Blog Post #4

Painting By Mickalene Thomas titled A little taste outside of love. Dimension 108 x 144in. This painted was displayed in the Brooklyn museum back in 2008 to 2009.This piece Clearly shows a mix of styles in one painting, from representational to abstract. It depicts a woman’s body in its truest form as well as the abstract background with a mix of monochromatic, patterns and a bit of texture. I found it pretty cool that Mickalene decided to add rhinestone to give it a feel of the “1970’s Disco glitz, which is a reminder of living in that era. This painting is stylized it shows a non realistic form of an African American woman. It’s looks more like a cartoon verse of a woman. John Bergen Ideas do apply to Mickalene. He states in other tradition African art etc. The theme of a work is sexual attraction, is likely to show active sexual love as between two people, the women as active as the men. Mickalene purposely painted “A sexualized female subject seemingly caught unaware as she reclines passively in her own beauty”. Mickalene painted these women to be comfortable in her own skin. In my opinion the artist was trying to mimic European paintings and add her own taste to it.Trying to represent African American women in a powerful form.

#4

Christina’s World is a 1948 painting by Andrew Wyeth. Its style is representational, the landscape is naturalistic and all the parts are clearly identifiable. The woman is facing away from us sitting in a field of grass. Even though the woman is realistic, the grass looks more out of a dream than actual grass, giving the painting a graceful look when viewed as a whole. Her body is relaxed and everything seems to be in order, but after a little research, it seems the backstory to this piece is a lot more grim than perceived. The subject is actually Wyeth’s neighbor who had crippling polio, yet her disease never stopped her from conquering life. She wasn’t hopeless and Wyeth tried to replicate that concept of hope in this painting. Unlike the passage on John Berger, this female is clearly fighting the standards set by European paintings. “To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men”, Berger states in Ways of Seeing, in regards to women. This woman is in no way caged by the confines of men. She’s alone in the painting, maybe signifying self-sufficiency. She is facing away from the spectator, carefree yet firm. Her pose giving the idea that she’ll rise, both figuratively and literally. The ethereal feel of the grass reinforcing these strong ideals. Even if the viewer has no clue about our faceless subjects disability, you can still see her power and freedom portrayed in this painting. It’s a compelling message and along with many other paintings of this period, helped pave the way towards our reinvented view on women.

Blog post # 4

Thomas Schutte " United Enemies 1"


Here we are blog post number 4 and i'm still coming out swinging for the fences so lets get to it . These statues that stand before you represent artwork of the human forms conjoined almost literally at the hip . The title of this artwork had me a bit intrigued because " United Enemies " are not words you would usually find together unless using examples to explain an oxymoron. the art form used is abstract in a sense it doesn't represent any one person but humanity and its issues, because one day you can have a friend who is by your side willing to fight with you over time ; Due to differences in opinion could change good friends into enemies and enemies into friends because now opinions ally with someone else. But then there are two statues one forward facing us and on looking away which if i'm not belaboring a point spoke to the aforementioned conflict. From the "Ways of Seeing " by Thomas Berger it talks about in the first paragraph how man wishes himself to be perceived is usually showing some sense of false strength and not much presence and these sculptures prove that. So  yeah i agree who hardly men view themselves as being all powerful when in reality were just as frail, where in society women are held to a superficial archetype that changes with perception of man's point of view. To sum things up beauty is in the eye of the beholder male or female standards shift and unfair to both sexes.

Blog Post #4

This painting is an example of figurative art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The piece is titled The Thinker: Portrait of Louis N. Kenton (1900) by Thomas Eakins. The medium is an oil on canvas painting with the dimensions 82 inches by 42 inches. The style of this painting is representational due to its resemblance to a human body in the natural world. It is a realistic representation of a figure. The figure is natural, specific in its subject, and shows features and flaws. The figure is looking down and dressed in dark colors that blend into his shadow and shading on the right half of his body. The other half of his body is in a bright light. The contrast of light and dark in this painting make the figure look to be serious and deep in thought. The figure's positioning, standing up straight with his head slightly tilted down and his hands in his pocket, also imply that the man in the painting is in deep thought. He is dressed neatly and looks like he should be well respected. The figure is not looking at the photo or acknowledging being watched. In the book, Ways of Seeing, by John Berger, Berger stated "it then showed how something or somebody had once looked- and thus by implication how the subject had once been seen by the people." This painting is a representation of how Louis N. Kenton was viewed. People might have thought of him as a serious man and this painting records his existence as one.

