Art Analysis: The Gathering

The focal point of this painting is the tree that lies central on the canvas. It is also the foremost feature in the picture with the town, sea, and intense foliage falling far behind

4. Space- Perspective is demonstrated in many ways. This artwork takes up almost the whole canvas. The horses on the edge look like they were maybe even squeezed in. All of the characters in this artwork look to be congregated to the middle of the painting, besides the villages in the distance. Linear perspective is used in the placement of the villages in the background and in all the men and horses, which are grouped in the middle of the screen. Looking at the features in the painting I notice the use of overlapping and vertical placement, which both imply depth. The horses overlap each other as well as the gentlemen and other elements of the painting. The brown horse’s head overlaps the black one hiding its mouth. The villages and hills in the background appear to be very far away (diminishing size); they look smaller and distant from the rest of the main aspects of the painting.

Kehinde Wiley is a New York based artist whose paintings focus on the themes of empowering black men and combining classical and contemporary styles.

As a formal analysis, this artwork has a figure in the center of the page, which can be assumed to be the focal point due to its positioning in the center of the picture plane. Also, this artwork is monochromatic, and the only color used is the hue green. Towards the top left-hand corner, there are darker shades of green, which make this part seem to be in front of the rest of the picture by using overlapping to convey depth. Also, towards the right side of the picture, the people seem lighter and appear farther away than the dark shaded buildings Additionally, since the figure in the center of the work is larger and more detailed than the other figures, it appears that the center figure is closer to the viewer.

The image that I will be talking about today is the piece called Stacking Hay by an American artist named Jackson Pollock. This picture was made in the about 1935. The medium of the piece is made from lithograph, with the work on paper. The style of this medium is abstract expressionism. With Pollock art, he uses a lot of representation throughout his artwork.

Liz Larner creates art that has a presence and that shows instability. Her art is influenced by poetics. This is shown through the overlap in some sculptures as well as breakage in others. The art that she produces gives a sense of flow and completeness. Using instability as part of her work is something that brings a sense of change to her work as well as almost never using the same techniques. Her relation of her art work to real life shows her beliefs in the balance of reality and illusion.

Examining the formal qualities of Homer Watson’s painting Horse and Rider In A Landscape was quite interesting. I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because it was the piece I liked the least, therefore making me analyze it more closely and discover other aspects of the work, besides aesthetics.

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is consistent of his typical artwork. He uses the lines free and loose making it an expression of his contour lines. The spacing between the stars and the curving contours making it a dot to dot effect. Van Gogh’s, The Starry Night” portrays his personal emotion. He writes to his brother about his painting almost as if he would be confused himself about the painting. The village is dark but at the same time it is peaceful compared to the dramatic sky life. In Sol Le Witts, Wall Drawing it uses an ordered form and symmetrical form called classical lines. The line Sol Le Witts uses is considered a connection between two separate points. Although

The next question we usually ask ourselves is “why?” why the color, why the worn out look of the farmhouse, why the surroundings, in general why is the painting depicted like this? That brings up the need to analyze the work of art at hand. When focusing on this painting, you can see a few birds soaring over the farmhouse. They’re quite small so there’s some difficulty telling if they’re flying towards or away from the farmhouse. It is still very probable that they flew over it at some point in time though. The lines in the painting are mostly depicted in the trees, and outer walls of the farmhouse. Standing firm the trees look, and or represent strength and dominance. It makes you wonder if there’s still hope for the dead looking environment surrounding the farmhouse. When first observing this painting; the thoughts were generally negative such as; sad, abandoned, lonely, and depressing, etc. The painting is indeed centered, and the focal point is obviously the farmhouse.

Then there are also many psychological lines to be seen in the work. One such line is of the woman and the floor, where she is staring down towards it. Another is from the young child and the store clerk, showing a defiance between the two. Next, light and value are not very contrasting in this painting, with only the basic highlights and the shadows seen. It isn’t completely contrasting or contradicting since the colors blend well together with close to the same value ranges, dark colors seen throughout except for the people’s pale faces. There also seems to be a variety of light sources since the woman’s face along with the shop clerk and the young boy’s is lit up by what seems to be a light bulb since they’re much brighter and highlighted and then the men and women in the back aren’t really as bright, except for the ones who close to the open door, creating a blue tinge from the outside light. The shapes shown through the painting is shown to be either very round or very geometrical. There are organic shapes in things such as the umbrella or even the back of the chair, but mostly it is either straight lines and geometrical shapes. The volume shown in the painting is very much implied, correctly showing the

It is almost a reflection of the man’s trident. That same pitchfork shape also appears in the window of the house that sits in between both figure’s heads. Repetition can also be seen in the dotted pattern of the woman’s outfit, which also appears in the material of the curtain that hangs in the house’s window. The echo of verticals in this painting is also strong. The faces and bodies of the figures seem to be stretched, and narrowed. The pitchfork’s slender prongs and the green stripes on the man’s shirt also add to the elongation of their frame. The copious amounts of vertical wood boards that make up the house and the barn, keep the viewer’s eye moving up and down the picture plane. Wood’s use of verticality in this painting is overwhelming.

Shepard Fairey’s piece titled Pay Up or Shut Up is a representation of the role that money or your role in society dictate the power of your speech. This piece of art by Fairey was released in May of 2015. It is a screen print on cream speckletone paper.

Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece, Venus and Adonis, is not only a significant artwork of the baroque-period in Europe during the seventeenth century, but it also tells the mythological story that begins with love, and ends in tragedy. Displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this painting is admired for representing the unique baroque-style of this era, as well as Rubens’ particular use of the medium and how it reaches those who are viewing it. His attention to detail and crafty use of symbolism within the painting assist viewers in deciphering the story, along with the values of the period in which Rubens was living. In studying the composition of the work and noting the historical context from which it came, one can ultimately

• The focal point of the painting is the sun-drenched valley and river. The emphasis comes from the diagonal of the tree to the left that directs the view of the scene down the valley toward the farmland.

The two works of art that I have chosen to analyze are 1) Jordan Casteel. Miles and JoJo. 2014. Oil on canvas, 54” x 72” and 2) Aaron Fowler. He Was. 2015. Mixed media, 134” x 165” x 108”. The themes that these works of art represent in regards to the exhibit are love, family, and pain. However, they also fall into other thematic categories. The main theme that seems to apply to both “Miles and JoJo” and “He Was” is Human Experience. Additionally, these arts differ in some ways.