MOMA at PS1

 

At PS1 which isn't too far from my college I saw and exhibit of all of Mike Kelly's work. Mike Kelly was an artist who created what some would consider a bit disturbing art work. He committed suicide last year which sadly makes his art work more valuable. On a separate note while studying various artist I find that many have a hard time balancing fame and their personal lives along with their identity's and some time it ends is suicide which ironically makes there work worth more. He created artwork mining America popular culture and moderate to alternative traditions. Most very dark and delirious. Below is one of my favorite works at the exhibit.

 

 

In this part of the exhibit Kelly re-creates the fortress of solitude which was superman's city that was shrunken and kept in glass tubes by the evil arch-villain brainiac. Kelly after analyzing the DC comics he then created three dimensional structures that duplicated the city as seen in the comics. I personally loved this piece because of how interesting it looked before even finding out what its meaning was. It to me gives life to the comics themselves by re creating what people have only read or seen on TV. I couldn't help but touching them and staring at this part of exhibit for long periods of time.

 

Another exhibit that caught my eye and even scared me a little was a dark room that had what looked like two coffins connected by a little box. Everything was too dark to take a picture of so ill try my best to describe it. In the two coffin looking shapes there was room for you too crawl in and it was scary because it was so DARK I couldn't even see my hands in front of me. Making me think about how humans tend to fear the unknown which made me curious and scared but I scrawled in, ones I got to the end where the box connected to the other crawl in coffin there was a small hole. In this peep hole there was a movie playing in slow motion. This piece was another favorite because it engaged the viewer like I actually got to be apart of the art work also I felt like by being so engaged I was put into the artist's place. It really triggered a lot of my fears of being in the dark, now knowing what was in side and how my curiosity in the end trumped my fears and I just went in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



MOMA post-impressionism and pop art

During our class trip to the Museum of Modern Art we studied post-impressionism art work and pop art work. Below is a picture of pop art.

This art piece is pop art by Andy Warhol featured at the MOMA. This piece and pieces similar made by him are duplicates of the same picture some in different colors to create what is know as pop art. Warhol is known as the father of pop art. I find it very interesting when my art teacher informed us that he didn't even create his work he had factories and several people would create the actual pieces from his ideas.

 

This next art piece is of post-impressionism.

 The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh considered one of the pioneers of post-impressionism painted this from imagination and memory. Gogh wrote this to his brother "this morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star that looked very big". He painted this picture from imagination and memory making this piece post impressionism. He responded to what he saw in nature and from his own expressions to create this beautiful piece. I truly enjoyed this art piece and others at the MOMA because I got to see art work from artist that I've only heard of or saw in class, I dp understand now how moving seeing art work in person can be like this photo which for some reason gives me a calming feeling when I look at it.



RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE

On our trip to the metropolitan  museum of art we studied Renaissance art and Baroque are which are two very different styles that have very detailed characteristics. Below is a picture from the Baroque art section.

Wolf and Fox Hunt

 

This art piece is by artist Peter Paul Ruben and is a realistic painting of a fox hunt. This art piece is very large in size and was actually trimmed down because a client said "none but great princess have houses fit to hand it up in". This piece in particular really caught my eye because of the detailed graphs and bold colors of red. Baroque art was created around the time of the scientific revolution and the age of absolutism. Some characteristics of Baroque art is the different twists and turns of the torsos such as the wolfs and hunters making the painting seem 3D, almost as if the painting was moving. Also while most painting around this time period are very controlled Baroque art such as this painting is dramatic and emotional. 

 

Below is a picture from the Renaissance section.

Venus and Cupid

 

This photo is of Venus and her son Cupid by Lorenzo Lotto, this photo shows great characteristics of the Renaissance period in art because almost every aspect of the photo hold a specific meaning. Lotto was obsessed with emblematic devices such as the shell above Venus's head and the rose petals on her lap are her attributes and the ivory is symbolic for fidelity and the myrtle wreath was worn by the bride. This picture also shows a lot of nudity including cupid peeing on his mother which was in fact for good luck nudity which wasn't excepted until the Renaissance period makes this photo unique and funny I enjoyed this trip and the and what I learned from the pictures in it.



ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #6

1. Describe a Dada Artwork. What world event influenced this style? How?

Data artwork started around word war one and was a way to creatively criticize society and the world through art work. Data art work is created by putting pieces of different art work together to make one piece of art work. Its intended to makes the viewer feel what is being expressed. Data art work was used to express and justify the millions that were killed.

This painting is a form of dada artwork of the Mona Lisa. Its intent was to disrespect and criticize the beauty that people saw in this piece. The artist who painted this is Marcel Duchamp

2. Describe the work of Jacob Lawrence in the video. What were this artist's influences?

 Jacob Lawrence's art work was inspired by the African American people in the South to the Urban North. During the times of World War One through World War Two. Some of Lawrence's other art pieces was inspired by other historical events such as The Renaissance. Lawrence had a passion for the background of African American history. These are also some artist that Lawrence admired himself Matisse, and Francisco Goya.