Blog Post #4

On the MoMA website, I found an interesting piece under the ‘painting and sculpture’ category. It is named Wrist Corsage and made by Lisa Yuskavage in 1996. It measures 6 by 7 inches, and is a two-dimensional oil on linen painting. The colors are cool and analogous, going from a variety of light blues, to tints of light green/teal. I would say that the center attention for me would be the small amount of color on the girl’s corsage in the painting. There are some orange flowers and pink, and the rest of the painting, as I said before, are a blend of blue or green. On the right side is a naked girl, who is “heavy built”, and looking at a small picture of a school girl (which is supposedly representing the ideal female figure). The girl which is viewing the picture also has her face hidden by her short hair. I think that the style of this painting would have to be both realistic, and stylized. It shows all of the imperfections of an ‘average female body’, in a cartoon form which would be because of the shape of her body. Some body parts are disproportional than others, for example her butt and legs compared to her tiny arms. The artist is claimed to be expressing her feelings about her “constant longing for perfection” and trying to fit into society’s view as the “ideal image of a female”. The meaning of the painting goes along well with a line from John Berger’s selections from “Ways of Seeing”; “A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself”.  In the painting the girl is struggling with her body shape, and saddened by her image. She is frightened of herself, how she is viewed by society and “ghost of the ideal body”. 

                           

Blog #4

This painting is called "Dream of Joseph" by Francisco de Goya Y Lucientes, c. 1772. I found this in the Google Art Project, its dimensions are w107.5xh143.5 centimeters. The style of this painting is idealized. It would be realistic if there were evidence of how angels and Joesph look. This represents what society perceives to be true on how they look.

The story of this photo is different from how I read it. This was when the angel visited Joeseph in his sleep to tell him to flee, because his son Jesus was in danger. He was instructed to hide until told otherwise. When I saw this photo I saw something slightly different. I know Joseph was struggling with the fact that Mary was pregnant, and the baby was not his. He was distraught because if he divorced her for having an affair she would be stoned to death. He didn't want that so he wanted to divorce her in private. I saw this as an angel trying to calm him down, ease his pain and to realize the bigger picture.

A quote from John berger's "Way of Seeing" states that "Consequently how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated". The way the angel appears in this painting, gives you the sense she expects respect. She isnt flashy, nude, or in any provocative position. She looks elegant, graceful and peaceful. In any case the woman decides how she is viewed, if she dresses and acts a certain way, she will receive the attention and perception associated her actions, positive or negative.

Blog Post #4

       Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s painting ‘Woman before a mirror’ (ca. 1897) is oil on cardboard measuring 24 ½ by 18 ½ inches. I would classify this work as being abstract. The painting features elements of realistic, stylized and idealized figurative art but I think this work is more stylized. The main focal point in the painting is the backside of a woman’s body. The curves and shapes of her body are natural. She appears real until you notice her reflection in the mirror. Her face and body are distorted and simplified into shapes. The background is also distorted. You almost cannot recognize the objects in the room the woman is in.

         John Berger in Ways of Seeing challenges the male gaze and how it affects women. In most nude paintings a woman’s body is used as an object to appeal to the sexuality of men. A woman is not seen as owning her own nakedness and sexuality. This idea is present in De Toulouse-Lautrec’s painting of an unnamed, nude woman. He has taken away the features of her face, the features that give her an identity. He has also left out the features of her anatomy. Berger states “And so she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman.” (1) The only identity the woman retains in the painting is that of being the ‘surveyed’. What strikes me is the detail in what the ‘surveyor’ sees and the lack of detail in what the ‘surveyed’ sees. It is almost as if the artist is saying “the way we see this woman is more important than the way she sees herself.”

Blog Post #4

This is a Gelatin silver photograph, 10 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches from 1990 by an American artist named Arthur Mones. This is an example of figurative art because it is an actual body in the picture. The figurative work I chose was found in the Brooklyn Museum, under Victor Mathews photography collections. The style of this image is representational, simply because it is identifiable and naturalistic. This is also a realistic picture, it makes actual reference to the human form, including features and flaws. In this picture Victor, a male distinct from many others, has a larger forehead then usual and he also has long dreaded hair unlike many other men. The artist also positioned this man at an awkward angle so viewers can depict movement and emotion. However unlike usual pictures of figurative art like a woman's picture perhaps, the emotion is different. As a female model they have to give off an exact feel in order to appear "sexy", this may also sacrifice clothing, as for a male model they must exemplify dominance or some sort of aggressive demeanor. For a male you can be assertive with or without clothing to viewers unlike with women because too much clothing can extinguish their desired appearance.  

