Art Appreciation

For me, this chapter on architecture has been the most interesting chapter we have read this far. The time and planning it must take for an architect to create such structures is mind blowing.  Not only do they have to keep the client happy but zoning committees, keeping track of building codes, planning committees and then they just hand off their designs to a contractor and construction crew to make it all come to fruition.  Not sure I could let my vision/creation go – just like that.

I have always thought that the lines in columns were for decorative purposes.  Now I know that those lines actually have a purpose, and that is to conduct rainwater downward.   There is my something new I learned today.

As beautiful as the Taipei 101 is, I would never want to be inside that sucker when a natural disaster would decided to strike.  Yikes!  That building is tall and just by looking at it I can feel my stomach turn at the thought of how much that building would sway (even with that massive pendulum to help out).

I have to say that my favorite piece of architecture is St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. It really is a spectacular piece and I really never get tired of visiting it.   However, as I was scrolling through the internet an interesting tidbit regarding buildings in New York City appeared. According to www.dailymail.co.uk, the “Big Bend” has been designed around zoning laws and requirement and is “described as the ‘longest building in the world’, the project’s concept drawings reveal a skyscraper reaching an apex then curving back down, featuring an elevator system that can travel in curves, horizontally and in loops”.  I can’t wait to see if this piece really comes to life. It will certainly change the Manhattan skyline.

The Artist 21 piece on Maya Lin was interesting to watch.   She makes me want to grab my ice skates and head to Grand Rapids to skate among the stars.  I did find it surprising that she considers herself an artist and not an architect; although most of her designs/concepts are really in architectural form. Congratulations to Maya Lin of creation and completion of the Vietnam Wall!

My relevant artist for this week is Renzo Piano.  After looking at his structures I realized that he “created” The Shard, which is on my bucket list to see when I finally ever get to London.  According to www.the-shard.com the concept of this impressive building

           “was conceived as a building with multiple uses: a vertical city where people could live,    work and relax. It comprises world-class offices, award-wining restaurants, the 5-star  Shangri-La Hotel, exclusive residences and the UK’s highest viewing gallery, The View                    from The Shard, offering 360-degree views. Well-connected and comprehensively              serviced by central London’s transport infrastructure, facilities and amenities, The Shard   is a timeless reminder of the power of imagination to inspire change”.

The Shard has everything you need at your fingertips and really would have no reason to ever leave the building.  It is a visually stunning structure to look at as well, plus all the added extra touches makes this one spectacular building!

Craft was such an entertaining week. The breadth of this genre encompasses the practical and everyday and elevates it to art. I will admit that I was very much surprised by the large scope some of the pieces could take. In particular, the piece Paula Winokur did called “White Butte” struck me. It was made out of 83 different parts and she would have to wedge as much as 200 pounds of clay all at the same time. That’s extraordinary! 

 I also was fascinated by the artists who worked with wood. They often seemed to like working with the natural grain and knots in the wood that the average woodworker might tend to avoid. The resulting piece, be it table, bowl, or sculpture, is so unique in that it could only have been created by that specific artist with that exact piece of wood. George Nakishima often kept interesting pieces around for years until he felt he had found a project worthy of utilizing that piece. I love the idea that with everything becoming so cookie cutter, people are now revering the handmade. There is appreciation for the time put into making something from nothing by hand. The irony is that many of these handmade things are so expensive, only the more wealthy can afford and enjoy them. The doorknobs made by Victor Horta were one of my favorite things in the reading, but I’m sure a house full of them would be incredibly pricey. 

 The artist in the video was Kimsooja, and I thought her concept of using the air in the Crystal Palace as her medium was very innovative. When they started to apply the light refracting sheets and I could see where she was going with this piece, I got really excited to see the finished product. It did not disappoint. The sound of breathing along with the refracted and reflected light must have made everyone in there so completely aware of the air surrounding them in a way they may not have ever been before. The project she did with the bundles was very interesting as well. I knew that the bundle itself isn’t art, but the way she arranges them is beautiful and transforms the common object into something bigger. 

