Photo/Sculpture

CINDY SHERMAN: PHOTOGRAPHY

This photograph was taken by Cindy Sherman. It is also Cindy Sherman who is the person in the photograph. This picture (along with the series of others it was a part of) is very interesting because it possesses qualities of a painting. I believe this was her goal. The makeup is extreme and the contrasts and coloring are that of one as well. She was representing a Caesar or a Roman man, even though she is a woman. She is known for these different photo series some of which are just like this photo, where she wears extreme makeup and assumes a role of some type of person. She has purposely kept most of her photos named "Untitled" because she wanted to leave them ambiguous.

JERRY UELSMANN: PHOTOGRAPHY

This is a photograph by Jerry Uelsmann called "Beginnings". This is actually manipulated photography which became his signature and made him a forerunner of photomontage in the 20th century. He used ideas that seemed unrelated and showed how they do relate by placing them within one another for example. This picture shows a close-up of a seed pod. In the background is a house or building. In between them is brush and foliage. This could be conveying the message that everything grows from a beginning. The foliage and trees in the middle, all began by a seed, which most people would know. But it's also important to note that even our man-made things like houses began with a seed, whether it be the seed of an idea or the seed that made the trees for the wood that built the house. He continued to make these types of photos and pioneered photography and imaging.

WALKER EVANS: PHOTOGRAPHY

This photograph is by Walker Evans called "The Burroughs Family". He took this during a series he was doing of three poor farming families during The Great Depression. He continued to document the depression and was well-known for his photographs. This is an important photo because it shows this family who struggled and was affected by the economic state of the country, so that those who may never visit a family like this (poor on a farm scraping by) can see what the rest of the country was going through. These photos are so important that some of them are in the Library of Congress as a depiction of this era.

LUIS JIMENEZ: SCULPTURE

This piece is called "Vaquero" by Luis Jimenez. He is an American sculptor who uses American materials to create American works of art. He uses things like fiberglass, cars, surfboards, and plastics to make his creations come to life. His pieces center around American life or beauty in America, not necessarily of something we would consider beautiful, but something about America that he finds beautiful. For example, this piece is a rodeo riding cowboy. The vibrant colors and realistic feel of this bucking bronco in motion with the attire of the cowboy accurately depict a beloved pastime of the south.

JAMES TURRELL: SCULPTURE (LIGHT)

This piece is called "Wedgework 3" by James Turrell. This is amazing because of the shapes created by the light and colors he chose. The captured image of it almost looks like a painting. His philosophy was that people were spending too little time appreciating art and there needed to be a movement that made people stand and appreciate longer. With this use of space, light, color and shape he creates something that might translate different to each viewer.

ANDY GOLDSWORTHY: SCULPTURE (EARTH ART)

This is Earth Art by Andy Goldsworthy. It has the impressive quality of using the space (the water) to show a design. The leaves are placed, strategically I'm sure, to create shapes. The use of the earth to create art is his signature and something very important to him. He purposely uses materials made available to him only in nature as a whole. He doesn't edit anything he uses. The concept is to show the aesthetics in everyday nature and the beauty of our environment. As an active environmentalist he uses his art to influence the concern for nature.

Painting and Prints

REMBRANDT VAN RINJ: ETCHING

This piece is called "The Three Crosses". He etched this onto copper which became one of his favorite mediums. This medium is so unique because it is able to hold color and texture and value such expressive ways. This was fitting for Rembrandt who found great drama in the Biblical texts and used those as the majority of his inspiration. When his wife died, he found a new passion for religion which he continued to display in his works. Though this piece does not have color other than grey scale, the use of light and dark create the mood of the scene. And the use of line gives emphasis exactly where it was intended.

EMIL NOLDE: WOODCUT

This piece is called "The Prophet" by Emil Nolde. It uses the medium of woodcut. This was not his primary medium, but this piece is a religious icon and he did do quite a few woodcuts altogether. This is an interesting medium because it holds such a deep, rustic, heavy feel in the tone of the piece. This, no doubt, was the intention of Nolde. He didn't paint a smiling person or a colorful happy scene. Instead with this woodcut he displays emotion through the medium itself. After learning to be a furniture maker and a craftsman, he took to art. He gained great fame but, though he supported the Nazi Party, Hitler banished all of his works and was told he was not to create anymore. He continued to in hiding, but this piece was possibly a prophecy of his pain to come.

