Jasper John’s 1983 artwork of Racing Thoughts and Byron Kim’s 1991 Synecdoche are both in the exhibited as part of the Whitney Museum’s: Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney Collection. Applying encaustic process, which is known as a hot wax painting, Jasper John created this screen-print with wax crayon on collaged cotton and linen. Jasper John describes this piece as a series of images that ran through his mind while he was lying in the bathtub. He included items he saw around the room and things he was thinking about. Some of the elements in this piece are his hanging khaki pants, the running faucet, a nail on the wall, a dirty window, a vase and a decorative piece on a piece of furniture. Until you read the artist’s description it is difficult to tell that the white smear of paint is, evoking a feeling of disorientation. His arrangement of his images is seemingly affixed to the faux-wood grain background with trompe l’oeil tape, thumbtacks, and a protruding nail. The scale of images in Jasper’s Racing Thoughts appears to be scaled to real life. The texture of the painting evokes feeling of an antique surrounding like a bathroom in a third world country. In addition, the colors and patterns in this painting, display how he is a person with many things going through his mind at the same time with unorganized thoughts. A panel of Byron Kim’s, 1991, Synecdoche is displayed in the Whitney Museum one section out of a four hundred panel ongoing project depicting the
Featured and organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Romare Bearden’s collection is one that appreciates and depicts life for what it really is. Bearden did not like abstract expressionism. Instead, he made many collages depicting life with different perspectives, allowing the viewer to see reality, but also try to figure out the true meaning that Bearden meant to portray in the collage that was not directly seen by just looking at the picture. These collages were made by “Cut and pasted printed, colored and metallic papers, photostats, pencil, ink marker, gouache, watercolor, and pen and ink on Masonite” (MET Museum). Bearden liked telling narratives within these collages involving Harlem life. Whether it was on the streets, inside
Fran admired and collected other artist’s work for her home, but also as part of her trove of infinite objects that often made their way into her art. From the mad jumble of countless boxes and bags in her studio came often playful “bricolage” works of beauty, humor and imagination. She taught for many years at the New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, the Newark Museum and was actively teaching until just weeks before her death last year. An award-winning artist, she exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian, Victoria and Albert Museum, and in galleries throughout New Jersey. She began her eight-decade career as a fashion designer before moving into painting, printmaking, found art sculpture, book and paper making, and other multi-media arts. Fran studied art at the American School of Fine Arts, Newark School of Fine Arts, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. The works in this exhibition were generously donated by Fran’s family to The 1978 Maplewood Arts Center. Proceeds from all sales will benefit the center as well as public art in the
In art, there are qualities that speak louder than words. It expresses many different messages and emotions and each person has an experience different from the next. In this paper, I will be discussing two artworks I encountered. The piece is a good example of how people can encounter different experiences in one piece. I attended the Orlando Museum of Art a while back with family and overall enjoyed my experience. On my visit, I found the museum quite impressive and felt a deep connection with specific pieces.
As I was walking across the 17th century art section at Walters Art Museum, hanging behind the big rectangular pillar in the middle of the hallway, an oil painting on panel by Trophime Bigot draws my attention. The high contrasting tones of colors and values and the artist capability to make the grotesque painting appealing interest me.
Jasper Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia on May 15, 1930. He is still alive today known for his paintings and printmaking. During his childhood, he lived with his father’s grandparents due to his parents’ marriage ending. His only introduction to art as a child was of paintings in his grandfather’s house of his grandmother who had died. He then moved around among with his aunt then his mother throughout his teenage years, and then finally graduated high school in Sumter South Carolina as valedictorian of his class. After high school, Jasper then spent little time enrolled at the University of South Carolina, and later directed his education to New York City studying at the Parsons School of Design. A few years later he was drafter to Sendai, Japan to fight during the Korean War in 1952. Two years later, he came back to New York where he met his partner, Robert Rauschenberg. Jasper’s art career began when he discovered the world of contemporary art sharing views with Merce Cunningham and John Cage. His work was revealed at Rauschenberg’s studio to Leo Castelli, a gallery owner who gave Jasper his first solo show in 1958. This led to his pieces being bought by the founder of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Later in 1963, Johns and Cage both founded the Foundation of Contemporary Performance Arts in New York City, which is now known today as the Foundation of Contemporary Arts.
Art History is the study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts. The history of art, we feel, can sometimes be confused with art criticism. However, Art History is concerned with finding the value of the artistic piece in respect with others in the same category of art or movement, and art criticism is more of an evaluation of art. The art examined best represents the culture during the time period, visions the artist imagined, and history behind an event. It also represents society in a specific area, beliefs the people may have, writing that tells a story, the natural world and environment, conflict between people and areas, and the human body. With these representations, artwork overall represents the life in which we live (d). Each piece has its own genre, design, format and style to it. This makes each piece extremely different, yet pleasing to the eye. They also vary between paintings, sculptures and architecture. These different types also make a variety of artwork to be seen by all people. The art pieces that I chose, Jar, Bottle and Glass by Juan Gris, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí, and Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, seemed interesting to me and I believe to best represent the context in which they were created, along with the major artistic movements of the time. I went on to research them more thoroughly to better understand the history behind them,
It must have been 13 years or so since I have been to the art museum, back in elementary school, on a one of a kind field trip. 13 years is way too long to have been away from the art museum, as my experience this year reminded me that. It was a beautiful, sunny October day, although it felt like July, and it was an even better day to talk a walk through the vast, mesmerizing pieces of art that the museum has to offer. The North Carolina Museum of Art provides an abundance of artwork from various time periods, cultures, and one can find art anywhere from Egyptian, to classical, to modern and contemporary art. The artwork that the museum provides not only displays an abundance of artwork, but
(2005). In D. Bjelajac, American Art: A Cultural History (pp. 37-129). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Most pieces of art have a deeper meaning than what is simply expressed on the surface. Through emotions, symbols, and motifs, an artist can portray a unique story; however, despite the use of creative symbols, distinct stories can show a similar theme. Two such examples are the short film Destino by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which share the common theme of “the struggle of obtaining dreams”. Based on what is shown in these works of art, it is a challenge to attain dreams.
