On the metropolitan museum of Art website, I searched up Japanese art. I found a drawing  by an Japanese artist. The drawing has six objectives.The lines on the drawing are horizontal and diagonal. There is a lot of negative space on the drawing.The background shows Japanese characters. In this picture,there are opposite colors,red and blue. Red is one of the warm colors. Blue is one of the cool colors.The texture is implied because it is on screen.In the drawing, it looks like a beautiful, Japanese woman in a kimono. On her right side, it looks like she is holding an object. The pattern on her dress is a picture of the water and the trees.I wonder why the artist decided to draw this picture. It is true that Japanese woman wore kimonos in ancient times, but why would the artist have the woman holding a strange object. The object looks like a horn. I am interested in Japanese art because of how the artist draw different flowers or how they draw people in ancient times. This picture symbolizes beauty. A Japanese woman with long black hair and pale skin shows beauty in society.This picture was made during  the Edo period, from 1615 through 1868. The culture is Japanese. The medium the artist used is a hanging scroll, ink, and color on paper.The artist name is kaigetsudō Ando. According to the philsopher Goodman, Realism is relative to the system of representation. This drawing can be real according to the time period.

BP #2 - Matsoso

It took me longer than anticipated to select a piece for this blog post. I went through all of the websites, numerous collections for well over an hour. Then, I saw this piece from Leonard Matsoso.

What I immediately noticed was the organic shape Matsoso created. This is true of the overall silhouette and the shaping within the figure. The angle from which he decided to depict this figure created a great deal of overlapping and space. Certain body parts are placed over others in creating this dancing figure. In doing so, Matsoso also has shown space. You can see which parts of the figure are in the foreground like the right leg and right hand, middle ground like the head, core and left leg and in the background like the leg hand.

When I came upon this artwork, I actually thought it was a sculpture. It could be because of my screen but I choose to site the amount of texture and surface quality for the reason for my assumption. The texture in this varies so and that is because of the line choices.  "African Tribal Dance" by Matsoso is all about the lines. It is what makes the piece. There is a copious amount of lines in the figure and lines that make the outline of the figure. Value wise, there isn't huge contrast. The shades chosen depict depth but not in a drastic way. The colors chosen are the same; they don't have much contrast. Matsoso used  different shades of the same color. It only ranges from a beige/tan to a darker brown.

Looking at this work, I see haunting, profound beauty and pain in the dancer's face. The way in which the face and head are cocked to the side, seemingly dangling and detaching from the rest of the body portrays the dedication it take to keep such an art form (tribal dance) alive. All of the parts of the dancer are contorted not only on the figure but within it's self. For instance, if you looking at one of the legs, you see that it comes from the hip in an an natural way and the leg itself has a knee that buckles in the opposite direction from where it should. This is to display transformation and departure from what we perceive as natural, normal or even beautiful. these organic shapes give off such a sense of hardness. Many parts even resemble actual rocks yet the muted colors give off softness. There is that juxtaposition which gives complexity. For something that appears so poignant and rough, the absence of black appears to redeem that harshness. Matsoso's piece visually striking, beautiful and powerful yet delicate.

P.S. - The screenshot doesn't do this piece justice. I tried to save it but it wasn't an option from the google art project, unfortunately. I

BP#2

This art piece was made Fredrick Mershimer, "Plymouth Street". He used mezzotint on paper for his medium.  He inscribed "1990" on the lower right of the piece. There are a lot of cooler colors in the painting. Overlapping can be seen in the painting as well, the building structures (one in front of another). The lines for the bridge (the blue one) that can somewhat appear to be a horizon is made up of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines. I don’t really see any negative space within this painting. It only appears to be positive space (everything in the painting matters). One thing about the painting that I did not notice right away was that there are two bridges in it. Also there are train tracks, that have been cut off by the building and the sidewalk. I choose this specific piece of artwork because it appealed to me in the colors I enjoy and would predominantly wear in my life. It also reminds me of the city and how the street lamps and cars light it up without any sunlight being involved. There is life in the painting as well, the lights in the building could mean people or just one person is still in the building, or that the lights were just left on like some buildings. Mershimer also gave us a time (1990), which shows us what he saw in that year. The image he painted may not be here to today just as those trains tracks weren’t cut off prior to the making of the structures in the painting.