 JACKSON POLLOCK: OIL PAINT


This piece is called "Full Fathom Five" by Jackson Pollock. It uses the medium of oil paint on canvas. Oil paint is a versatile medium but one of its greatest qualities is that its reflective nature makes the image appear quite realistic. This is ironic because very little of what Pollock painted depicted something realistic. In fact, he was as abstract as ever in his best works. But the oils seem to make the colors stand out more. In this piece, he uses many colors, as shown above. He layers his strokes and colors to create his image. This truly mirrored his life, which had become a literal mess with his raging alcoholism. His unique technique made for some of the greatest paintings with oil.

DIEGO RIVERA: FRESCO

This piece is called "Detroit Industry" and is a mural wall painting, or a fresco, by Diego Rivera. He did many of these using this medium which are unique because large scale depictions can be shown on them. Great detail could be shown and saved on these large wall paintings of still life which used plaster generally, making it quite durable. This is actually only part of the set of murals he constructed for inside the Art Institute in Detroit. His life seemed to be aristocratic and he was a member of the Communist Party, both of which he showcased in many of his frescoes. 

CHARLES BURCHFIELD: WATERCOLOR

This piece is called "February Thaw" by Charles Burchfield. He uses the medium of watercolor for this piece. Watercolor holds the quality of being one of the most expressive of the mediums. It also allows the painter to work quickly and spontaneously. This would be important in a piece such as this with the amount of water, reflection, and light he uses. It makes for a realistic and powerful piece about something quite simple. Burchfield had considered becoming a nature writer as a young man, but turned his focus later to his creativity and love for art. But the nature passion never left him, as is apparent in this painting. He clearly understands the properties that water, snow, and ice hold, making this painting remarkable. He also lived in Buffalo, NY so this was obviously a familiar scene for him.

JASPER JOHNS: ENCAUSTIC

This piece is called "Map" by Jasper Johns and uses the medium of Encaustic painting. This uses hot wax and pigments. This forces the painter to work quickly, but the quality that makes it special is the high level of luminosity it holds. Colors are brighter and seem to be lit, in portraits this makes something feel very real, and in something such as this, it it highly eye-catching. Jasper Johns used flags and maps as his main themes in his prime during the 1960's. He came from a broken home with barely any so-called childhood to speak of, which could be in part why he uses such playful colors in this piece.

Principles

ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE

This piece is called "The Astronomer" by Johannes Vermeer. It is an example of asymmetrical balance. The painting is amazingly balanced, yet clearly not symmetrical. The man on one side and the globe on the other balance each other and direct our attention to exactly where he wanted us to focus. Plus his use of light and dark help to balance the asymmetry as well.

EMPHASIS

This piece is called "The Adoration of the Shepherds" by Georges de La Tour. It is an example of emphasis. Here, he uses dim light on the faces of everyone but a bright light on the entire baby. This draws the viewer's eye to the focal point. This, along with the angling of the people towards the baby, achieves his goal. 

REPETITION AND RHYTHM

This piece is called "Confrontation at the Bridge" by Jacob Lawrence. This is an example of repetition and rhythm. He uses several of the same colors (red, yellow, blue, white) in the water below and in the clothing above. These repetitions create a rhythm. The rhythm is also apparent in the shapes of the clouds which seem to be moving along with the water. And the railing colors (black and green) also are used in the clothing.

CONTRAST/VARIETY

This piece is called "The Flagellation of Christ" by Caravaggio. This is an example of using contrast for emphasis. Here, Caravaggio uses the rhythm of the characters but uses the light falling on them to direct where the viewer's attention should be. The torturers are dimmer than Christ, making us focus on him. But he has also made sure we notice that his leg has bent because he is being kicked yet his hair is being held. The use of light and dark and movement of people has given the painting rhythm but with the contrasts, has also given it emphasis. 

VISUAL MOVEMENT

This piece is called "The Triumph of Galatea" by Raphael. It is an example of visual movement. In this masterpiece, the angles all make the viewer's eye direct to the center figure, Galatea. The angels crossbows and the arms and directions of the peoples' angles in the water do the same. This bring everything in the painting to a center and main focal point.

SCALE AND PROPORTION

This piece is called "The Beach at Trouville" by Claude Monet. It is an example of scale and proportion. This broad painting uses color and linear perspective to create both scale and proportion. The people walking along the boardwalk are larger than the people down at the crest of the beach because they are more in the foreground and therefore should appear larger. The same goes for the buildings. As the painting goes from edge to center, they follow the focal point and the vanishing point to show their scale.

Vocabulary 2

ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE

This piece is called "Transfiguration" by Raphael Sanzio da Urbino, the Italian Renaissance painter. He uses Atmospheric (or Aerial) Perspective in many of his paintings especially in this one. Atmospheric Perspective is when the quality of the atmosphere (the haze and relative humidity) between us and large objects, such as mountains, changes their appearance. He does this with the clouds and the distant lands in the background. Those in turn effect the way the figures appear.

