My Favorite Artist

There were dozens of second cousins running and playing in the backyard having the time of our lives, while the first cousins and aunts and uncles caught up with each other under the shade of the two giant elms, I would routinely duck into the house to see what Uncle Charlie had been working on. He would often find me looking at his art that hung in the hall and living room and he would so articulately tell me about each of the works. Charlie was so eloquent in sharing with his visions and methods with me that he soon became my mentor in all things spiritual and artistic. I so enjoyed being around him at a young age and looked forward to seeing one painting after another. Charlie was always so caring in the way he would explained what his thoughts were about the subject and how he the painter sees regarding the light and tonality of the work. Charlie spoke of experiments with painting techniques. He spoke of weaving strokes of color tones in creating subtle overall image of the subject. I recall a painting of a young boy who appeared to be singing a popular song of the time. “Red Roses” trying to capture the essence of sound in the portrait. We listened to the song and gazed at the portrait. Yes, it worked to my young

Salvador Dali was a pioneer. Few pages are not enough to tell the story of an eccentric, hardworking, disturbed and misunderstood master. Born in Figueras, Spain on May 11, 1904 near France into a middle class family. Childhood was turbulent, difficult, and abusive. Raised full of indulgences by his mother that resulted in the known eccentricities he had. (Dali, Secret Life, 115). Bright, extreme intelligent and fast learner child that created highly sophisticated drawings by age 6. In 1916 went to study drawing at College de Hermanos in Figueres, starting to show eccentric behavior for the first time.

Surrealism is a movement that built off of the burgeoning look into art, psychology, and the workings of the mind. Popularly associated with the works of Salvador Dali, Surrealist art takes imagery and ideology and creates correlation where there is none, creating new forms of art. In this essay I will look to explore the inception of the surrealist movement, including the Surrealist Manifesto, to stress the importance of these artists and their work in the 20th century and beyond. I also will look to films from our European Cinema course to express how films incorporate the influence of surrealism both intentionally and unintentionally.

The Painting I chose is called “Mixtec Culture.” And it was painted by Diego Rivera in 1942, Mexico. It’s a Fresco style painting, which is “a wall painting technique that has been used for large scale murals since ancient times” (Getlein 159). This entire painting is an homage to the culture of Mexico, specifically the Mixtec people, and that’s what I love about it. The Mixtec people were renowned for their artwork so it’s fitting that Rivera depicts a peaceful community of artists such as mask and jewelry makers. This painting celebrates the artistic culture of the Mixtec people and that theme is directly linked to the political influences of the time, “Mexican government commissioned artists to create murals about Mexico itself- the glories

Diego’s love of art started when he was just 4 years old. His parents always bought him colored pencils and pens, which he would draw all over the walls and furniture. By the time he was 9, he had made his decision that he wanted to be a professional artist. His mother enrolled him into art classes at the

Pablo Picasso, although usually known as just Picasso. His full name though is actually: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. His signature is worth more than some of his paintings. In fact in some restaurants he just drew a quick face and then signed it (when he was famous). He was one of the most well known people in the 20th century. He was born in 25th of October 1881 in Malaga, Spain, and then died on the 8th of April 1973 Mougins, France. He was a: painter, drawing, sculpture, print making, and ceramics.

Late on Wednesday night, my phone ringed. It was a text message from my friend Pedro, “Do you want to visit an art museum tomorrow”. Knowing I needed to go, I texted him back quickly, “pick me up after your class tomorrow and we can adventure to The Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro”. After Pedro’s class, we explored the museum observing multiple art works, and I was invoked by three, art pieces. All three were different and intriguing in their own way. For instance, the painting that is on top of the cover page with all the wavy hair was painted by Catherine Murphy and is known as the “Frosted”. This painting was very delightful because of its unique elements. Second, the sculpture in the middle of the cover page is an image of a wooded animal. This sculpture was crafted by Deborah Butterfield and is recognized as Lunalilo. Also, at the bottom of the cover page is a sculpture constructed by Dan Graham, the sculpture was known as Triangle Solid with

Louis Jean Francois Lagrenee. The reason I chose this painting is because for me it

Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gough and Georgia O'Keeffe are all famous for their eloquent works of art. Although, I am no Picasso I do enjoy painting. When I was younger, you could often find me hanging out in the kitchen with my Nana (I am not allowed to call her grandma- long story). My eyes would get lost in the smooth color as we swirled the different colors together. Painting became sort of my Nana and I's special thing. As I grew visiting my Nana became less and less often along with creating my paintings.

One of the paintings I choose is Mother and Child, 1900 by, Mary. Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 - June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She often created images of the social and private lives of women, mostly of the intimate bonds between mothers and children. The year the painting was created in the 1900.The painting it is located at Brooklyn Museum Of Art, New York, USA.

My still image film ‘Illegal Alien’ grew from a project or series of works I created last semester. The charcoal animation in the intro was inspired by a short film, ‘Puerta Abierta’, I made in collaboration with a friend in my experimental video class. The subject matter within this short film was about feeling outcasted as a Mexican American. These themes are veiled behind a narrative; a deer wandering aimlessly throughout an empty house thus feeling out of place. ‘Streamside Day’ by Pierre Huyghe was a frame of reference here because I was intrigued by the deer stumbling around an empty suburban home and what that could mean in a narrative. For this piece, I wanted to create a narrative with similar themes from ‘Puerta Abierta’

I don’t think one artist on this planet could ever copy or imatate his work because its so complicated. Some would say his work was imature but I think the talent level was beyond regular. Most of the faces on this painting are more created images then distinct lines on a paper. If Dali was alive today he would be more then a multi-millonare. The paints go from dark to light to show form. For some reason the gowns of one of the female statues is being held on by a botton. The breasts on the females go from a lighter shade to a darker shade. Which gives the statues a fading qaulity. I think this painting was done with some sort of oil paints. He did showing the ripples of light on the lake. This lake is some what invisible. The head of a statue goes from larger to smaller and smaller. This particular painting doesn’t depict religion , which is why I find it caught in space. His mother is painted on the side of a cliff and light shows a man inside the face of his mother. This painting shows qualitys of figure, contour and light. There are many minitures and copys of figures in this painting. The toreador its self looks like coluseum in heaven. Ther are

thoughts. Over the years of history, artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and many

Wilfredo Lam’s Untitled, 1953 and Matta’s Untitled (Flying People Eaters), 1942 share a wall in gallery 397 of the AIC. The two drawings were completed within 12 years of each other, and they seem be in conversation as surrealist compositions. Both pieces incorporate primitivist imagery into their engagement with the surreal. However, where Matta uses this imagery to further Freudian shock value and bring forward abject discomfort, Lam uses “primitive” symbology to discuss notions of Afro-Cuban identity through a cubist and surreal lens.

Although visual art is looked upon differently by all, everyone has a either a favorite piece or at least something that catches their eye. Personally, I don’t have a piece of art that I would label my absolute favorite, but during a Spanish research project found that Salvador Dali’s work really stood out. “The Persistence of Memory” painted in 1931 by Dali, a highly renowned surrealist painter, is among the most interesting works I have ever seen. Even though the painting itself is rather simple in quality at first glance, what Dali’s must have been thinking about while creating this work is strikingly complex. The painting is attractive to me because it deals with the concept of time, something