Blog Post #2

  I decided to search the Met website for a french revolution type of artwork i had seen about 2 years ago at the Met but i came across one that kind of revolved around the same theme but it caught my attention because i thought it has beautiful lighting. The oil on canvas is titled 'Louis-Marie, Vicomte de Noailles' by american artist Gilbert Stuart. In this artwork the one can plainly see the element of value. The artist chooses to create a frame around Noaillies by having the edges of the artwork be darker and therefore guiding the on looker to start of by seeing whats' on the middle ground of the scene and then having the eyes go from the lower right all around towards the upper right where it gets lighter so it can allow the viewer to drift off easily off the canvas. Also using the light areas the artist draws even more attention. For example the area around Noaillies feet is a much lighter color than the rest of the ground where they stand giving Noaillies a literal spotlight and therefore exalting and proving him to be the main subject. Also the white horse help direct the attention of the dark which mostly surrounds Noaillies. My interpretation of the artwork is that Noailles is a powerful war leader with class and finesse and very intellectual. It also appears as if he had recently finished or is begining some sort of battle and he stands brave,triumphant and unscathed.

Post 2

Technology/Transformation Wonder Women by Dana Birnbaum is a 2-D photography made in 1978. The video is about filmmaking in the early days and see how the visual and sound effects were. This movie is much different from what we are use to because of the time period and you can see a big difference on how new media changed the way we watched movies. Over many years you can see how the software editing evolved into something much more advanced. One big difference that this video and paintings and sculptures are different is that it’s moving pictures. This film isn't art that you paint but it’s an art that people perform. It has no paint and clay but a person acting out a script written by a writer. The writer uses words to express his idea instead of painting on paper. How the film was made is also very different from painting and sculpting. For performing art for a film you have to acted it out and take multiple scenes of the same part to find what is best. You have to do many scenes and edit it together into a movie. I decided to do this post on a film because I find films more interesting than a painting. Over the years you can see how much software and effects are improving as time goes on and that is very interesting what you are able to do with a computer. In my opinion a movie has more detail and more meaning than a pictures because of the way they film it. It’s a story that the writer wants you to know and experience for yourself and wants you to see his imagination in his eyes. I really like film and it really interests me when they act everything out and put it into a movie. The movie is the art and it’s showing you a story from someone’s unique point of view.

BP#2

 I'm choosing This unique art which is done by famous artist name "Pablo Picasso" during World war II (1942). I found this art very interesting because it made me thought and confused. I thought it's a real skull's of an animal  after researched and I discovered that  this sculpture was made from only two elements.
               It's a shape of "Bull's Head" and it's made out from just two objects which are bicycle's handlebars and seat, therefore, it lies in a 3D art. The light hit directly to the skull and it stands out more realistic and the colors of sculpture look brown and gray. Since this skull is made of plastic and metal the texture looks solid. During the world war, many millions of people were killed.  This art played a vital role at war time  because this art showed the transforming power of the human imagination at the time when human values were under siege. Thus, this bull's skull represents "Death Head". In my opinion, the artist simply did the unique art. To be honest, it's beyond my imagination, where he just used two pieces object to message the world about the effects of war I guess. I think he chose the brown and gray color because it represents decayed or rotten things and obviously the skull states death.

This is a sculpture by the artist Kara Walker called "The Subtlety" or "the Marvelous Sugar Baby" The idea for this piece surfaced after Walker was told that the factory was closing and that it would be a good place to build something because of all the history that the Domino Sugar Factory held. When she stepped into the massive space she noticed how the sugar was still clinging to the walls of all the walls and molasses was dripping from the ceiling. According to creativetime.org, Walker was known for problematic, discomforting, and unresolved images so of course her sculpture had to stand for something more than just a memory of the sugar that was once made there. The idea came from tons of research where she discovered that many african slaves were forced to work in this sugar factories. Many of them were children. The sculptures spoke about the story of slavery and the triangular trade. The giant sphinx like figure was made to resemble african american women; with their full lips, protruding uvulas, and big butts. The small figurines were made to look like the children that worked for these companies. They were made of a caramel like substance that melted while the exhibit was open. Walker liked how temporary it made it seem considering that the piece was very sight specific. The mini sculptures were also made to resemble the dripping molasses that came from the walls and ceiling. The sphinx was carved out of styrofoam and then coated in a mixture of sugar and water. This piece was meant to stand for so much more than just the remembering of the sugar factory. It was made to make us open our eyes and learn to look at the world in a new way. To end this post I thought I would leave you with some food for thought said by Kara Walker herself, “looking forward without any kind of deep historical feeling of connectedness is no good…She’s powerful… iconic in a way and she is so monumental, so unexpected, if I’ve done the job well then she gains her power by upsetting expectations one after the other.”   

