Chapter Four: Artist Contrast 2

Also featured in Chapter Four: Visual Elements, is the painting titled "Chanter" by Emmi Whitehorse. This painting is done in oil on paper and I would like to say that it is abstract. What draws me to this painting is that it is primarily monochromatic -blue- except for the splash of purplish red that defines the shape of a house. This painting despite being very different reminds me of another monochromatic painting depicted in this chapter. THat other painting is none other than "In Bed" By Inka Essanhigh and (Surprise!) it is all blue too.

As far as their similarities go... Despite being created in two entirely different styles (Emmi Whitehorse drawing her inspiration from Navajo art and Inka Essanhigh's more surreal style) both paintings make me get a very similar vibe. I believe this is primarily due tot he fact that both paintings are done in blue. Too me it lends both paintings a mystifying and dream-like quality.

Both artists used their choice of color well when composing their painting and the paintings themselves both seem to hint at something deeper than just on a level of “reality”. An example of this in “In Bed” Is the figures that are pulling at the sleeping woman, misshaping and distorting her image in the painting.

As far as I can tell, I cannot find so much of a narrative in “Chanter” But I still believe it is beautiful in its own right and the symbols and shapes in the painting are just as mysterious as the spirits in “In Bed”.

Chapter Four: Artist Contrast 1

Chapter four goes over the different visual elements in art such as the use of lines, shape, color, etc, used to create a piece of art.

Two artists that use color in unique and creative ways are Georges Seurat who's painting "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" is featured in this section, and Chuck Close who's painting "Bill" is shown.

Both artists use very unique techniques to create their paintings. Georges Seurat in particular uses what is now known as "pointillism". As the book states, his paintings are created by using dots of pure, solid color rather than blending to create the different hues and shades. The result is remarkable. When viewing the painting from a distance, you can only see the image that looks only slightly texture, but up close is a whole other story. Each dot of color is viewed and the subject of the painting becomes fuzzy and difficult to make out.

Chuck Close has developed a technique similar but different. He starts off with a grid and pays absolutely no attention to the photograph as a whole. Similar to Georges Seurat's technique, his paintings that are done in this style, make little sense up close where you can see the patterns of pure color. However, when viewed from afar the mind puts together the colors and is able to perceive the subject of the painting (in this case a face.

Both Artists use similar techniques that involve applying pure color to their canvases and both paintings grow distorted when viewed up close. They are different though because George Seurat uses Pointillism whereas Chuck Close is a little more extreme by using his grid, varying in size, as opposed to just dots. Both, however, achieve a very unique and beautiful effect.

Lecture Analysis: Performance Art

This week in class we went over the different art periods.
In example from 1916-1922 after World War I The common thought amongst artists. This was Dadaism where the common thought was that the world was insane and that chaos should rule. During this period, not surprisingly, things such as reason, logic, and futurism were rejected.
There was also a time after World War II from 1945 to 1980 where there was and influx of random chance.

Also discussed in class was performance art and how it is a type of art that is highly unmarketable. It is an art type that is not about selling or prints.
Primarily we focused on one performance artist in particular: Marina Abramovic.

I will say that, in all honesty, I am not a fan of performance art. To me I find that its more about making a statement, point, study, or proving something rather than about art (Which I believe involves in something being created). That being said, I still respect the people who do performance Art, such as Marina Abramovic, because as she said, she challenged both herself and her fears which is something I believe people as a whole need to grow more accustomed to doing.

Chapter Three: Artist Contrast 2

“The Oxbow”, a painting done by Thomas Cole in 1836, seems to be nothing more than a scene aintied from a very real, very physical landscape. Looking at the painting, it is hard to imagine that it had been developed from mere sketches and not at the site itself and not only that, but that certain details of the painting had never existed in real life to begin with. These details include Cole himself, set up with his easel, umbrella, and knapsack as well as the closest of the trees that are shown in the left of the panting. Possibly even the storm itself is no more than a figment that Cole created to add to his painting. “The Oxbow” Is a smooth blend consisting of what actually exists and fictitious elements that seem as though they could exist. In fact, they blend so well that the viewer may not even question that they are not real.