Blog #4

I found the picture of this sculpture on the Moma museum website. This sculpture is called “Lure” and the artist is Kiki Smith. The sculpture is from 1995 and it’s a bronze sculpture measuring 34 and ½ x 29x 18 and ½ cm. This can be viewed as a representational object because you can actually see the object in person and it’s very clear. This sculpture can be depicted as a naked women sitting hopelessly on a bench. One of her arms is hanging from one side of the bench and she is holding a string, whereas the other arm is on top of her leg. The women looks like she’s been going through a rough time in her life and she’s finally giving up or thinking about what she can do to make her situation better. The figure starts as dark bronze and gets a little lighter on her legs and arms. She is sitting on top of a long rectangular big block that kind of looks like a shelf. The shelf is all white and the bronze string she is holding hangs from it.There is negative space in between her legs, in between her legs and her face and the negative space will be everything else behind her. The texture of this object is smooth. I believe my selection of this sculpture applies to john Berger when he quotes “Her own sense of being herself is supplanted by the sense of being appreciated as herself by another. I think this sculpture relates to this because not only does this woman look hopeless she looks like she’s tired of being judged by the people in this world. She’s finally given up and doesn’t care what others think about her because she is naked .To her it doesn’t matter what she appears to others she’s going to be true to herself.

BP #4

“Girl with Apple” by American artist William Glackens is a two-dimensional pastel drawing on wove paper mounted to pulp board measuring eight and one fourth inches by eleven and three fourth inches. I found this representational drawing in the online collection of Brooklyn museum. In the foreground of this drawing, i see a nude girl with blonde hair resting in a languid manner probably on top of her clothes or some sheets on a couch holding an apple with her right hand and covering her genital area with a white piece of clothing using her left hand. There are more apples visible in a bowl beside her on the side-table which is left to the couch. In the back of the side table, it looks like there’s a storage compartment or some other kind of furniture. In the background, i see a wall with vertical patterns on it. The colors used in this drawing are mostly primary colors. The couch and the side-table, the apple she’s holding and a few apples in the bowl are red. The rest of the apples are yellow and green. The furniture and the wall in the background are yellow with blue vertical lines. Her clothing or the sheets on the couch are also yellow and blue. The figure of the girl has a clear outline. This drawing has mostly positive space. The texture of certain objects is implied like the clothing on the couch or the wall. Value is suggested here. I think, the style of representation of the figure is idealized here because the girl is drawn in a perfected kind of posture where she is not showing her genital area. In “Ways of Seeing” John Berger stated, “The woman’s sexual passion needs to be minimized so that the spectator may feel that he has the monopoly of such passion.” Similarly in my selected artwork, the girl’s sexual passion was minimized to appeal to its viewer’s sexuality. The viewer is presumed to be a man here thus her body’s arrangement and direct eye sight towards him.

Blog Post #4

American Art- Standing Woman
88 1/2 x 44 3/8 x 24 11/16 in. (224.8 x 112.7 x 62.7 cm) 
Brooklyn Museum
Artist - Gaston Lachaise 
                                                                Standing Woman


This painting has a lot to do with what we talked about in class the medium of this statue is bronze and is a 3D sculpture. The style of this Sculpture is abstract altered women don't really look this. It exaggerated the way women look. The style of representation is stylized this woman can be anybody even though he got inspired by his wife Isabel Nagle but she doesn't look too close like the Standing Woman if we were to look at both we couldn't say it was her. He altered this woman to look strong and fierce and stand tall and proud. I'm not surprised that this woman is naked in the early years of art woman were always naked but with this Statue the Woman doesn't look downgraded she is standing tall and strong. Theres a Quote in Berger's Ways Of Seeing where he says "She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life.Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by the sense of being appreciated as herself by another". And "Men  survey women before treating them. Consequently how a women appears to a man determine how she will be treated". These two quotes talk about how women will be treated by there image because where we go men look at us and judge us of our appearance and we as women also check ourselves to be fit for them. But with this Statue everything is reverse to what Berger is trying to say this woman is standing tall looking fierce strong or so her body does her arms most importantly the artist who made this said " The Human Body can represent universal meanings". The Standing Woman suggests essential female force and vitality, she was made to represent strength in woman, other people view it of Fertility because that is what woman do is give birth to another human being. I do though think though that some parts of what Berger had to say woman are seen as objects to represent what the artist wants to represent but this artist Lachaise did a whole different thing made the woman seem strong and fierce like nothing can stop her big and make you look at her like she is there she exists. She also has like a grin look on her face like she feels proud. There isn't too much detail around her face or body she seems perfect but not to perfect. What it does show a lot is the muscle apperance she has a strong body. In the years of now there are still woman being painted or done in statue but we have been made differently as you can see we show more or power we are shown with pride and strength. 