The textbook

I like the idea in the textbook of making a maquette before actually making the real sculpture. Henry Moore gave a great explanation about how the models make it easier to see what the sculpture should look like from every angle. (pg 327). I enjoyed reading the passage about Michelangelo and his earliest work. I was unaware that the David statue was made from marble. (pg 131). I always enjoyed using clay to make sculptures when I was in high school. As the textbook says, clay is wet and easy to work with and once you get the sculpture the way you want it you fire it. Once its fired the clay turns hard and is able to be painted.(pg. 334)

Kara Walker: The Melodrama of “Gone with the Wind”

Kara walker is an African American artist who strongly believes in representing her race. I have never read “Gone with the Wind,” and I am now considering reading it. When you do not get background information on something before you do it the process may be hard. Kara tried to make a sculpture with out actually reading the content, and it was difficult for her. The reading was a bit difficult for me because I have not read the book. This example shows that it is beneficial to get background information before jumping to conclusions. I do like the look of her figures in black put against a plain white background. This makes the figures stand out, making the impact of the photos more emotional. I like that Kara uses humor in her work, it helps enlighten the mood. 

Thoughts:

The relevant artist, Tara Donovan, stacked straws to create an image of clouds. Her technique reminded me of the Pod Pacha sculpture located in the textbook. I was informed that this technique is called assembling, which makes sense because you are stacking and building a sculpture from materials.(pg 341). I enjoyed reading the Art Issues article on Preserving Ephemeral Materials. Artists use materials in the work that may decay after some time or even rot. These materials need to be preserved, if they can. I was impressed with how Zoe Leonard took the time to stitch together fruit peels. (pg 344). This article reminds me of Kara Walker, she uses the sugar material that will eventually break down. Materials that are ephemeral need to be preserved in some form, it is up to the artist on how they do that. I would not want to put all that work into a piece and then it just disintegrate into nothing. Most artists want their art to be permanent.  

Relevant Artist: Tara Donovan

Tara is an artist who creates sculptures with unique materials. She likes to use banal materials such as; pencils, paper plates, and styrofoam cups. Tara uses everyday materials to help create her sculptures. She even likes to use clear scotch tape. Tara stacked over two million plastic straws, that are used for drinking, against a wall to create a look of clouds. I think Tara does an amazing job. I feel strong about pieces of art that I know the artist used normal everyday materials to create it. Below are photos from the gallery of Tara Donovan. 

I also liked your review of Tara Donovan. She is also a good, talented artist. Her unconventional use of materials really makes her stand out.

The relevant artist I selected this week is Cindy Sherman. Cindy is a film director and an American photographer. Cindy is well known for her conceptual portraits. Cindy was born on January 19th, 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey and currently works in New York where she grew up. She started by getting into classes at the Buffalo State College getting into the basic studio courses drawing, painting, and photography. Starting in 1977 she had started to work on “Complete Untitled Film Stills” which was a series of 69 photographs. Beginning in the 1980’s Cindy used color fil and large prints that focused more on the lighting and facial expressions.

Your reflections on the reading  

For this week’s reading, there was a ton of information and I learned a lot. I was surprised by how many categories and methods there are. I have never really done anything with printmaking, so these methods were new for me. I actually really enjoyed Gus Mazzocca’s, Haitian Dance Fantasy. There is so many colors, and so much going on in this piece, that it is a little overwhelming at first. The motion of the dancing woman is apparent in the whole piece.

Your reflections on the     videos/media

The video on John Baldessari was a little confusing for me, so I had to go back and watch parts of it. However, I thought it was interesting. I especially enjoyed the part when he was standing in front of a plain wall and when he moved he said, “I am making art.” He then states that because he said it was art, he was believed. I thought this was funny, but also eye opening because I suppose it is art. All of his art seem to challenge my, and others, understanding of art. Though I am a bit hesitant to call his works “art,” I also do not think that they aren’t “art.” He seems to want to challenge the idea of what art is, while also challenging people to see meaning in these simple pieces. For example, he puts circles on top of faces of people in pictures to show that they are actually interchangeable. He also does similar things with words and pictures. He said they are both ways of communicating and can be interchanged. Many of his pieces are writing on simple backgrounds.

