Module 12

  1)   I chose the videos the Power of Art, Rothko and Hockney on Photography.  I was not aware of them or their influence on art so I wanted to check them out as modern artists. And always looking for ways to improve my photography.

  2)   The main focus of Hockney was how to use photos as a tool to produce pictures and art pieces. His use of multiple frames to produce a full size art piece was unique and very interesting. 
        Rothko took his art to a new level, producing pieces that were in need of discovery and study by the viewer to appreciate.  His stance against painting the murals for the Four Seasons restaurant gave him credibility and was a stand against the popular and excepted desire for patrons.

  3)   The videos were an extension of the concept of modern art, showing how the artists were trying to break out of the molds that they felt were harnessing them.


 4)  Both videos were interesting to view and gave incite to the working and mindset of the artists.  The works that they produced obviously had a great impact on the art world opened the doors to many artists as they seek acceptance of their own works.  

2nd Museum Visit the Burchfield Penny

1) There several exhibitions going on the main non permanent was the Portraits by Philip Burke.  This used up the majority of the exhibition space. The theme was bright water color portraits of famous or familiar people done in a fashion representative of the personality of the subject.


 2)  The gallery was an interesting use of the space and I believe well designed.  Upon entering the main hall you are immediately drawn to the dark grey wall ahead but to the left and the lighting that highlighted the picture and text on the wall, even though there are large watercolors of bright colors on the adjacent wall, a good use of  contrast drawing a viewer to the dark wall when everything else  is of  much sharper and brighter. There were different lighting schemes in different parts of the gallery depending on the exhibition, for the main area with the portraits the lighting was general to the space although directed at the walls.  In contrast the lighting for the Burchfield exhibit was much more focused on individual pieces.
       The color of the walls was a light grey and the ceiling white making it a very bright atmosphere.  That is why the dark grey wall stood as such a contrast.  The flooring was for the most part was white oak, with one carpeted area. The space did incorporate some brick work as a contrast to the ubiquitous drywall, and in that area the ceiling opened up to around a 40 ft ceiling leading you from the entry way to the main hall.
      

  3)   All the artwork was organized into groups of sub themes.  The sub themes of the portrait exhibit were of the fields of work the subjects were known for, such as musician, actor, politician, etc. the other minor exhibitions were given their own intimate spaces and broken in groups of similar themes, such as Burchfield's paintings were grouped together apart from his drawings and sketches on music.     
        The portrait's were not framed, just canvas on its wood frame, there were other pieces that had various types of frames depending on the artist. 
        In general for the gallery there were different types and interpretations of art works. The portraits were all similar in design, but the smaller viewing rooms had pieces as different as reverse glass paintings and sketch's depicting sound.

Chosen pieces

    Philip Burke, 2007 Rush Limbaugh, oil on canvas.

          I love this rendition of Rush, fire emitting from his swollen head.  The color of the flames are in contrast to the dark colors of his clothes and the placement of the cigar in front, a traditional symbol of power, reflects how the artist wants you to view his subject. A egotistical little man's enjoyment of starting fires, by the smile, with his small fist clenched at his side.

 

 Charles E Burchfield, Haunted Twilight, 1954-1962, water color and charcoal on paper.

         This is an example of Burchfield's impressionism.  The contrast of what could be a happy landscape portrait, the color scheme and shadows very much add feeling of being haunted. It does seem a little in contrast to the artist who relishes the outdoors and nature. In this perhaps he is reminding us that our casual destruction of natural places may result in this.     

 

 Philip Burke, self portrait, 2001, oil on canvas.

      An interesting portrayal of the artist by the artist, in contrast to the earlier self portaits that ere also on display.  The earlier portraits were life like, if distorted.  In this piece he appears as his most distorted subject perhaps the upper eye sees more with his brain than just with his eyes. The color use and the crocked paint brush draw your eyes to his, is he painting you. 

mod 11

 

1)  I chose to watch the "Mystic North" Spanish Art from the 19th century to present, because it was not a era or location that I new much about, although I found that I new some of them already.
     Expressionism was my second choice, again because I thought I knew little of this style and this time I was correct, most of their names I was not familiar with.


 2)  The key concepts of both films were similar, artists were experimenting and breaking away from status quo of the old masters.  Led by Goya in Spain paintings began depicting its subject's in a different light, such as true agony in his religious paintings and the horror of war from the point of view e everyday person lived and died through.  Artists such as Picasso and Dali took different paths but also broke away from there traditional training to produce their art with more impressionism than the earlier masters.
       In expressionism the artists seem to be giving more thought to how the piece effected your emotions using colors and distortions of the subjects than staying true to traditional notions of technique.  Both videos showed how artists were even more, the activist, showing the true results of war and the ills of the society of the time in a new way.


 3)  The videos gave a more in depth at the artist's in their time, such as when Goya lost his hearing to illness that he became a recluse and painted the walls of compound in black and depicted morose scenes on them.  The video on expressionism gave a much greater explanation to the work of those artists and their motivation for  expanding the realm of art in the way that they did.


 4)   Both videos were entertaining, the Expressionism video was a great introduction to works I had never seen before and also historical giving context to the work from the time.  The Mystic North reminded or informed me of how many great or famous Spanish artists there are and filled in the gaps of what these famous artists were famous for.

