Black & White

 On December 12^th, an art exhibit will be held in the poolside café, where the students walk by to get from the E building to the M. This space is spacious enough to hold a number amount of art pieces as well as move to have viewers. The poolside café gets people in because it also has access to walk outside. I also would like it to be held in the E building because a lot of students who are taking art class go into this building. With the artwork all around the building that is displayed, they can easily find this exhibit to get some inspiration about some artists that they possibly never heard of before.

The theme of this show is to have black and white paintings and photographs by three artists.  I chose different artists with their own unique styling showing the students who come and see the exhibit that they are each unique and that their artwork can be displayed the same way one day. Artists show their personalities or emotions through their artwork to get the viewers to try and understand how they are feeling and maybe the viewers feels the same way and feel connected to the artist. The theme of the show is to have black and white photographs, paintings and drawings that are of people but in different forms and they each give out a different type of emotion. I believe that these three artists show art in more then one way and show that art isn’t just a drawing or painting. Kiki Smith, Richard Avedon, and Leah Yerpe, are the three artists whose work I am going to show in the art exhibit.

            The exhibit first starts with two pieces by Kiki Smith, Frontier and Clearing. She is an American artist who does a variety of work, such as printmaking, sculptures, drawing and many more. I chose these two pieces because they are images of people but she added her creativity in putting the lines and the stars in her work. In the work Frontier, she made the image right in the middle so that the focus is the face and there is not much negative space around her. In Clearing, it is more to the corner and it has more negative space, the star seem to be the focus in this piece because they look 3D. She also has similar art pieces as the two I chose, but each has something different about them. Next are the photographs of Richard Avedon, his work that I found were mostly black and white and of people such as The Beatles and Twiggy, who was a famous model in the mid 60’s. I chose the black and white photographs; The Beatles, London, and Twiggy, hair because I feel black and white photography captures the person or people in the image more. Since there are no other colors, nothing else is distracting the viewer from focusing on the person who is in the picture. The image of Twiggy can capture people’s attention because her hair is being blown upward to take up most of the space. Lastly, are the works of Leah Yerpe, who does amazing life like drawings of people.The two pieces I chose were Wing and Altair, which in Wing, the body are forming a wing like shape throughout the drawing and the blank spaces is the negative space. For her work Altair, which is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, where she also has an exhibit of the constellations. In her pieces, everything is recognizable, from the facial expressions to the lining of the pants. She also adds shading to make the people look real and look as if they are jumping out of the paper. In her work emotion plays a major part since you are able to see the facial expressions of the people in the drawing. Each piece is related because they are all black and white and show images of people in them. They each show that they can convey the human body in more then one unique way.

Kiki Smith

Frontier










Clearing






 Richard Avedon
The Beatles, London 1967

 Twiggy, hair, 1968



 Leah Yerpe



Wing, 2011 










Altair, 2013

Blog Post 8

Today I went to the Museum of Moving Image, and I enjoyed my experience. I had gone when it had first opened and it a great experience as well. I find it amazing how such a small and recent museum can have most of the coolest and oldest equipment. I started from the top floor and made my way down to the first. On the top floor they had an exhibit based on the works of Chuck Jones. I was surprised that he was the master- mind behind all the amazing cartoons that are still known today. Going through that exhibit I saw how simple the sketches and story lines were that made such an impact on cartoon history. The most simple story I saw was the dot and line, even though it didn’t seem like much, it caught my attention on how interesting he made it become. I was also didn’t know that it was the same man behind bugs bunny as well as the Grinch. The other part of the museum had a lot of old equipment that was used to make shows and movies as well as the oldest televisions I have ever seen. Even though the televisions sets were probably older then my grandmother, it made me want to have one. I also saw models and masks from the biggest thriller films, like the Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street, as well as the makeup that was used from television shows and record players from the most known bands and singers. Another section of the museum looked like a huge arcade and had the oldest games that you were able to play with tokens and a “King Tut” theater. This museum is one of my favorite museums that I have been to so far. I enjoy that it does show the history behind what is being shown but in a way that doesn’t bombard you with a paragraph for each picture, as some museums do.