Connections/comparisons you find     between the two

I think what Baldessari was doing with the writings on simple background is typography, which was discussed in chapter seven. He even combines pictures with words, using them as a description. It seems like many of the artworks shown in these chapters are created in very unique, out of the box, ways. Baldessari also seems to create more unique, yet simple, pieces.

Connections to another artist’s     work from the “Relevant Artists” section of the course content

I chose Yinka Shonibare as my relevant artist for this week. His work is also very interesting to look at! Much of his artwork is colorful, busy, and seems to have a story, which reminds me of the Haitian Dance Fantasy piece I mentioned earlier. I was a bit surprised by how similar his work is to Baldessari’s. Shonibare’s work, like Baldessari’s, features headless people. In some of his pieces, he will put a globe in place of their heads. This immediately reminded me of how Baldessari put circular stickers in place of people’s heads. Unlike Baldessari, many of Shonibare’s pieces seem to have an obvious meaning or story. However, his pieces can also be seen as“strange” and out-of-the-box, like Baldessari’s are. I think this is especially apparent in this piece of his, where this lady is walking a few cheeta’s.

This weeks reading was about painting. Although in art class I struggled with painting, I found painting to be one of the most soothing activities one could do. I honestly had no idea about the different techniques or paints that were available to be used, and how painting has changed within the past 50 to 100 years. Before you had to actually make the paint and paint it quick, before it hardens or dries. Now there are some paints that take hours or days to dry completely. A few paints I was aware of was oil, acrylic, tempera, and water, while I’ve never heard of were fresco and gouache. What I love most about painting is how beautiful the end piece could come out. To me it is different than drawing, because you can paint something that just consists of lines and shapes with different mediums, and the end product looks beautiful.

In the video, I thought Julie was a good example of this. She liked to paint things that were a little more abstract. Her paintings mostly consisted of different lines and shapes, but they ended up being beautiful. Julie liked to use a lot of vibrant colors, as well as the occasional black and white. Something I found to be extremely interesting was how long it would take her to complete a painting. One of her pieces were usually over twenty feet I think she said, and it would take her up to a year to complete one. I also found it interesting how many people Julie had working with her to complete one piece. Every person had a different task, and worked to create a painting that turned out wonderful. Something I didn’t quite understand was the meaning behind her paintings, which is what I find common looking at abstract things. I find myself confused to what they mean, but am usually still in awe in how beautiful they are.

My relevant artist this week is Frank Stella. Frank was an abstract painter and a print maker. He painted with bright colors and painted in different dimensions. 

Something I think Frank had in common with Julie is his love for abstract painting and nice color. What I find in common with his and Julie’s paintings is the ability to understand the meaning behind them. The painting up top is from the series called Harlan II, and is just one of 100 different paintings created by Stella. In this painting Frank used shapes in a wonderful way to create a vivid image, something Julie didn’t really do in her paintings. Below is another one of Stella’s paintings. It’s called the Shoubeegi and is apart of a series called the Indian Bird. In this painting, he uses different dimensions and colors to create what he is trying to objectify. Again, I have no idea what it means but I find it pleasing to look at. 

I also enjoyed our video for the week.  I loved Julie’s use of shapes and lines, color or not, and the size of her paintings are just huge!  I think the meanings to what she creates are up to the individual viewer.  What you see, is not what I will see – and that is totally ok in the art world and yes her piece was absolutely beautiful.

I also chose Frank Stella for his use of color and the paintings that he created.  I found his pieces to be  simple, colorful, and the meaning is once again left up to the viewer.

In high school I took art through all four years, and sincerely loved it. My favorite thing to create was drawings, especially with colored pencil. This chapter is about drawing and the mediums that could be used, such as graphite, charcoal, silverpoint, oil pastels, and colored pencils. Some reasons why I loved drawing in colored pencil or graphite so much was because of the detail you could put into it. I think it’s amazing how some artists could make a drawing of a person or object look exactly like like its original form. I also learned to draw in charcoal and oil pastels. Charcoal and Oil pastels basically gave me the same effect, except for oil pastels was in color, charcoal was in black and white. 

In the video, William Kentridge used charcoal. He drew portraits with kind of dark feel to them, with not a lot of detail but still made his pencil lines look smooth. I found the way he used motion to draw portraits was interesting. I like the way he threw up leaves and let them land where they may. Kentridge drew to create movement. Below is a piece of Kentridge’s work, one of my favorites that I’ve seen from him over the internet. What I love about this is that the water actually looks like it is moving, and I love the color and the texture it portrays. 

