Reading the Grotesque Graphic Art in Nicole Eisenman's "Triumph of Poverty" Based on the Views of Mikhail Bakhtin

Nicole Eisenman, a contemporary figurative painter belongs to a generation of masters of the art who have equally adapted their sources from Renaissance newspaper caricatures and paintings, seeking to efface the borders between fine art and popular culture. “Triumph of Poverty”, one of Nicole Eisenman's greatest nipping artworks, is a contemporary conception of a work of art of the same name by Hans Holbein with a multi-layered, dialogical, allegorical, satirical, and grotesque feel to it. Mikhail Bakhtin is one of the most important theorists of the twentieth century who studied language as a system. He also studied how dialogue works concerning the effects it creates through communication and observed a connection between art and this establishment. He considered Carnival, a popular arena for indulging in physical excesses, to have a dialogue and a grotesque and popular tradition whose images are an effective link between vivacity and violence or the low quality of materialism. He also considers the grotesque common and distorted body in an ambitious and positive framework and acknowledged that such creates instability in accepted social, political, and aesthetic norms. In this regard, and by focusing on the specific features of grotesque realism, this study reads and analyzes the visual aspects of the “Triumph of Poverty” painting by Nicole Eisenman based on the views of Mikhail Bakhtin. This study is qualitative in terms of developmental purpose and qualitative in terms of type and method, qualitative and descriptive-analytical. The findings showed the fact that the artist has used his art to show the ironic triumph of poverty after the poor decisions of the US government, which is the main cause of the economic crisis in 2008 in this country, and thus, the protest. In this way, it has protested against wrong policies, inefficient time management, injustice, and inequality in society.