Next time you are walking through the Art Institute of Chicago I would highly recommend a visit to the Gift of Edlis|Neeson Collection, located on the second floor, gallery 292A. Here you will find a tantalizing array of modern day contemporary art that delivers a sensory overload wherever you turn. Nestled in between the copiousness of talent you will find three offerings from a prominent living contemporary artist called Jasper Johns titled Alphabet (1959), Figure 4 (1959), and Target (1961). Although at times his work faced rejection from the critics of individualism of abstract expressionists his life’s journey sculptured his path to who he is as a person and who he has become as a modern day renowned contemporary artist.
She further analyzed many artworks based on the process of toning. Though some artists paint with one layer, those that paint with multiple layers enhances the objects in the painting. The color that appears on the surface underwent multiple shades in order to obtain the desirable color. After analyzing Ship Carpenter at His Hobby, 1872, Helena’s second group approached the artwork Women Embroidering, 1904. Two differences I distinguished from the comparison of these two artworks are the time period as well as the visual context. I had paid less attention to the story behind this portrait because there was less detail. Women Embroidery, though looked unique because of its lack of details (which could have been intentional), did not have much space. Helena described it as “flat.” She infers that as time period increases, artists were becoming more focused on flatness, painting on the surface and ignoring the layers of tone and landscape space. Another artwork that we analyzed was the Back Surgery. Dating back to the 1600s, this portrait was created with underpaintings and a few touch ups. It could be inferred that the artist intended to leave the underpainting in order to bring out the procedure. On the surface lies a realistic, colored curtain that seemed to have been drawn by the audience, and staring straight at the artist/audience was the patient. With these observations, I
The art world has been host to a vast menagerie of talent, intellect, and creativity for about as long as human culture has existed. It has grown, developed, and changed just as humanity has. Naturally, with such an impressively expansive history, various avenues of art are visited time and time again by new artists. Artists seek not only to bring their own personal flavor and meaning to timeless concepts, but to find new ways to approach them. While not every single creator and craftsman can make such a great impact on art or the world, their efforts have given birth to some truly magnificent and unique works. In an effort to create a more meaningful understanding, as well a deeper appreciation, of the nuances, techniques, and design choices employed in these attempts, a comparison will be made between Edouard Vuillard’s Interior With a Screen (1909-1910) and Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) (1907). In this essay, each artist’s approach to the subject of the female nude will be closely analyzed, compared, and contrasted, as will their styles of painting, handling of visual elements, and their use of the principles of design. An interpretation of each work and what the artist intended when creating it will also be provided.
Whiteley’s works parallels Van Gogh’s in its deliberate use of symbols in his paintings and while Whiteley observed many of the principles of Symbolism, his had its own unique facility of Surrealist attached. This can be appreciated in Night Café (1972) [refer Appendix 3] where Whiteley depicted Van Gogh’s The Night Café (1888) [refer Appendix 1] and distorted the image and took the lines of the room to a vanishing point, idealising Whiteley’s Surrealist style. Whiteley’s use of symbolism in his works is outstandingly illustrated in Whiteley’s Archibald Prize winning self-portrait Art, Life and the Other Thing (1978) [refer Appendix 4] where Whiteley demonstrates the controversy of the Archibald in his representation of the William Dobell’s controversial winning portrait of Joshua Smith (1943) [refer Appendix 5] and John Bloomfield’s disqualification from the Archibald 1975 because of his portrait that was deemed to be painted from a picture of Tim Burstall. Whiteley represents these two controversies in his triptych self-portrait containing a photograph of how he looks in real life, a mixed media self-portrait, and a depiction of a baboon symbolising the metaphorical “monkey on his back”. Whitely once said “the fundamental reason one paints is in order to see”, describing how he thinks that his art is a method granting means of communication to his audience.
“Painting today is pure intuition and luck and taking advantage of what happens when you splash the stuff down. “- Francis Bacon. However when I learnt more about history of art and the way each movement and happenings in the world inspired artist to make new works, I was able to see much more than just a canvas with random paints and sketches. The interesting part about this concept is that each piece of art could be interpreted in many different ways. In contemporary art there isn’t right and wrong, each of us view and find different meanings and connections with artworks.
The area of art is popularly known for heightening emotions, challenging stereotypes, and ultimately providing insights into how individuals view the surrounding world. The artist and the observer time and time again see pieces in overwhelmingly different ways. Individuals may wonder why this is so. What could possibly create such a drastic change from one perspective to another? When it comes down to it, experiences are the answer. The artist and the observer have different