This is a art piece by Lawrence and shows the African Americans performing daily tasks like cooking, cleaning, and sewing. The colors are very vibrant and I think the people having blank black faces is a really strong expression.

3. Look at one of your classmate's responses and comment, using constructive criticism.
I responded to Anthony's blog post. The link to his page is below.

 http://anthonyhua101.blogspot.com/2013/11/online-assignment-week-7.html?showComment=1383928696738#c3629978052317848948 

ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #5

Impression and Post Impressionism 

Describe the difference between these two styles and explain how European colonization changes art in this time period.

 

During the period of impressionism art started to change from the more romantic and academic it began to be more based on what artist saw in contemporary life. During this period artist began to paint outside and visually grasping a scenery would then paint it on canvas. Artist work in this period where known for putting small dabs of pant very close to the dabs of paint so when one stepped back further they would be able to see the whole picture. When the impressionism period began artist began to try and capture the whole image vastly sketching and painting the scene. This is different from the post impression period because artist added there spiritual content and personal expression into there pieces This method is known as pointillism. These artist now only wanted to paint the scene and capture the art but they wanted to add there own personal touch that involved pieces of themselves such as feelings, emotions, beliefs or thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #4

 

 

 

 

Simon Schama's Rembrant- part one

 

1. Describe the portrait of the fur merchant. why is he "The Business Man's Hero"?

   

     The portrait is of a business man names Nicholas Ruts, He ran a fur business. The picture looks realistic and the colors are soft making the fur look very comfortable. The painting is called "The Business Man's Hero" because Ruts understood his clients back round and they were always just as hard workers as he was. 

 

 

2. What was the mood of the 83 year old woman?

 

     The 83 year old women looks very emotionless and sad. She seems very unhappy to me.

 

3. What is Rembrant communicating in his painting of Samson and Delilah.

 

     In the majority of paintings of Samson he is portrayed as being very powerful and strong. In Rembrants painting of Samson he made him appear powerless and weak. The communication that he Rembrant was showing was some sense of betrayal but a bit of love. 



 



ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #3 / HOMEWORK #4

 

 

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance- Part One: Birth of a Dynasty

 

 

1. Why was the Medici family so important in the development of the renaissance?

           The Medici family was an important family to the birth of the renaissance because they bought Florence, Italy out of the medieval times. They did this by using new knowledge and technology. They took great risks in fields such as art and architecture to advance there family and there city. It started with the merchant Giovanni Medici and his son Cosmo Medici, they ran a small bank in the back of a wool shop. There clients were picked very carefully and based strongly on there loyalty. They took on a client who was a pirate and who the Medici family invested in who later down the line became the pope. This gave them recognition and they became the bankers of Florence funding almost every commercial business in the city. During the building of a temple the dome couldn't be finished and again they invested in someone that no one would help.  This gave them more power because with there money and there new artist Brunoleske they were able to complete the first dome shaped temple in all of the city and in it various artist who's paintings are still admired to this day. These events, artist and business that were able to thrive because of the Medici family took there city out of the dark ages and gave them new life, new recognition and new ways of thinking.

 

 

    2. Why was Donatello's David so revolutionary?

 

        Donatello's David was very revolutionary in the 15th century. This is because no one had attempted to create a free standing bronze sculpture of nude man since the ancient romans. It was also a very daring art piece because in that time especially in Florence art work of that nature was not admired or excepted.

 

   3. Describe this sculpture in detail.

 

      The sculpture of David is of a free standing nude bronzed man. He is stepping on a helmet with Goliaths head in it as a sign of victory. There is also a very long feather that goes from the helmet up the thigh in a sort of sexual manner. David's also holding a sword down toward the helmet.

 

 

       

ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #2

Harmon's Intro Design Principles

1. How does an artist create asymmetrical balance? Give a example.

          Asymmetrical means that something is not balanced / off balanced. An artist creates asymmetrical balance by making a part of an art piece larger then other parts in the same art piece. An artist can also create asymmetrical balance with color, by making a part of an art piece very dark while other parts of the same art piece are extremely bright. This causes great contrast in an artist work creating asymmetrical balance. An example of asymmetrical balance is Edger Degas Jockeys Before the Race.

This painting is a great example of asymmetrical balance because the horse towards the right of the painting looks very detailed and rich in color. The horse and person in the right of the painting also seem larger then the horse towards the left of the painting. The horse towards the left of the painting is not very detailed and the colors look very washed out compared to the horse on right. This contrast makes the viewer focus more on the horse towards the right causing asymmetrical balance.

     2. Describe several ways to unify an artwork?

          Unity is everything coming together as one. An artist creates unity in an art piece by giving the viewer a feeling that all of the elements belong together. In a art piece that is unified there isn't much contrast. Most of the colors and shapes are similar or blend well together, many of the same shapes are repeated throughout that same art piece. A example of a art piece that shows unity is this painting of Marilyn Monroe.