Essay 2

I have never realized how many different types of artwork there are just in New York City. I do love art and being able to learn different ways to draw and see different art pieces. Taking this art class has opened me up to go to different museums, galleries and be able to learn and understand the artists as well as seeing what inspired them to create pieces that people around the world are traveling to come see. I have never gone to the Chelsea Galleries before and I enjoyed my experience. I did not realize how many galleries were there and how interesting they actually are. What I actually expected was just three or four galleries from the most famous artists and that it would be on the same block. I enjoyed walking down the blocks and looking how open the galleries were and how easily you can see the artwork that persuades the people who walk by to come in and see more of it. Going into the different galleries I was able to see artists that I have never heard of and how each of their artwork is different from each other and from the artworks I have seen before. I don’t think that the art pieces I saw were relevant to my world because I feel as if artists even though they can be many years apart still have such a talent, that they can literally create anything with what they have and make it into a wonderful art piece that people will continue to look at for many years. The pieces of artwork that caught my eye the most were the ones at the Chris Martin at Anton Kern Gallery. Walking into the Anton Kern Gallery and seeing the first piece right when you walked in, I was hypnotized by the piece and all the glitter. Looking at the piece I felt as if I was in outer space with the dark blue background and different colored spots all around. I felt that this particular gallery was the brightest and had such great lighting on each piece that made it stand out so much more, and I don’t think the photos above do any justice as to seeing them in person. As well as seeing them in person you are able to see that in the paintings there is also some small figure of either an animal or a person, such as in the first picture you can see that the dark spots in the painting look like buffalos. Since I enjoyed going to the galleries and seeing the art pieces, I can say that I will go back go to the other galleries and learn about the other artists as well.

                                                             

Blog Post #7

Midtern

                                 

John Baldessari is a famous artist that is known for his different photography in California. His office is still in California were he lives and still continues his photography as well as opening new institutions for students. When I assigned to learn about John Baldessari, I did not know who he was or his work. Looking up his work I remember seeing his dots photography around and thinking how unusual and interesting it was. It is not something that you see very often and that is something that he is trying to get across in his artwork. In the video, he says “art is communication, learning how to communicate through teaching affected my classroom teaching,” the artwork and strategies he was teaching in his classroom was the similar as to what he does as an artist. I agree with him in not just art being a form of communication but with all subjects and communicating with your students and finding their interests helps further their education in that particular subject. While looking up information about his work, I can tell that he is really dedicated into making sure that his work looks exactly how he wants it be, with the colors he imagines it to be describing it as “having the right red next to the blue, very carefully mixing the colors,” or with how the placement he wants a certain image to look. As well as having such an influence over people that once he describes something as art they believe him. Baldessari has been an artist for many years and is known for putting his own touch into the photographs and paintings that people can distinguish his work from the others as well as putting his own experiences in the books that he writes. An example is in his photography in where he puts colored dots over people’s faces. The image above is called Stonehenge (with two persons) blue, done in 2005; he designed this piece with mixografia relief print on handmade 100% cotton paper with slight deckle. He described the reason he put dots over people’s faces is because he likes to distort and make his artwork into collages and communicates that it can be anyone under that dot. The next piece is I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, in 1971 and is done in lithograph, in which the phrase is repeated over and over and is trying to convey a message that he will not make art that is just considered art but as something more. The piece on the bottom right is What Is Painting, 1966-68, the medium being synthetic polymer paint on canvas. In this piece he describes what painting is to him, which is more then just a random picture that is placed there for no reason and that art can also be portrayed with words. The last piece of artwork is Pure Beauty, which is a book that Baldessari did that consists of more than 240 illustrations. After doing research on Baldessari, I believe that his work was successful in his ideas and I feel the way he was doing that in his artwork is unique in being honest with his viewers through his art pieces. Personally, I enjoy looking at his work and in the future when I go to a museum that displays his work I will be looking forward to seeing them in person and know who did it and his reason why.

Blog Post #6

The artwork I chose is from the MOMA called "Landscape, Provence” by André Derain in 1925. The medium of this piece is oil on a canvas. This artwork shows the three areas that determine proximity and space, which is the foreground, middle ground, and the background. The foreground is the yellow that looks like it is in the beginning of the artwork as if you are about to walk through it. The foreground was the first area I noticed because the yellow ground looks like it is the brightest spot in the piece. The middle ground is the trees, the grass, and the hills that are further back from the foreground. Lastly, the background is the sky, mountains, and the trees that are way back in the distance. The small mountains and trees make the artwork look almost realistic, by having the colors and shadows of each shape. There is overlapping in this piece from the foreground all the way to the background. The trees are all overlapping each other making it look as if there might be a small forest in the background. I believe that the artist used two-point perspective to start with the foreground then made his way to the background and adding each detail. Looking at his artwork I see that this can be relative size, in which if I were to go where he drew and painted this I would see how big everything is and relate it to his artwork. After class, I realized how important foreground, middle ground, and background, is to make a painting or drawing look more realistic and give it that 3D effect.