On the other hand there is the landscape created by the Chinese artist Wang Jian, called “White Clouds over Xiao and Xiang”. While this scroll completed in ink and color is just as beautiful as Cole’s landscape, “The Oxbow”, it is highly unlikely that this setting is a place actually exists and can be found in reality. It is easy to determine that the landscape is purely fictitious and created by Wang Jian’s imagination alone rather than using a real life setting as a starting point or the design.

Out of the two paintings, Thomas Cole’s is most definitely the more “real” or rather the more “believable”. In contrast, however, Wang Jian’s hanging scroll “White Clouds over Xiao and Xiang” creates its own unique setting and universe in order to allow our minds and eyes to explore, discover, and wonder while seeming to view the setting from a bird’s eye view.

Chapter Three: Artist contrast 1

Johannes Vermeer is a dutch painter of the 1600s. In the text book the topic of discussion is her painting "Woman holding a Balance" completed in 1664. This particular painting shows the viewers a woman -the text book debates whether she is pregnant or not- holding a jewler’s scale. The scale just so happens to fall in the very middle of the painting. On the table beneath the scale is an assortment of shiny gems and metals. In the painting’s background is a vague painting showing the last judgement, lending more meaning to the painting.
In her painting Vermeer gently touches on the topic of Life and Death as well as vanity and greed. She makes those viewing the painting contemplate such things as well as their own self-image.

Contrary to Vermeer’s painting, Frida Kahlo’s painting titled “Self-Portrait with Monkeys” done in 1943 Gives the viewer no hint, clue, or the slightest insight to the meaning behind the painting. We cannot tell what the thoughts that could be weighing on her mind are or if there even were any thoughts or pressing concerns on her mind. Instead in the painting she is a closed book, indifferent and unexpressive both in pose and expression. The monkeys in the background lend to this feeling of distance, giving no clue to any deeper meaning other than being posed around her, guarding the subject and peering out from the foliage of the background. Contrary to the subject and the monkeys, the background proves to be very interesting. It is bright, warm, and vibrant. In a way the background gives us more insight and expression than the subject herself.

This painting seems to be the complete opposite of “Woman Holding a Balance”. One is full of possible meanings, brimming with questions, and possessing more of a somber, darker range of colors. All the while the other is a self-portrait that is vibrant in colors but not meaning that gives our brains a chance to rest from relentless questions and thoughts.

Lecture Analysis: Video Blogs

Last week we explored video blogging in class while enjoying some very tasty food while clacking away at our laptop keys or debating art in front of our web cams.

The only problem is I am shy and I really really Do not want to do a video blog and know for a fact that I am very comfortable just writing or typing my blog posts out. I am much more comfortable in my ability to communicate through writing than my ability to communicate through speech which I already know is some-what lacking.

As for the questions, who am I? What is Art?
Well my name is Rachel and it is my second year (or third semester) At Cypress College however it is my first time being a full time student. I am a fine-arts major although I have no idea what I am going to do after school.
I work at McDonald's which is not fun, however I have awesome co-workers that make the time go by faster. Oh yeah, and I'm quiet, both because I am shy and because I generally do not have much to say.

As for the second question: What is art?
Its a difficult question to answer. Personally I think that almost anything can be interpreted as art. The design of a book cover, a written novel, the graffiti on a billboard, or even the design of dishes, pens. It merely depends on the individual seeing it or rather how they choose to see it. But in my book, as long as something was "designed" for more than just functionality it can, to some extent, be art.

Chapter Two: Artist Contrast 2

Rebecca Purdum is a contemporary artist that was born in Idaho but studied at saint Martin’s School of Art and Design which so happened to be located in London, England.
Purdum is unique in the way that she paints. She uses a technique that involves covering her hands in gloves and carefully rubbing the paint onto the canvas as opposed to using brushes. The result is a vague and sometimes haunting blend of colors.