CHIAROSCURO

This piece is called "Sacred and Profane Love" by Giovanni Baglione. It is an example of chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the tool referring to the balance of light and shade in a picture, especially its skillful use by the artist in representing the gradual transition around a curved surface from light to dark. This is evident here with the contrast of light and dark but especially in areas like the figures' faces, arms, and legs.

ARBITRARY COLOR

This piece is called "Weeping Woman" by Pablo Picasso. It is an example of arbitrary color. Arbitrary color is when color that is used has no realistic or natural relation to the object that is depicted, but may have an emotional or expressive significance. In this case, clearly these colors are not found on human skin or hair. But they illustrate the woman's despair and grief and accent exactly what Picasso is trying to show.

ANALOGOUS COLOR PALETTE

This piece is called "Five Bottles" by Tony Cragg. It is an example of an analogous color palette. An analogous color palette is when pairs of colors and hues that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel are used in an artwork. Here Tony Cragg uses mainly reds, pinks, and some violets.

OP ART

This piece is called "Cataract 3" by Bridget Riley. It is a perfect example of op art or optical painting. In op art the physical characteristics of certain formal elements, particularly line and color, are subtly manipulated to stimulate the nervous system into thinking it perceives movement. In looking, or staring, at this picture it seems as if waves are flowing, but it is in fact a still picture. She does this with her use of line and color.

PATTERN

This piece is called "Flowers of Shangri-La" by Yayoi Kusama. Any formal element that repeats itself in a compostition--line, shape, mass, color, or texture--creates a recognizable pattern. She does this in most of her pieces and it has become her signature. She uses dots in patterns which add color or contrast to her art.

Vocabulary

OUTLINE

This Painting is by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith called Cherry Orchard. This is an example of outline. An outline is the edge of a shape or figure depicted by an actual line drawn or painted on the surface. This shows outlines of a horse and a bird and a face. They are not complete figures, but the outline gives shape and form for the viewer to see.

 EXPRESSIVE LINE

This painting is Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portrait. It is an example of expressive lines. These are used in Expressionism which is an art that stresses the psychological and emotional content of the work. He uses the expressive line to show the pain and emotion he carried through his life. His paintings reflect that and it became his trademark, autographic. The organic nature of these lines give feeling and movement to an otherwise stiff and solemn work of art.

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SPACE OR SHAPE

This installation is called Your Mobile Expectations by Olafur Eliasson. It is an example of positive/negative space or shape. The figure that commands our attention is called the positive shape. The empty spaces that acquire a sense of volume and form by means of the outline or frame that surrounds them. He removed the shell of a car leaving just the skeleton and fit a grid over the top of it. On the grid, he sprayed water at sub-zero temperatures to form the outside. But the main focus of the piece is the light from within the negative space.

ONE-POINT LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

This painting is called "The School of Athens" and it is by Raphael. It is an example of one-point linear perspective. In this perspective, lines are drawn on the picture plane in such a way as to represent parallel lines receding to a single point on the viewer's horizon, called the vanishing point. In this piece, the vanishing point lies just in between the heads of the 2 men in the top center. This makes the rest of the piece feel 3-D.

TWO-POINT LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

This piece is called Liberte by Erik Bulatov. This is an example of two-point linear perspective. This means it uses two vanishing points, which we can see are at either end on the bottom of the painting itself. One at the beginning of the blue word and the other at the end of the red word. This gives the piece a more dynamic shape and form in 3-D.

FORESHORTENING

This painting is part of the Camera Picta, the Ceiling of the Newlyweds, by Andrea Mantegna. It is an example of foreshortening. The artist has made the dimensions of the closer things adjusted in order to make up for the distortion created by the point of view. This creates the 3-D image on a 2-D plane appear that we are looking up through this structure. 

Assignment #2: Form/Content, Representational Art, Abstract Art, Non-Objective Art, Icons, and Iconoclast

FORM VS CONTENT

This piece of art is called "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp. The FORM of this work is the urinal itself. It is porcelain and unchanged from its original self other than the inscription of "R MUTT 1917" painted on the side. This artwork's form is a porcelain urinal with a painted signature. It's CONTENT is completely different. In fact it's content is proving how it is NOT a porcelain urinal. It has had many interpretations as to what its content is, that it stands for the commercialization of things that could be art. It could mean that art is everywhere even in lowly everyday things. The inscription is said to have different meanings. The artist never really explained what he meant. But the content is the artwork, trying to interpret what Duchamp was trying to show.