 This is by drawers that is directly in front of my bed and I used the two point perspective to draw the drawer then added the smaller drawers as well as everything on top.

Blog #5

The piece that I chose is a painting called “Monalisa” by Fernando Botero in 1978 and I found this painting under the Google Art Project link. The reason why I chose this painting was because looking through his artwork that the link supplied I found it very interesting and even a bit funny. Most of his works were paintings or sculptures of people who were over weight, even having a horse and a banana looked bigger then usual. The medium of this artwork is that it is an oil painting reproduction on a canvas.  Looking at his artwork I also noticed that in the paintings or sculptures they each had similar expressions on their faces that seemed serious or just has a blank look. I believe this painting is abstract because it exaggerates the actual painting of the Monalisa. What is also exaggerated is that her head is bigger then her whole body. After reading some information about Botero, the reason why he would exaggerate the body is for either humor or political criticism depending on the piece he is painting. This is obviously represented after the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Di Vinci, by the name, the posture of the woman sitting, and the colors he used to design it. I believe that he repainted the “Monalisa” in his style of art for some sort of humor. Just for the fact that the actual “Mona Lisa” by Di Vinci was around for such a long time and has created some controversy behind the painting that he just wanted to bring a humorous aspect towards it. 

Museum Essay #1

The two pieces of artwork are “Madagascar Couple” by a Sakalava artist in western Madagascar and “Statue of Dionysos leaning on a female figure (“Hope Dionysos”) by Italian sculptor Vincenzo Pacetti. When looking up the name “Dionysos” I noticed that it was spelled differently in other sites, such as replacing the o with a u to spell out Dionysus. These two pieces are both sculptures with more then 500 years apart and were created from different parts of the world. In the image of the “Statue of Dionysos leaning on a female figure” the head of the statue is actually the ancient piece that was then restored to fit the rest of the body. This statue is a roman copy of the Greek original of the 4^th century B.C. It is said that Dionysos was the “god of wine and divine intoxication” as well as the god of epiphany. The god Dionysos was a popular figure in Greek mythology and religion and was highly worshiped. The female figure is said to either be “added to support the outstretched arm and may represent Spes, a Roman personification of Hope, who was commonly shown as an archaistic maiden.” This is a marble sculpture that you are able to walk around it and see all the details that the artist would want you to see and is idealized, to believe that is what the god would have looked like. Dionysos looks a lot bigger then the other statue he seems to be leaning on. Which makes the on looker to focus on him more.The “Madagascar Couple” was said to be an achievement of a region where African and Pacific Island influences meet, in the late 17^th-18^th centuries. Unlike the Greek statue, this sculpture is wooden and you are able to see the wood pieces around the piece, as well as it being more abstract. The history of this artwork is that it would be set in a place near a house where prayers, sacrifices, and boys circumcision ceremonies would take place; also, this statue is nude. Nudity symbolizes fertility and regeneration, as well as, “the male-female partnership in assuring the community’s future.” Both of the statues represent unity in which they have one male and one female each representing something different but making the statue look like a whole. Also, they both have a big representation among the people during their time that looked up to them in need and believed in both statues. The reason why I chose these two artworks is because; they have a big difference in years as well as in culture and they have both lasted all these years.

Blog #4

The drawing I chose is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This art piece is called, “Girl with a Hen” by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta in Venice, 1682-1754. After looking at so many drawings by different artists I realized that some artists drew some random pieces but they made it look interesting and make them wonder why, who and what was the inspiration for this drawing, as in this drawing where its just her and a hen. Also, I find it amazing how some of these artists were able to make drawings and paintings with little supply and be able to make it look real and catch every detail. As well as, keeping it in good condition to last so many years and having it up on display in museums. The medium for this drawing is charcoal, highlighted with white chalk, on blue-gray paper faded to light brown. This drawing does have shading and cross hatching throughout the whole piece, from her hair, her eyelashes, the side of her face to the hen that looks darker. The artist did this drawing in a way that it almost looks real by seeing the highlights on her face that you can imagine where the sun or a light was over her and the wrinkles on her clothes. He also sets a kind of emotion on her face that looks calm by the small smile and with her eyes being close. The hen also has a lot of details not only by the feathers but the expression of it is also calm. The overall drawing made me wonder why she isn’t scared of holding a hen and even makes me feel a sort of calmness. After I spent some time drawing in the class, what I noticed was that even though everyone was looking at the same setting everyone perceived and drew it differently. Some people drew it really small while others drew it big to cover up the whole page. Now when looking at an art piece I notice as many more details and it makes me ask more questions about the artist and their artwork. 