Untitled

 This is "Untiled" by Five. The objective from the piece, is the colors. The insanity of it all, all analogous  colors with a splash of cool colors. I claim this as an abstract piece. It place with your emotions in a sense of wanting to break away, maybe gain freedom and develop. There is no foreground, background, or middle ground.  Completely organic I will say. Your eye has no complete direction, at first. Your eyes go in all directions. But what is the artist trying to communicate? You see the frustration, and very fast strokes. The visual elements as far as texture is very smudged. Most line work is horizontal. The shape is not geometric at it is all quite organic. To define this object in the center of the painting is like a human and or monkey separating, but within a paradox of moving within the "bodies". Otherwise the object would be undefinable, you would have to play with your own imagination to try to get a proper interpretation. As an abstract piece, it is very dark, despite the colors emitted through the painting.
  As a personal interpretation of this painting is chaos. The separation of two beings, or just one being completely distorted. You feel and almost hear the screaming of this painting. Senselessness and imbalance of emotion is oh so clear. I feel it is the never ending pain  of the artist. You see in his strokes, disorientation, almost bloody as well. Is it murder? Who knows, overall this is just such a powerful piece, that has left me breathless.

blog post#2

 I decided to use this artwork I came across in the Whitney Museum of American Art untitled by Berenice Abbott. I was randomly searching through exhibits that are displayed for this museum and this photograph grabbed my attention to just admire the beauty that shows some pictures look better in black and white.The visual element that caught my eye in the photograph is value. Berenice Abbott took this picture and transferred it to gelatin silver print. The light coming from the chandelier to following the flow of the stairs and meeting up to a vase. Because of the lighting slightly faded in the middle to reflecting off to the floor emphasizes the furniture. My opinion for this photo I believe has perfect proportion. The foreground which is the chandelier, middle ground the motion of the stairs giving a calm mood meeting the vase, and the background I will consider to be the sculpture where it may be a bit hidden from the shadow of the light. The exhibition may be flat but the placement and lighting give it depth. My impression of this picture gives off a vintage elegance type of vibe. Looking at the picture it reminds of how moderation came to change its style throughout time. I may not have existed in 1938 but I do get the sense of how it would be to be in a classical atmosphere.  

Come Away from Her

"Come Away from Her" by Kiki Smith and Lewis Carroll.
The form that we see in this piece is  water color and Intaglio based. The predominant color base in this Contemporary painting is cool colors, very neutral not static. For the most visual elements is that the cool colors bring you to a solemn and yet peaceful outlook upon this art piece. The young melancholy female is in the foreground, with a black bird background. Within the horizon stand point is the middle ground. How everything is pulled together is by texture. The texture is light with brush strokes, but the watercolor gives the fluent, delicate but almost dramatic effect. This is a plain flat painting. There is no 3-d effect or realistic effect. 
 What you first see in this picture is the calm young girl. Your eyes move to the black birds which take equal amount space upon the paper, as the girl laying on the hill. What really pulls you all together is the cool pigments. The whole emotion of this piece, is intense,somber, but very much calm. The pale pink dress definitely gives  the painting a pop. In the sense not everything is blended together. As for the direction of the piece is diagonal.  With linear perspective, is very disproportionate. Light values, are dark, not necessarily dim.  But that is the emotion that you feel.  I believe that the concept of  this painting is the consumption of young minds getting lost within nature, or being overly consumed within their minds. Even though you cannot see her eyes your imagination wonders what is her true expression, or what may be she pondering upon as she gazes as the birds fly away.

The Vine

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth

This Sculpture called The vine shows a women stretching as if she herself is a vine.It was sculpted in the 1920s by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth.   The sculpture is 3  dimensional the light hits it from above as she is leaning back reaching out like a vine. In the early twentieth century, sculptures of dancing women were producedthey were inspired by the success of dancers Isadora Duncan, Loïe Fuller, and Anna Pavlova. Frishmuth often turned to dancers for her the themes of these sculptures and paid these women to pose for her with dance poses. Just like in the picture taken of one shown, this statue balances on tiptoe in the middle of a performance, a grapevine suspended in her hands. Bunches of grapes lie at the her feet.  The statue is made out of bronze though the metal looks old and weared out it adds the feeling of light from above. The artwork looks in motion the women is in mid dance leaning back all elegantly. "The idea of launching your body back, without seeing, is liberating but also terrifying" said by Francesca Harper, a dancer. I agree because the women looks liberated without a care in the world just like a vine, Growing and stretching. "One of the dancers said she held this pose for twenty-five minutes and, honestly, I don't know how anyone could do that" said by Thayer Tolles. That sounds painful but it shows the dedication to create these artworks.

