Kerry James Marshall, Could This Be Love, 1992

Kerry James Marshall seems like a wonderful person…so down to earth.  I love the fact that he has researched art history extensively in order to educate himself on what makes a great painting.  His knowledge of art history shows in his work.   There is so much detail to look at in all of his work.  My eye moves slowly from one detail to the next…not missing anything.  His paintings seem  perfect like the great historical paintings he has researched.  It’s obvious that he has put much thought and time into each of his pieces. My favorite detail are the black figures in his paintings.   Making the people so black makes such a strong  statement in his work.  He said that painting the people so black communicates in his art the idea that people are scared of the color black.  Isn’t that true, as history has proven to us…also, still today.  I must admit, when I first looked at his work,  it didn’t catch my eye.  But the more I look at it, the more I really love his art.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Skull, 1981

Basquiat was a bright star that flickered out too early. He died of a drug overdose at age 27.  It’s ashame, because he seemed like a man full of so much life and talent.  Basquiat’s story reminds me of other bright stars like Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix.  They left this world too soon.

I like his work.   There is something deep about it. It’s not realistic art by any means, but his work is extremely talented.    It looks so 80′s and urban, which I love.  I used to make fun of the eighties, but the older I get the more I realize what a cool decade it really was.   I always thought that the Velvet Underground banana symbol was created by Andy Warhol, but actually it was created by Basquiat. Is he  my favorite artist I have researched?  No, but he ranks up there for me.  I appreciate his art and still find myself intrigued by it.   There’s no question, that he was extremely artistic and talented.   Maybe I’m also intrigued by his art after reading  about his life. His work is bold, colorful, and shocking. I love it.

Five facts that I learned.

1. In dealing with creativity, people with receptivity are open to new ideas and welcome new experinces.

2. In dealing with creativity, people with attentiveness realize that every experience is valuable.  By lookinng carefully, creative people see possibilities that other miss.

3. Creative people love change.  They’re never satisfied with routine amswers to familiar questions, they constantly consider new possibilities and often challenge the status quo.

4. Creative people work long hours with great concentration, then rest and relax, fully recharging their batteries.  The view balance between work and play as essentional.

5. Fear is one of the greatest obstacles to creative thinking.  When we are afraid, we tend to avoid action and consequently miss opportunities.

Test Question:

What are the seven characteristics of creativity?

Answer:

Receptivity, curiosity, wide ranges of interest, attentiveness, connection seeking, and complexity.

An example of Eakins capturing motion through photography.

Five facts that I learned.

1. Three point perspective is often used when an artist or designer wants to communicate he power and energy of the technological or architectural setting.

2. Atmospheric perpespective is when a visual phenomenon in which the atmospheric density pregressively increases, hazing over the perceived world as one looks into its depth.  Overall definition lessens, details fade, contrats become muted and, in  a landscape, a blue mist descends.

Salvador Dali, Christ of St. John of the Cross,1951.....This is an of Amplified Perspective

3. Amplified perspective can be defined as the exaggerated use of a linear perspective to achieve a dramatic and engaging presentation of the subject.  It’s often created using an unusual viewing position, such as a bird’s eye view, acclerated convergence, or through distortion.

4. Thomas Eakins was one of the first artists in America to use photography as a tool in the art-making process.  He captured action through photography.

5. Overlap is the simplest way to space, and it can be especially effective when combined with size variation.

Test Question:

What are the three types of linear perspectives?

Answer:

One-point, two-point, and three point.

Ann Hamilton, Lingum, 4th Floor

 “There could be a rooftop that is just sitting dormant for a while, and someone goes up there and does an amazing piece of graffiti… And that is removed and two months later there’s a huge billboard over the whole spot anyway.”

Overall, I like his work.  Some of his work is serious do to the fact that it deals with urban culture, but somehow it comes across as fun to me.  All I can say is very cool. I guess McGee brings the cool word out of me.

Kara Walker standing in front of her piece titled Burn, 1998.

Kara Walker creates exquisite and powerful art to say the least. Her art derives from issues such as race, gender, power, repression, history, and sexuality.  She takes these issues and intertwines them together in her artwork, creating images of the raw, dirty, and truthful  realness realted to these issues.  Walker doesn’t limit herself to one particular medium or technique when creating her artwork. She has created art through painting, film, video, performance, narrative vignettes and cyclorama, light projections, and drawings.  However, she is notorious for her use of black cut-paper silhouettes.    Walker has discovered that using black cut-paper silhouettes work best in  helping deliver the messages she  is trying to create in her artwork.   Walker feels that a black cut-paper silhouette “reduces the human being to their physical appearance”, which correlates to race and gender issues.  Not only does this medium work so well in reducing the appearance of a  human being, but it also simplifies extremely complicated issues.  This particular meduim couldn’t be more perfect for the artwork Walker creates.

 

Kara Walker, Darkytown Rebellion, 2000

Walker created an installtion piece titled the Darkytown Rebellionin 2000.    She used a combination of mediums and techniques to deliver her message.  First, she used the black cut-out silhouettes and adhered them to the walls. Second, she mixed in different colors that were created from a light projector.   The viewer also becomes part of this installation art. As the viewer walks through the art, their shadow casts up on the walls, adding another technique to the piece.  The viewer is taken on a  bizarre journey through “historical realism” that is “seductive” to say the least.  Walker’s work is amazing and I hope to see it one day.