Susan Rothenburg had been born in Buffalo, New York and studied at Cornell university. Like Rebecca Purdum, Susan Rothenburg leaves a certain vagueness to her paintings.
Sussan Rothenburth, however, does not use gloves to create he paintings. Instead she combines two very opposite kinds of art: Representational and nonrepresentational. She uses images found in the visual plane but breaks them up so that they are not whole and easily identifiable. An example of this style can be found in her painting Maggie’s Ponytail. The painting depicts arms that are reaching out to grasp a chunk of hair while another hand in the lower right hand side of the painting holds up a ring or ponytail.
If it had not been described in this way, I do not believe that many people would see the image right away. Even now, I have to think about the painting for a moment or two before admitting that the description does indeed make sense.

I think both artists’ paintings are beautiful. Both seem very simplistic and vague but they also both manage to draw people into them. In addition, both possess some form of nonrepresentational art, whether it is fully nonrepresentational like Purdumn’s paintings, or a combination as seen in Rothenburg’s.
I also happen to think that if you combined the two paintings the result could be stunning. I imagine the result would have a background similar to Rebecca’s Purdum’s paintings, with vague, misty colors spread over a canvas. Then the broken, also vague images of Susan Rothenburg’s paintings painted on top.

Chapter Two: Artist Contrast 1

Almost everyone has heard of Picasso in one way or another. Even those who have not completed an art class or even possess a basic knowledge of art could more than likely be able to pick his paintings out of a line up of many. As stated in Chapter Two, Pablo Picasso was an artist that had been traditionally trained before he began experimenting with different styles. Eventually Picasso settled on the highly stylized paintings, or Cubism, that he is known so well for today. His paintings are striking, bold, and have no inability grabbing your attention. Yet when you look at his work First Communion it looks to be painted by an entirely different artist

Likewise, Vasily Kandinsky’s, a Russian painter of the twentieth century, compiles paintings that are also bold attention grabbers. In addition to this, his paintings are also very similar to Picasso’s in the fact that they almost force people to view art in a way that they were not used to seeing it. There was not a scene or a landscape to be depicted in his paitnings. Instead his work is entirely nonrepresentational. To some individuals his paintings may even seem like flat, random objects slapped onto a paper and called art, much as some might criticize Picasso by saying a child could paint as he does or insist that it is not art at all.

The difference in there artwork are more distinct than their similarities. Picasso, while dealing with the abstract, based on something that could be found and located in a visual field. Kandinsky’s paintings, however, are there own creations that, as pointed out, do not exist outside of themselves. To put it in simpler terms, if the subjects of Kandinsky’s paintings were to spring to life and take a stroll down the street there would be more than a few brows raised and no one would be able to point and say “Oh that’s a person” or “that probably a vase”. Instead they might point and say “that’s a weird… flat… triangle thingy with an odd… curvular triangle… thing” or just stare with their mouths agape.

Week 3 Lecture Analysis

In tonights lecture we were given a more specific look at cave art while comparing the two movies The Matrix as well as Inception.

Firstly, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture. It was engaging and posed many good questions as well as made connections that I would never had made on my own.

The pictures we were shown of the cave paintings were beautiful. I still find it remarkable that even all that time ago humans still had that inclination to create art. Not just that though, but to create it as a community, regardless of the reason, instead of just a single individual.

I never would have though to relate the "broken man" to Neo's death and enlightening in The Matrix even despite the fact that I am familiar with both films.

As for the question "What is Reality?" I believe that reality is merely the world as an individual perceives it and that no two "realities" are the same. This related to art because I think that when an artists creates something, whether it be a painting, sculpture, or drawing, that they are allowing people a brief glimpse into their own unique reality.