Terrifying Terrain



Terrifying Terrain

Artist: Elizabeth Murray (American, Chicago, Illinois 1940–2007 Washington County, New York )
Date: 1989–90

Medium: Oil on shaped canvases

Classification: Paintings

From: The Metropolitan Museum of Arts

 

   It was kind of hard for me to find a painting that catches my eye, but I found one. Elizabeth Murray's painting "Terrifying Terrain" that looks 3D, and has a overlapping feel to it. This is very interesting to me because when I first saw it reminded me of a broken compass I seen in a movie, shapes like triangular broken metal pieces. This painting symbolize "a rock-climbing trip in Montana" explained by Elizabeth she said that these are pieces of the rocks overlapping that has broken off as she climbed to the top. As she explained the colors she picked  "Here, a bright red dress floats incongruously over the center of the dark green landscape, adding a surreal note and suggesting a hidden layer of meaning."  This shows that she uses color to some how connect to when she was at her trip in Montana.

   Elizabeth Murray uses a lot of Visual Elements in her painting to describe her emotions and ideas. She uses a lot of lines such as; vertical lines that's symbols her strength, horizontal lines which shows her calmness, and diagonal lines results of her actions. These line shows her emotions in her painting. Implied 3D shapes, shapes that are geometric such as the triangular shapes and the organic shapes that goes with the flow of the painting. This painting shows a lot of negative space, but a positive space also. As it is mention this painting has an overlapping feel to it because it reflects on the rocks she climbed. There are some value in this painting the light is bright colors which are were the white is and the darker parts of the painting is where there are no light.This painter uses primary colors red, blue and yellow to show warm colors(yellow, and red) and cool colors(blue). When you look at this painting the texture that's implied is a rough feel because there are pointy pieces of this object which is a painting.

Blog Post #2

 

         My choice of artwork is called "Ecce Homo and Mater Dolorosa," by Pedro de Mena. This is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At first I was a bit confused, I wondered about the title of the art knowing that this is obviously a sculpture of Jesus and Mary. After some research I learned that this title is Latin for "Behold the man" and "Mother of sorrows." "Behold the man!" were the words stated when Jesus was being brutally presented with this crown of thorns. Mary, is birth mother of course was tortured by this image of her son being slowly killed in this manner, which gives her the title of "Mother of sorrows." This sculpture shows you the emotion of both the man and the mother whom were both clearly in distress. You can't help but feel sympathetic over the idea of the situation. This artwork is a 3d form with a medium of wood and paint. I believe the purpose of this was to commemorate the memory of Jesus and Virgin Mary and to construct a meaningful form of their existence. The choice of placement of this piece also illustrates value. This piece was placed in a dark corner while the piece itself is bright; it is even more bright because of where it is placed. There is a lot of texture within the clothing, it is so realistic you can see every wrinkle and every fold. Due to the context being an era of Christ, every bit of this piece is realistic as can be, almost too realistic in a sense. The realism is shown from the clothing, to the illustration of their face expressions, to the choice of what was used to torture Jesus. You get so much emotion from the small details like blood, tears, and scratches that these sculptures seem almost alive. My opinion of the purpose of this art work is exactly what the title expresses. To behold the man and his mother of sorrows is the purpose! To examine every bit of torture visually rather than reading about it as we are used to. Especially since this is 3d it is way more fascinating to see every inch of this man. We get to almost feel the pain in Mary's heart, to imagine how she felt seeing her son the way we are seeing him in this sculpture. And imagine even later when the torture was worse!

BP #2

The piece of art I have chosen for this blog post is one I found on The Metropolitan Museum of Art webpage entitled "Still Life with Checked Tablecloth" by Juan Gris. The first visual element I would like to call attention to in this piece are the shapes. This painting uses a variety of cube like shapes to form images of every day items. These items are manipulated into these strange shapes by the artist and make still life unrealistic but unique. 

Another visual element in this piece is the artists use of space. The dominant objects, or the positive space, are the objects in the middle of the painting placed on the table. The negative space is the table and the area around it. Clearly the artists wants attention drawn to the objects on the table and not to the area surrounding it.

Color is also an important element in this piece. The artists uses a wide variety of distinct, bright colors to make this painting stand out. There are parts of the painting that use a lot of monochromatic colors and then areas that use complementary colors to distinguish differences in the objects that the artists has rendered.

The reason I chose this painting was because I was searching for paintings in the style of cubism because I thought I would be able to find clear examples of visual elements in them. This is the first painting that stuck out for me. The way the shapes are formed on this painting make give it a chaotic feel for me, like the artists began drawing and decided he would paint things in any manner that he found appealing. The colors he uses are bright and friendly, it gives the painting a pleasant feel that I enjoy very much.