Robert Rauschenberg, White Painting, 1951

Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953

Rauschenberg was an artist during the art period known s Abstract Expressionism, but he was not an Abstract Expressionist. Abstract Expressionsim was defined by the artist expressing their emotions through their art, but he didn’t except this idea of art for his work.  However, he was fascinated with the works of abstract expressionists, including the artist, Willem de Kooning. In fact, Rauschenberg  collborated with de Kooning on a piece in 1953, titled The Erased de Kooning Drawing.  Rauschenberg asked de Kooning if he could erase one of his drawings and De Kooning let him. Rauschenberg got this idea from drawings of his own that he had been erasing, and took it to the next level. The drawing that he was erasing had to be art to begin with.  It had to be big.  It took Rauschenberg a month to erase de Kooning’ drawing because of the mediums de Kooning had used.  Again, this piece stems from the same idea of the White Painting, which is how far can one push art and still get meaning out of it.

Rauschenberg was best known for being one of the pioneer’s of Pop Art.  He rejected the idea of Abstract Expressionism and embraced the world of popular culture.  He once said an artist has to be a “witness to his time in history”, and that’s exactly what his work translates to the viewer. Most of his work is created from everyday materials that surround us everywhere we look.  He was also a pioneer in respect to the materials he used for his work.  It really hadn’t been done much before him.  For example, his famous piece titled Monogram, done in 1959, consisted of an angora goat, tire, police barrier, the heel of a shoe, tennis ball, and paint.  He called his work “combines”.  His definition of a “combine meant to express both the finding and forming of combinations in three-dimensional collage”.    Most of his work was a “combine”. Some was three-dimensional and in the 1960′s his work became more two-dimensional when he started using Pop Art images from printed materials.  Throughout his life he never stopped experimenting with new ideas and again,that is what makes him an art genius of modern times.

Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram, 1959

Wassily Kandinsky, Several Circles, 1926

Facts I Learned From Chapter One

 

1. A line can be defined in four different ways.

1.  a.  A point in motion.
2.  b.  A series of adjacent points.
3.  c.  A connection between points.
4.  d.  An implied connection between points.

2.  A three dimensional closure is called a volume.

3. Pure forms are shapes created without direct reference to reality such as circles, rectangles, and squares.

4. Value distribution refers to the proportion and arrangement of lights and darks in a composition.

5. Grisaille is a gray under painted, to create an illusion of space.

Test Question:

What are the basic building blocks from which two-dimensional designs are made?

Answer:

Line, shape, texture, value, and color

Gestalt Psycology

Facts I Learned From Chapter Three

 

1. According to Gestalt Psychology, visual information is understood holistically before it is examines separately.

2. Visual weight can also refer to the relative importance of a visual element within a design.

3. Rhythm is a sense of movement that is created by repetition of multiple units in a deliberate pattern.  It’s similar to musical rhythm.

4. To much unity can lead to boredom, while too much variety can lead to chaos.

5. Any similarity between visual elements tends to increase unity; any difference between visual elements tends to increase variety.

Test Question:

Gestalt Psychology describes what six unifying strategies?

Answer:

Grouping, containment, repetition, proximity, continuity, and closure.

In-work Progress Photo.

For this assignment we had to select a painting of our choice and point out 10 focal points on the painting.  This was accomplished by blowing the image up to  8.5″ x 11″ and cutting out 10 separate pieces of tracing paper at the same size.  The first piece of tracing paper was laid over the image, numbered, and the focal point that my eye was drawn to first was circled. The process was repeated on every sheet of tracing paper until 10 focal points were depicted.

I selected the painting titled Third of May, 1808 painted by Francisco Goya in 1814-1815.  This is such a powerful painting.  In 1808 Napoleon conquered Spain.  The Spaniards welcomed the French government because of their new reforms and more liberal constitution.   Rumor spread across Spain that the French were going to  execute the Spanish royal family.  The Spaniards rebelled and bloody street fights began.  On the dawn of May 3, 1808, the French firing squad executed helpless prisoners that were hiding in a convent, and that’s what this painting depicts.  Goya focused on the victims and antiheroes such as the main figure in this painting that is depicted as a Christ like figure.  Goya felt war was wrong and believed it kills defenseless humanity.  Goya actually said the following about the message behind this painting; “To warn men never to do it again.”

Francisco Goya.Third Of May, 1808.1814-15.Museo del Prado, Madrid.

This is a wonderful composition by Goya.  The viewers eye is first drawn to the antihero figure. This is the first focal point because of the value and color contrast.   Goya meant for this figure to look Christ-like, hence the bright white shirt.   The antihero figure is also noticed first because his arms are up in the air, unlike the rest of the figures in the painting.  From the antihero figure, the eye is taken on a complete circle trip around the painting. The eye starts to look downwards because of the color of the blood and the way the above figures keep pulling your eyes downward due to the placement of their heads and legs. Next, the eye is drawn to the lantern in the middle, which arrows up to the French soldiers. The position of the front soldier’s arm and head moves your eye to the rifles, and eventually back to the figure.  The composition is framed well with the dark sky.  The darkness on top keeps your eye drawn towards the center  the painting.