Great Art Will Be A Transparent Reflection Of Society

“The Great Wave: Hokusai” by Donald Finkel is a poem written about “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”, an artwork produced from 1831 to 1833 by Katsushika Hokusai during the Edo period. The “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” is just one of "The Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji". This woodblock print portrays a tremendous tsunami overpowering small man-powered boats, along with Mount Fuji in the background. The compelling contrast between the turbulent waves and light colored sky draws the viewer’s eyes to the central figure of Mount Fuji, which was considered a sacred symbol of beauty and immortality. In order for Finkel to develop a connection with Hokusai’s work of art, he finds common ground between the world of the artist and the observer. Donald Finkel’s

In the Turner’s The Slave Ship and Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the two artists use the complexity and versatility of the ocean to display important events and ideas of the time period. Through the use of different artistic techniques, these two artists are able to capture similar settings in very different ways with very different meanings.

Contemporary art is the art created in the present time. Today, artists affected by the social context and personal experiences reproduce pieces of art that question or make a point about controversial issues in our society. A great example is the painting created in 2006 called Great Detonators (“Grandes Detonadores”) by the Mexican artist Acamonchi. The painting is located in the exhibition The Very large Array: San Diego/ Tijuana Artist in the Peter C. Farrell Gallery inside the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCA). Acamonchi’s piece is a collage painting integrated by posters, stencils, and graffiti, which illustrate an obvious inspiration by the street art style. It is composed of cold colors such as blue, green, and aqua. Its multiple media consist of spray, paper, tape, acrylic, and oil. Moreover, the gallery is presented in big white walls and it has natural and artificial white light. The surface texture of the piece is a combination of corrugated, flat and in some parts smooth. The size is about 8 feet wide and 8 feet long, the condition is excellent, and the frame is made of wood. Furthermore, the painting the Great Detonators conveys ideas about mass produced waste, political awareness and urban chaos. Consequently, the artist Acamonchi uses this piece of art to express his opinion about important issues today during our contemporary times.

Upon walking in, the first piece seen is a new work created by Murakami called, “Transcendent Attacking a Whirlwind” this 59 foot long work is vibrant, richly colored work with dragons, human figures and swirling winds is inspired by a seven paneled painted screen by the same name by Soga Shohaku. These to prints are facing each other on parallel walls, both depicting a similar narrative of a Asian warrior striking at a beast, the strike is so strong it creates and air current that creates giant waves. Murakami expands the narrative adding two new figures a god like figure and a Japanese death demon or Shinigami. This adds more to the overall narrative showing the two new figures creating and destroying the seascape. Overall both

“The Away Team Beams Down to What Appears to be Unlimited Planet” is large in scale encompassing the whole space of one wall. This creates the illusion that the viewer can just step right into it. It is the largest piece in the collection and brings all of the other works together. Assu embraces a digital print of “Vanquished” by Emily Carr and imprints a large digital symbol on top of it. This process of embellishing another artist work is a common way of addressing a message, though, is surrounded by controversial opinions. The question is, does this way of making art have as deep of an effect on the audience compared to a piece that is fully the work of one artist? The symbol is a traditional Kwakwaka’waka element. The smooth paint strokes of “Vanquished” contrast with the hard bright neon orange abstract shape of Sonny Assus. The symbol resembles a face, with eyes and a mouth. Out of the ovoid shape Assus has added thin circles overlapping each other, in a spiral like pattern, leading towards the ground, The shape takes up around a third of the original painting and is very dramatic becoming the most dominant feature and capturing the audience 's attention first. All together the embellishment resembles an abstract UFO, placed looking down at the planet searching for something.

It is estimated that 5000-8000 prints were made during this process, which makes it very valuable. Although prints were one cheap, prints are actually very valuable now. In the print, it is shown that there is a mountain in the background, behind the wave. Which is kinda the whole point of the painting, “the great wave off Kanagawa”. In the print, it shows a wave, but this wave is not a tsunami but called things like “freak wave” or “monster wave”, which makes it nonetheless deadly. In the print, it is shown that there are boats trying to fight the wave, which is confused to be Japanese inspired but that's just its style. It's funny because Japanese politicians don't even view it as Japanese art, which is mostly why Hokusai considered it a failure. Japan even delayed this artwork from being catching on worldwide.