My relevant artist this week is Vija Clemins. Vija is an artists who creates beautiful, life-like work from photographs of nature; such as spiderwebs, oceans, the skyline, and rocks. Vija spends days or years on her work, and ends up with you wondering if it even is a piece of art of a photograph of whatever she has drawn. Her work is often of a simple object or scene, but the hours she spends on it makes it into something beautifully simple. 

Something Vija has in common with Kentridge is the movement her work creates. To me, it literally looks like a picture of an ocean. Although Kentridge’s work doesn’t look real, it still creates the same kind of effect that Vija’s does. Kentridge’s work is a little darker than Vija’s in feel, but they still both use dark, eerie colors. Although they are entirely different, I think the effect and feeling they are trying to pull out of an observer is basically the same. 

The Reading

Chapter 15 was very informational! I was drawn into the reading right from the beginning when there was discussion of the famous tiny female figure. Examining the photo in the book, I agree with the theory that she resembles fertility due to the shape of her body. Another topic discussed was why there are drawings carved into the hard stone in caves. A theory discusses the possibility of magical purpose. Someday I would love to observe some of these amazing cave sightings! 

               I was very interested in the Gothic time periods discussed in this chapter. The way the Gothic cathedrals where the architecture is incredible! Along with the Rose Window, which gives a three-dimensional look. Stained glass windows are full of life, shapes, and color! 

Kiki Smith Video

Kiki Smith is a highly unique woman. Her art work is something that I have not seen before. She has this beautiful character that she is able to bring into each one of her pieces. I notice that Kiki uses a lot of humans and animals in her artwork. She feels very strongly about her pieces of art; you can tell she puts her soul into it. “The more you manipulate it the more life you put into it,” said Kiki. When she made this statement I instantly felt the passion she has in her work.

               Kiki expressed that growing up her father was the main influence in her life, which led her to create the dark art work pieces. Kiki said her family was like the Adam’s family, they had death all around them. She reported getting called a witch by other children when she was a child. Your background influences who you become later on in life. Kiki has brought her feelings and strongly put them into her artwork. Her creation of witches and dead animals came from being around death all of her life.  I was very moved to see Kiki become a part of her own artwork, she was used to create a plaster molding that she would use in one of her pieces. She also brings her Christianity into her work, stating how Christianity is storytelling.

Comparison of the reading and media

The textbook and the video of Kiki and her art are similar in many ways. The reading talks about stone carvings made to resemble humans and animals are a trend located throughout history. Kiki made many pieces with humans and animals. There are animals found drawn in caves, discussed in the reading, that were found to be pregnant. Kiki made many figures where humans were coming out of being conceived from the animals. Kiki believed it showed new life. A photo of a male figure was shown to resemble the classical time period, some of Kiki’s statues remind me of this figure. She put so much detail into her work!

I was surprised with the content located in chapter 15 about the bombing in Iraq. I was unaware that this tragic occurance happen, where the art was taken by thieves during the war. I was glad to read that many of the pieces have been located, but sadden to hear that thousands of pieces are still missing.

 Reading the information and watching the video I have gained a whole new respect towards art. Instead of walking by small figurines around me, my eyes will now be open to appreciating the beauty of art in my everyday life. A piece of art that I really liked is in the reading called (The Maids of Honor.) There is a small child with her foot on the family dog, along with the beauty of the little girl in the white dress. This piece stuck out to me, I have a strong love for the clothing from different decades. A few of Kiki’s pieces were a bit disturbing to me. When there where people coming out from the animal behinds in some of her statues was very different then what I was expecting. 

Liza Lou

This Photo is an art piece of a kitchen where everything in it is made entirely of tiny beads. Liza placed each bead with a pair of tweezers. This amazing art piece took her 5 years to complete! How amazing! There are even dishes in the sink! http://www.boredpanda.com/kitchen-covered-in-glass-beads-liza-lou/

Faith Ringgold

A famous painting representing a group of African-American women who quilted

https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/gallery/new_art/works/?image_id=237167