Blog Post #4

I found this figure in the collection area of the Cooper Hewitt website. The museum is unsure of the artist, but it was received in 1901. It is a dark brown, cast bronze sculpture. It can be viewed and touched from all sides, making it 3D. He is 6 7/8 inches tall, 2 3/8 inches wide, and 4 5/16 inches from front to back. This is a representational object because the subject matter is clear. It is a realistic depiction of a short man with small bits of hair on both sides of his head and a long, curly beard. He is only wearing a flowing shirt. He has a large belly and muscular calves. The entire figure is very dark with lighter brown areas around the belly button, top of the head and nipples. He is situated on a peanut butter-colored rectangular block and there is most of a scalloped circle between his legs. The block has a slight marbling effect with tan bits swirled throughout, featuring a tiny, gold, circular drop located on the very front. The positive space is the object and negative being everything else. If this was touched, it would be mostly smooth, with rough areas in the beard, hair and folds in the shirt. My selection does not apply to Berger's passage because he says to "notice the violence" while looking at a photograph of a naked man. The figure is looking down and looks carefree, making it more apparent he is not an object. He looks very open by his pose and lack of clothing. I would imagine the artist did not add genitalia because they didn't think it was essential. There are other features shown indicating a more masculine identity. I believe the tag wrapped around his left leg was done by the museum to illustrate details about the piece.

W. Rivera's blog #3 Identify and Describe Visual Elements on Accidental Art

This is accidental artwork that I call "Balloon mix-up" and was taken at a 99 cent store at Kissena Boulevard and Main Street intersection in Flushing Queens. The Contour lines in this art are all over the place making many different shapes in all sizes on an advertisement display. Many various items tightly fill in the shelf space in the background. The balloons are closely tied together here, leaving minimal negative space in between them. The balloons Make a brightly colored display in half gold and half royal with silver balloons, in geometrical shapes of hearts and circles. Repeated color usage gives the value to this art light and dark. These shapes repeat over in different sizes but maintain the same 3rd dimensional form. They are monochromatic and analogous as well as complimentary visual element usage. The blue balloons give this art a cooling, sparkling effect complimentary to the silver balloons. An execution that mimics water sea water glistening. Coincidentally, The opposing other half of balloons are compliment this sparkly water effect by being Golden. An absolute color symbolic to bright sunshine.

The patterns through the store repeat in a tightly bunched and fitted manner. The balloons also fit this pattern. The difference being that with imagination the balloons portray what is the Sun's rays shining down onto the ocean waves; hanging above the main center display of the store. Although this may not be truly a work of coincidence or accident, I have chosen this for my accidental art as a suggestion of a friend of mine hidden in the background. Shortly after telling him about my search for a piece of accidental artwork we had stumbled upon this collection of mixed up balloons while seeking to purchase printer paper.

Due to my uncertainty, I'll be asking the artists (presupposing it would be the store owner's/staff's creation) about the origins of this resulting effect this display has in the stores atmosphere. Regardless of the intention behind this creation it has served it's purpose by giving me enjoyment. Now that I've opened up my consciousness to accidental art, I anticipate my next awareness of such can be just as bright, if not brighter than this first experience!

W. Rivera's blog #2 Identify and Describe Visual Elements

"After Midnight" He is an interestingly beautiful collection of art pieces contributing to a very amazing exhibit. The context of this exhibit is late 40's in last century with a content representing modernizing of Indian Art, it's evolution and how it all seemingly merges into collection of geometric shape, featuring what appear to be fully functioning 3-dimensional cabinets with space to hold 2-dimensional paintings. 

