercolour technique to the oil medium. |