REPRESENTATIONAL ART

This artwork is called "Sunset Over the Plains" and is done by Albert Bierstadt. It is representational because it is so naturalistic. The viewer would recognize the trees, the water, the deer, the sky and its colors, and the sun and register all those things as a sunset over the plains. It doesn't use any other techniques besides painting what the eye would see if the artist were standing in that very spot.

ABSTRACT ART

This is called "Guitar Player" by Pablo Picasso. It does not resemble a real guitar player and, in fact, most people would not know just by looking at it that the artist was aiming to show a guitar player. However, once the viewer knows the title, the geometric shapes seem to come together and the guitar player is able to be seen. It breaks the natural way of seeing a guitar player up into a new abstract way.

NON-OBJECTIVE ART

This work of art is called "Number One" by Jackson Pollock. This is non-objective because it doesn't refer to the natural or objective world at all. It is difficult to make it out to resemble anything specifically right away or recognize it as something realistic.

ICON

This masterpiece is called "The Last Supper" by Leonardo DaVinci. It is considered an icon both in the religious world and in the modern pop world. It is highly recognizable to just about anyone in the western world. It symbolizes the notorious last supper of Jesus Christ and even though we know DaVinci was not there it is held as being the depiction of what occurred. It has been debated over for years as to it validity and "hidden" meanings only furthering its status as an icon.

ICONOCLAST

This piece did not have a name nor an admitted artist, but it is a vandalism of the original work by Michelangelo called "Pieta". It showed the Virgin Mary holding the dead Christ in her arms. It was considered a religious treasure showing the strength and divinity in Mary, the ultimate mother, and also the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ. It was vandalized in this depiction by beheading Maary and chopping off Christ's legs and arm.

Assignment 1: 4 Roles of the Artist, Aesthetic Beauty, and Kitsch

This piece of art is by Yayoi Kusama. It is titled "High Heel" and was done in 2002. This is the perfect example of the first role of the artist: To help us see the world in new and innovative ways. What Kusama intended to be the context of this piece is that even something man-made and something we hold in a materialistic light is still just a part of the world of dots. It is, itself, simply composed of dots. Though we might see the dots in different colors or on different backgrounds, the shoe itself is still just a form of dots.

This piece of art is by Claude Monet. It is titled "The Houses of Parliament, Sunset" and was done in 1903. This is an example of the second role of the artist: To make a visual record of the people, places, and events of their time and place. He does this in a truly unique way however since he is documenting the building structures of the area and also the landscape (water) around it, but he leaves everything blurred which makes the buildings look less harsh and more romantic. Also the boat and person rowing depict a pastime of the people in this era. The colors he uses show a sunset also making this look more beautiful than a general idea of a bustling city.

This piece of art (and architecture) is The New York Times Building in New York City, NY. It was designed by Renzo Piano and completed in 2007. It is an example of the third role of the artist: To make functional objects and structures more pleasurable and elevate them or imbue them with meaning. This has so many levels of that idea in it. The material is a ceramic with sunscreen that reflects light of all different colors from the sun throughout the day creating a changing and amazing vision. The inside of the building boasts things like gigantic gardens and auditoriums using nature for appeal. And the overall dimensions and shape topped with a crown-like finish of white makes this an imposing and impressive sight to see.

This piece of art is a portion of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. It was completed in 1512. This is an example of the fourth role of the artist: Giving form to the immaterial--hidden or universal truths, spiritual forces, personal feelings. This painting was not a recording of what the artist saw. This is an interpretation of what they see in their mind as having happened as taught by the Bible. Here both Adam and God are represented but for the purpose of this role, God is the focus. Michelangelo has given a form to the spiritual figure. He has a body and a face. He also has angels surrounding him, another spiritual figure. They have faces and forms. This was Michelangelo's job and he did it well. "Putting a face to the name" so to speak.

This piece of art is by Christo and Jean-Claude. This is called "Surrounded Islands" and was installed in 1983 around these islands in the Biscayne Bay. I think these truly represent aesthetic beauty. They show what was naturally a tranquil and beautiful place in these islands and the water around them, but then elevate that level of beauty for the eye by adding a bright and pleasing color so different from the colors present already. This is a non-traditional type of aesthetics, but aesthetics nonetheless.

This piece of art did not have a name but I found it on a website called "World of Kitsch" and they specialize in Kitsch toilets and toilet products. This is the perfect type of kitsch because it is, in fact, a piece of art. This could be a small ornamental piece on someone's mantle as art. However it takes the western world's "throne toilet" and makes it quite literal being gold and bearing a crown. It doesn't fit the typical idea of aesthetics.