Blog Post 3

This piece of artwork is called “Marilyn was Here” and was done by Richard Lindner in 1967. I found this piece on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website and it stuck out to me the most, because of the colors and it seemed different then the other collages of the website. In the description it included that Lindner captures pictures of American and British Pop artists, and that this piece “portrays her as both sexual vixen and national icon.” For “sexual vixen” it can be the way her body is shaped and portraying her characteristics and for “national icon” it can be the American flag next to her body. The medium of this artwork is watercolor, ink, graphite, cut and pasted printed-paper, fabrics and garter belt on paper. What I found interesting was that it was just the middle of her body, not including her head or the knees and down. The different colors, drawings, and paper that made up the body made it look intriguing. The colors are a combination both primary and secondary, with the darker colors as the back ground and the body being lighter, it makes the angle of the body stand out. The first part of the piece that caught my attention was the middle with the yellow space.  Overall, I think this is a great piece to look at and try to see the story behind it.

Hw Assignment 2

Tangled Vines

My first picture that I took was a tangled vine that was growing on what looks like an abandoned shack in Bryant Park. I was walking in the park with my friend when I saw this and thought it looked amazing growing over the shack. Showing me that if a place is abandoned for a certain amount of time, nature will take it over. Just as I was about to take the picture a bird also landed on the vine and without me even have to make anything myself, nature made accidental art. Since the vines are all tangled, you cannot see where the line starts, it looks like it starts from the top and makes it’s down to the bottom. The different shades of brown that comes from the vines with the bird and the shack, makes it feel peaceful and in a quiet place, and does not in the middle of the city. The green leaves on top makes it stand out more showing that there is life here and that it will continue to keep growing until someone decides to take it down. There are patterns in this picture from the top of the shack with the bars that are repeated as the roof and the fence with the crisscross boxes. I believe that the person who built or designed this picked the style and color of this to make it seem more peaceful and to catch the attention of people who walk by it all the time. 

Reflection

The second picture I took was at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in the city. I was sitting down waiting for my friend to come when I noticed the bright blue sign that stood out on the whole floor. I thought the way the store sign was reflected off the ceiling made it look interesting and reminded me looking at a lake and the sky reflecting off it. This picture also has a lot of patterns from the lines and the lights, as well as the sprinklers in between the lights. The blue from the sign is bright and is what stands out the most in the picture and would catch the person’s attention right away. The horizontal line pattern’s makes the picture look long and that it would continue going. Unlike the other picture, this one gives me an uneasy feeling. Since it looks like its never ending it reminds me of those dreams that you’re running down a long hallway and as you’re running it just seems to get longer.  I believe if someone were to try to touch the ceiling it’ll be smooth, since it looks glossy and everything from the ground reflects to the ceiling, it’ll also feel like a mirror. Since the bus terminal has been opened for about 60 years, the colors in the building is dark with mostly red or dark brown colors, this picture makes it look like it is in a brighter place. 

Natalie, Blog Post #1

People can describe art can in many different ways, as well as have different feelings towards it. Whether it being a huge sculpture that can be seen and stands out for everyone to see that the artist is trying to make a point or a tattoo on someone's body that is personal and has a deep story behind it. They can look at a sculpture and have no idea what it could mean, while someone else can come with a whole story behind it. This is a sculpture I have in my room and it is my favorite piece of art in my house. I've had this sun and moon sculpture for about 6 years, and I have always kept it hung on my wall. My parents brought this to me from Puerto Rico because it has my two favorite colors and it reminded them of me, since I did not go away with them. I have seen pictures and other sculptures of the sun and moon and each have different meanings based on the colors or facial expression that the artist decides to put on the two faces. Unfortunately, I do not know the artist or even the story behind this sculpture and the meaning for it not being the traditional colors of the actual sun and moon. I can only describe what I think about the sculpture every time I look at it, which is the emotion. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of Puerto Rico and makes me miss seeing all of the other beautiful artwork. It also makes me feel relaxed with the bright colors that makes it stand out on my wall.