This painting of the late Marilyn Monroe is an example of unity in an art piece because her face is duplicated many times. The sizes of her face and the direction her face is painting is the exact same. The viewer feels a sense of unity because the colors are similar to each other and the picture is never changing just multiplied.

     3. How is scale change the meaning of an artwork?

        The scale in an art piece has to do with the size in relation to another size in the same art piece. Scale change is when something in an art piece is exaggerated by size in comparison to other normally portioned parts of the same art piece. A example of scale change in an art piece is this wall painting of a bay face and a rock.

This picture is an example of art scale because the baby's head is huge compared to the rock above it. Not only is the head exaggerated but from the viewers knowledge, in real life the rock would be at least ten times that of the baby's head causing great scale change to this art piece. 

      

                                                 

ONLINE LECTURE RESPONCE

Harmons's Intro to Egyptian and Greek 

In the chapters readings and the YouTube online lecture I've learned the values and rituals of the Egyptian people. Egypt is surrounded by the Nile river, it is the longest river in the world. This river is where most of the Egyptian people were provided food, commerce and protection. They also believe in life after death. This belief influenced them to bury the people who passed with artifacts to help guide them in the afterlife. An example of an artifact used to be buried was the hippo who was buried with a god. The hippo being such fierce animal was buried with a leg broken so that it wouldn't be able to harm the god in the afterlife. Another ritual the Egyptian people had was to shave off there eyebrows to mourn the passing of the family cat. The cat in Egyptian times represented the goddess of happiness. The Egyptian people also created art to symbolize there beliefs. An example of this is the statue of a ram head with a human body form, this structure they believe helped with fertility. One more example would be the cobra sitting on the falcons head, it repented kingship and unity for the family. One of the most beautiful women ruled during the Egyptian times was Nefertiti ruling with her husband from 1352 B.C-1336 B.C. Nefertiti mean beautiful women has come. This royal family also believed in one gob the sun which they believed was the symbol of life. In the Painting of there family you see them looking towards the sun and the suns rays as it gets towards them turns into hands, almost as if to be inviting them.

In the Greek culture the human form was considered to be the highest creation of nature. Many of the Greek art are of sculptures of the nude male human body. These art sculptures were created based on observation and mathematics. One of the first female nude sculptures during Greek times was a carving of Venus standing about five feet tall. This represented a new and modern idea nude structures, but it was still refined and kept a very modern pose. Another structure of a women was Aphrodite somewhat naked around the back area she stood. Aphrodite was the goddess of love born after her father was castrated by his son and his testicles where thrown in the water. While this happened she was created in the water and the water led her to land. After this period of time came the Hellenistic period from about 320 B.C to 30 A.D. This was the time of the Roman conquest of Egypt. More of the art work started to show more expression and emotion. One example of this was the carving of the  Laocoon group, the structure shows the priest and the men souring him in great agony. The story behind the structure was that the priest warned them about bringing the trogen horse and as a result they were attacked by serpents as shown in the carving. During the 2nd century B.C Rome became a major ruler, ruling over many people and cultures. 

HOMEWORK #2

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of ART

The Greek and the Egyptian Exhibits

The above image is from the Greek Exhibit and it is called Vase. This beautiful blue vase has much artistic detail all over it. Its stands at 28 1/2 inches high and is made out of ceramic. Created between 1689-1694 by a man who was working for Stadhouder William of Oragne, and his wife the Princess Mary Struart. One of the Queens first request was to have big colorful designed vases made for the hall of her apartment. The vases expressed her love for gardens while still keeping with the formality of the queens reception hall.

The above image is from the Egyptian exhibit, it is the Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut. This granite, painted statue dates back to 1473-1458 B.C standing approximately 34 1/4th inches high. She was one of the most important females to ever take the throne in Egypt. She rules after her husbands death and his son by another women was junior ruler of the throne. In the above picture it almost looks like she is holding the world in her hands.

HOMEWORK #1

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of ART

 

The above piece is from the Africa exhibit. The leopard is from the kingdom of Benin it was created around the late 17th-early 18th century. Made out of brass it is a small piece, but the leopard stands strong and serious with little circles around the whole body. It's teeth are long and stick out. Pieces like this one where used in annual palace festivals where they represented there titles. Some where chiefs and some where kings and others citizens. this piece I feel is very detailed and looks very strong almost as if its standing guard to something. Below is my sketch of the above image.

 This next piece is from the Oceana and the Americas exhibit. It is called Mask (Lewa) from the Wogeo or Bam people from the Schouten Islands. Created in the 19th-early 20th century. This mask was considered to be very special to the people, it represented the spirits called village lewa. The mask big enough to fit over someones head is mad and carved out of wood. It was used during festivals to impersonate the spirits and to help ripen the coconuts that the village headman would distribute around the village. After the festivities were over the mask was then stored away. Below is the picture of the Mask and my sketch of it as well.