The paintings are made by multiple different painters hence the different styles and technique of featured paintings made with old and water colors.

 The overall contour are both vertical and horizontal and combine with each other to make multiple square and rectangle shapes that form into one another. The very bottom of the cabinets have curved style to show negative space that can be seen directly through. There is also negative space being used as the cabinet doors are all opening, revealing paintings within. Within the inside of the cabinets are wooden colored textured pattern that repeats through out the inside of the cabinet. Aside from normal colored wood pattern, the inside of the cabinets have different colored squares of warm and cool colors of peach yellow, teal and beige. The colors all appear to have a flesh colored hue. 

 

With the use of empty space inside the cabinets there are three paintings, one for each of the three cabinets. The paintings feature people being depicted in an oppressed manner. There are three paintings above each of one of the three cabinets as well. Those paintings however depict human skeletons in exuberant poses. A deep emotional response in contrast to the to the alive humans right beneath them, almost encapsulated.

From The Moment I had laid my eyes in this exhibit I felt complete attraction and utmost admiration. The skeleton paintings are symbolic to the deathly nature of the oppressed people of the Indian culture that the artist originate from. Inside the cabinets the humans are alive but above them they are skeletons seem like angels floating above their human counter-parts. The flat colored, fleshly toned paintings inside the cabinets represent humanity being confined but still slightly freed to a minimal degree. All in All, I really like this exhibit. 

BP#3

Queens Plaza train station, Long Island City, NY.

"Next stop, Primary Colors. Transfer here to the R and E train."

The striking things about this accidental work of art are the bright primary colors. There is the yellow strip towards the bottom half, the red diagonal stripes cutting the photograph in half, and the dark blue strip in the top half of the photo. Most of this art is comprised of vertical and horizontal lines that make up the tiles with some diagonal lines from the red stripes. The shapes in this accidental art are mostly geometric (small and large square tiles) with the exception of the 3D “bumps” that are painted yellow, which are organically shaped. Although there is a lot of white, the white tiles and the space between the red stripes and yellow line are what take up the negative space. The positive space is made up of the dark blue strip, the yellow strip, and the red diagonal lines. There is actual light in this accidental art that can be seen on the dark blue tiles. It implies the glossiness of the surface. Lastly, the repeated motif in this artwork are the square tiles and the red stripes.

            I chose this accidental art because it was truly fascinating that something as common and functional as a train station would have ben given enough thought to use primary colors for its design. Maybe that was an accident, too, by the industrial designer, but I trust that these folks are quite familiar with the color wheel and thus adept at utilizing said knowledge, so maybe not. Nonetheless, this accidental art represents the story of our lives. The yellow is our bright beginning as innocent children. The red represents our mid-life or climax – that moment in our lives that represents the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The dark blue represents our last days on Earth and our death. And finally, the negative spaces represent everything in between – the events that we understand to be the rising action and falling action in our lives.

BP#2

Tulips 4

Alex Katz

This is a 2D piece of tulips. The first thing that struck me about this painting was the brightly colored tulips scattered throughout the canvas. As I analyzed the artwork more closely, I noticed that most of the shapes in this work are organic.  The diagonal lines that make up the leaves and top of the tulips imply movement and direction. The tulips are what fill the positive space and the chalkboard-colored background would have to be the negative space. The yellow color of the tulips seems very warm and the different light green colors of the leaves emit warmth, as well. The artist definitely made use of analogous colors by using light green and yellow. Texture-wise, the implied surface quality of this piece looks quite smooth. In terms of pattern, the motif is yellow tulips and light green tulip leaves.

Since we recently discussed Georgia O’Keefe and her larger-than-life flower paintings, this work of art by Alex Katz easily reminds me of O’Keefe’s work. I think Katz’s purpose for creating this piece was to portray the brighter side of life. Choosing such a dark color for a background to compliment the subject of his painting means something. The gloomy background represents all the things we consider to be malicious and the vivid tulips represent hope that still exists despite all the cruelty. Katz could have covered the whole painting with yellow tulips, but instead he chose to let the gloomy color show through in between the leaves and the tulips. This piece is a reminder that one needs not to take a stand to either be pessimistic because of the cruelties of life or be optimistic of all the wonderful things in life. Rather, we must only understand that good and bad exist and that it is up to us to fill up the canvas of more tulips or not.