Chapter One: Artist Contrast 2

For my second post, I wanted to write about perhaps one of my favorite artists from ye olden days, Vincent an Gogh (And not just because he was featured in a Doctor Who episode mind you). Van Gogh, as most people know, was not the most mentally stable and had committed himself to an asylum after cutting off his ear and giving it to a prostitute. His artwork, however, is beautiful. In his art, I truly believe, you can see how her perceived the world around him, emphasizing things that ordinary people might have overlooked or taken for granted. An example of this, is the glow around the stars in the night sky which Van Gogh seemed to emphasize in his painting Starry Night.

When I saw the photograph printed on the very next page (Page 12) Peeling Paint taken by Ernst Haas, I was reminded again of Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork. It is not in the subject of the photograph that had caught my attention but rather the over all the appearance. The vibrant red of the paint against the black iron of the bench is beautiful, not to mention how the leaves plastered against the black seem to pop out to grab your attention. I would never have guessed the subject of the photograph to be an old park bench if I had not read the little blurb beneath it. This Photograph reminds me of Van Gogh’s paintings, and how both the photographer and the artist had seen something very ordinary that most of the general populace would probably overlook or not even bat an eye at but found something extraordinarily beautiful about it. Not only that, but they both managed to capture their subject (whether it be on film or canvas) in a way that everyone else could perceive and understand the beauty of what it was that they had discovered.

Unfortunately the book Living with Art did not go into any great detail about Ernst Haas. However, by doing my own quick little research session about him, I can say that he was born in March of 1921 and died in 1986, near 100 years after Van Gogh Shot himself in 1890.

Chapter One: Artist Contrast 1

Two artists that were mentioned in Chapter One: Living with art, are the sculptor Constantin Brancusi and Architect Maya Lin.

Constantin Brancusi, as mentioned before, is a sculptor who was born in Romania but eventually resided within Paris France where his studio was eventually made into a museum. From what I understand from both the books and from what we discussed in class, Brancusi believed in the simplest, most basic of words, shapes, and forms. His works such as the ‘Endless Column‘, ‘Fish‘, and ‘Bird in Space’ are simple but powerful.

Maya Lin was born in the united states after both her parents imigrated from China. Her father was a ceramist and her mother a poet. She is most famous for designing the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington D.C. Other pieces that she has designed include the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery Alabama, The “Wave Field” at the University of Michigan, and the Langaston Hughes Library in Clinton Tennessee.

I wanted to compare these two artists together because, while Brancusi is a sculptor and Lin is an architect, it mentioned in the reading that Lin often classified herself as both a sculptor and an architect. They both use simple means to portray powerful meanings. Take for instance “Endless Column” sculpted by Brancusi. It is very simple yet powerful and, as the book mentioned, seems as though it could go on forever. I found this style to be very similar to Lin’s Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial because at first glance it is very simple. Just a black wall, cut into the earth. Yet when you take the time to look at the polished black surface of the granite, it reflects the world back at you and when you reach out to touch a name its as if you’re touching yourself because of your reflection. Also, following the simplicity of the design, which reminds me of the ‘Endless Column’ as well, is how the wall subtly grows higher as you walk down the path. Like the column, it seems as though it could go on forever with name after name of the deceased.

Week 2 Lecture Analysis

In this week’s lecture we were shown a giant overview of art history dating back to prehistoric times.

The interesting thing about the lecture was that you could trace both similarities and distinct differences from the art from many different cultures at many different times. An example of this is how the ancient egytian art is more stylized, flat, and angular or “perfect” Whereas the artwork of ancient Greece seems more natural, flowing, and three dimensional. Just as it was pointed out in class, it is not that the ancient Egyptians lacked the tools or skill to make statues like the Greeks had but rather their brains had not thought of it.
I think that this is very similar to how art is influenced in modern times as well. When you are surrounded by something (and I’m not just speaking art here) I think it is natural to be influenced by that first while things that you are not accustomed to just seem strange or out of place. Unlike in the ancient past, however, nowadays we have these not-so-newfangled inventions called the computer or rather the internet that exposes us to more diverse ideas, cultures, and art styles.

Also, on a more random note, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Column of Trajan and how the letters engraved on it influenced Carol Twombly to create the Tajan font which, as we learned, is one of the most widely used font today.