The piece I choose to critic is titled “Buscado por su madre” or “Wanted by his Mother” by Rafael Cauduro, no year. This piece is an Oil on Canvas painting that measured 48”x36” located at the Long Beaches MoLAA. The work is presented as one of a few Mexican artists that share an interest in their painting primarily figurative style, political in nature, that often narrated the history of Mexico or the indigenous culture. The painting is one of the first viewers see as they enter the Museum. It is at eye level and demonstrates a superb use of illusionistic realism that it creates the illusion of being real. The painting is of a old Missing poster of a man on a brick wall. What made it stand out in my eyes was the fact that it looked to be a three dimensional object on what looked like real bricks with the words wanted by mother on the top. Cauduro’s piece, in my eyes looked like he literally took a chunk out of a wall, and placed an old torn missing poster of a man on the front and put it out for display. Cauduro uses texture to represent the look of brick by applying thick strokes of paint creating a body of its own as and mimics the look and shape of brick. He also makes applies the same technique on the wanted poster by implying that it is old and torn by again layering his paint to create the

All over the world, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” is one of the best-recognized pieces of art from Japan, created during the Edo period. Though it’s commonly mistaken for a painting, it is a simple woodblock printing illustrated by Katsushika Hokusai. This iconic image is just one of thirty-six prints from his book, “36 Views of Mount Fuji”. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Katsushika Hokusai’s Under the Wave off Kanagawa is arguably the most popular Japanese piece of art. The artwork can be seen around the world from art museums to dorm rooms. His use of Prussian blue and indigo come from European artwork he saw through the Dutch trade. In Under the Wave off Kanagawa, the stark contrast can be seen between the massive wave that takes up most of the paper and the small Mount Fuji is in the background. The wave’s size and strength is emphasized as it engulfs the boats below it. Even though Under the Wave off Kanagawa was painted more than 180 years ago, it is still an iconic piece that many admire

Takashi Murakami is a very influential Japanese artist born after the 1960s. It is not only an artist widely loved in Japan, but also an idol of a new generation of young people in Japan. He challenges the traditional concept of art. The theme is often Japanese traditional comic books, video games, erotic culture-based, colorful and unique style, the cute, sexual fantasy, violence fusion, to show Japanese culture and Japanese society "Superflat" vent. The whimsical creative vision combined with deep darkness implies the values, social outlooks and phenomena that he believes through bright and rich colors. Takashi Murakami's art resisted taboo to the art of conservative Japanese society, but his art work did prominent his “different” between other artists. Every his art work has meaning to our society. As I look at the part of art work “Arhat cycle”, Takashi Murakami used a rich color to paint each Arhat. Unlike traditional art work of Arhat, in Takashi’s art work, he did challenge a lot of idea of Lohan. Originally Arhats are physically and mentally clean; no

Katsushika Hokusai, best known for his print of a large wave gracefully swallowing a fishing boat called “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”, is arguably one of the most influential artists of the 19th century. His work can be viewed in prestigious museums like The Metropolitan Museum of

Positioned alongside Central Park within the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museums, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within a museum. By analyzing two separate works on exhibit at the Met, I will pose the argument that museums offer a unique expression of a world view that is dictated through every element of its construction.

Post-war Japanese society is a world where High and Low art is blurred together by otaku, such as anime, and social class. However, Takashi Murakami straddles the line. Murakami spills a mix of Nihanga and Otaku into the canvases, plastic toys, handbags, shoes, etc; endorsing his own theory/style named “Superflat”. Using strategical subject matter such as popular Japanese comic figures combined with ukiyo-e(traditional Japanese block prints), and addressing these contrasting qualities to outside cultures; Murakami intensifies what Pop Art accomplished, art versus material. On other feelings, one could argue that “Superflat” isn’t a unique, Japan-identified style, that “Superflat” is a humiliation to the Contemporary Art world because of its commercialism. Lastly, that is a continuation of the already well developed Pop Art. On the supporting side, Murakami’s “Superflat” is a high-energy, cross-culture style that serves as a new way to represent the high and low of art that is considerably unique to Japan. To support this, Murakami’s past and present artwork will have to be established chronologically to illustrate how the timeline affects his work.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City is the world’s leading modern art. Its exhibits have been a major influence in creating and stimulating popular awareness of modern art and its accompanying diversity of its styles and movements. The museum’s outstanding collections of modern painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints range from Impressionisms to current movements. Moreover, there are exhibits of modern architecture, industrial design, sculpture, photography, prints and electronic media. The museum presently has a modern art library of 300,000 books and impressive collections of films that are shown regularly. The Museum is said to be the complementary of the Metropolitan Museum

Almost instantaneously recognizable, The Great Wave off Kanagawa (woodblock, 10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in, c. 1830-32), created by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai in 1830, beautifully captures the graceful, swelling movement of a crashing tsunami. Because of the way in which line and proportion are utilized, this woodblock print gracefully portrays the sheer power of the ocean. Derived from the Edo period in nineteenth century Japan, this classic was the first of a series of works from Hokusai titled Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji, all of which effortlessly depict the mountain in a wide array of angles and scenery. Arguably, The Great Wave off Kanagawa is the most iconic and cherished piece of Japanese artwork in the world. Even more importantly, Hokusai is considered prominent father figure for both Japanese art, as well as Western modernization as a whole. The Great Wave truly displays how tiny and weak man is compared to the force of nature. Not only is The Great Wave a quintessential piece of art, but it established a piece in the comprehensive networks of art, trade, and politics, that has instilled a tremendous positive impact on the twenty first century.