Ceremonial Mask module 10

  1)  I selected the first piece because I liked the smiling and laughing face that the Korean artist captured in this wooden mask. There were many happy faced Korean masks but the artist though the use of line patterns brought out the texture of the face giving the piece the look of real skin wrinkled by a smile.
       The second piece is from South America and I chose because of the quirky smile that has a whimsical appeal for a possibly not so serious of ceremony.  The artist maintains summitry in the mask by using appropriate scale from the face at normal and the side of the face with the crooked smile seem in proportion.  Also the color and shadow scheme give the face texture and depth.
       The third mask is also from South America and I chose because I liked the use of color.  Unlike some of the masks the colors used seem more organic not the garishness of the carnival masks, but a sense of rhythm and pattern.  The use of representative lines for the outline of the face and its overall structure allowed the artist to fill in the spaces with color yet still be viewed as obviously a face.

  Creating the mask was an interesting experience as a non art major it was a bit intimidating but I used the paint from a previous project and things  seemed to go alright.  I tried to use color give the mask its shape of a face and have a pattern to represent all the appropriate parts. The lines on the forehead try to give the mask more depth and character.  The hair gives the mask its 3-D effect and adds texture and the look of a ceremonial mask.

Module 10

1)  I chose the videos Islamic art in "Africa and Central Asia" and "Hinduism". I viewed these because they seemed to be two areas not popularly covered.  Art and Hinduism don't seem to be brought up in the same sentence and  wanted to see Islam's effect on African art.


2)  In the video on Islamic art one of the major concepts was how different the art was to European art of the Christian religion.  There were no scenes from the bible obviously but actually no scenes of people at all.  The focus of the design and architecture was a creation of a beautiful paradise on earth as interpreted from the Koran and I must say that the mosaics that were produced were simply fantastic, the mosaic used on the roof of the Timur mosque's were incredible it a shame that some have fallen into such disrepair and that the efforts to restore them are not progressing well. Another concept was how he buildings were built not just to compete but out do the Christian architecture and make it there own.  
      The art of Hinduism seems more organic, the rock carvings and statues blend into and incorporate the settings that they are set into the art.  A major concept of the art of the Hindus was its inclusion of the everyday figures along with the cosmic and that inclusion was a major theme.   


 3)  he videos contained greater detail of the works that were covered in the text, and gave insight into the cultures that had produced them.


 4)  My opinion of the videos was that they were very interesting to watch and gave a lot of context to the production of the Mosques.  The more interesting points for me of the videos were how elaborate the tile work was and its symbolic nature of paradise, there were no sinners being ravished by fire for not conforming but a garden of flowers portrayed in color. Except the mud mosques of Africa which are renewed each spring with he rains.  
      The two things from the Hindu video I find most memorable were the productions of temples by the Ratlas brothers carved from one solid rock, they were truly amazing. And I am very happy that the Kandariya Mandev Temple survived the ravishes of the invading muslims and what a find to behold in the middle of the forest, for I am sure that some overly pious individuals would for sure find the nudes offensive.

Hand Drawing

     1) It was a very interesting exercise to use my hand as a subject for is project.  Staring at my hand and trying to draw the lines in my fingers and palm made me think of the models, my hand, who were posing for the portraits in the videos and the artists making the drawings, myself.

     2) I used pencil for the drawings I did not have charcoal available.

     3) It took some getting used to sketching with my left hand, I certainly did not have the same control as my right. However I did find that my left handed pencil strokes had a different style than my right and so created a different texture.

     4) The dominant hand drawing is certainly more defined and trying to make the cross hatches was much easier than with my left hand.  My comparison of the two is that my dominate hand produced that of a monkey and my non-dominant hand made the wolf man's.

     5)  Using my non-dominant hand would probably not be my first choice. But perhaps it would offer a different perspective and as I stated earlier the pencil strokes were different and would maybe add a distinctive look to a piece of art.

Module 9

   1)     I enjoyed the ' The Drawings of Michelangelo'  and the ' Power of Art -Caravaggio ' .  I chose the video on Michelangelo's drawings because I thought it would be helpful for the art assignment.  I chose the Caravaggio video because I had not heard of him before. 


   2)    A major concept of the Michelangelo video was how much preparation in sketching and drawing he did to try and make his final works perfect.  Another interesting concept revealed in the video was how protective of his drawings he was, lest someone see his trials and the thoughts he had before the final production.
          In watching the video on Caravaggio two major themes were discussed one I would describe as the 'fighting painter' generally great artists were I thought more of the sensitive lot, tolerant and liberal, Caravaggio moved from fist fights to the canvass and back as if made him a better artist.  The other major theme was how he showed a different point of view of the classic interpretations the bible scenes, maybe the violence  in his life allowed him to show the great emotions and despair of the regular people in his paintings.


 3) The videos give a more intimate account of the lives and struggles of these two artists and allowed a greater understanding of what it took to create such art.


 4) I enjoyed both of the videos very much. Michelangelo was obviously a very talented artist I hope someday to actually see the Sistine Chapel the work he did, to produce such a thing on plaster on walls and ceilings is such an incredible accomplishment. I also have discovered how good Michelangelo was at the cross- hatching technique, how even trained artists have great difficulty in reproducing, and his ability to show contour on a flat surface.  The Caravaggio video explained a lot about the subjects of some paintings I have seen, it was a good historical interpretation of the stages of paintings that I had for the most part grouped together.  And what a wild ride he had in his life, it was like the life of some rock-n-roll stars.