Who Is Wangechi Mutu's Pin-Ups?

Wangechi Mutu, born on June 22, 1972 in Nairobi, Kenya, is a female artist that has explored and challenged the idea of gender and racial identity while simultaneously questioning our perception of the individual and the position we have in our culture and the natural world around us. Through her use of painting, collage, sculptor, video and performance mediums she has combined our mainstream ideal of beauty and her vision of what beauty can be to create a new perception of what we are as humans. Wangechi grew up and attended school in Nairobi and eventually moved to Wales to go to the United World College of the Atlantic. She then moved to New York City to study at the New School for Social Research and Parsons School of Art and Design. She has also earned an honorary Masters of Fine Art from Yale University. Wangechi has had a number of co-op exhibits across the world at several museums in the US, Germany, France, Canada and a few solo exhibits in the US, Canada, and Germany. Her

The face is over exaggerated in its features and is almost clown like. It tests the ideas of gender, identity, and race. The only reason I would assume that this portrait is a woman because the collection of which it was originally presented was named “Head of a Woman.” However, this easily can be represented as a man due to its angles, and there was not an overly dominant color that is generally associated with a specific gender. This leads into the topic of identity especially in the twenty-first century where people have become freer to express their identity and beliefs. Lastly, I think Thomas was trying to add the topic of race into the piece with the afro inspired pattered and similarities to African

One of the aspects I believe unifies this painting is, as I talked about above, the continuation of the blue of the woman’s clothing continuing up into her hair, which gives the piece a sense of wholeness and relativity. There is also balance in this piece, for while the woman’s head is offset, this is balanced out by the elongation of her shoulder and arm in the right side of the image. Variety is also achieved in this piece through the use of a variation of hues and a lot of tonal difference. Emphasis is placed upon the hair with the use of an unnatural hair colour, as well as the face where light colours are used to highlight and pull the attention. Space is not so much of an active principle in this piece, but is still present nonetheless. Beryl is placed in the middle of the painting, with her taking up roughly 50% of the space, and the rest taken up by background.

In this artwork the background has a very distinct colors that correspond to looking like the rainbow. This rainbow background draws your eyes to behind the girl and focuses in on the different elements of the rainbow clippings. The texture of the entire work is rough and looks choppy or almost flaky. The hair texture looks silky and soft to one’s touch. The value with this artwork is mostly within the subject. The different tones of her skin make her look more realistic and lifelike. The subject is also emphasized because she is the only aspect of the artwork that is used with neutral colors, so she stands out against the colorful background. The subject is also proportional to the background showing that the girl

With the sculpture straight ahead, the audience sees a profile view of the scene; however, the artist created the sculpture with enough space and depth to be able to view the front of the woman’s face from a side angle. The artist created the seated woman with much detail; her nose, chin, slightly opened mouth, pronounced brow line and inset eyes show this. She reaches for the chest with her right arm in a very delicate manner as her left arm lays on the throne for support.

Beginning with her spruced face, the skin is tanned with mild wrinkles located on the forehead, and in-between

In a freezing class, two brilliant minds unlocked the fiery passion that is their talent one an artist the other a writer. Bringing to light a history long forgotten creating abstract thoughts arbitrary to our own. Komi Olaf the artist and Okey Ndibe the writer not only enlightening the class but also the world with each brush stroke and each word. Every creation stemming from the hands of these masters tell of issues at the heart of Africa from colonialism to existential dilemmas. Thru spoken word, hip-hop, art, music, poems and literature issues close at heart to the artists and to Africa are portrayed. This paper will focus on the art exhibit by Komi Olaf and Foreign Gods inc by Okey Ndibe as spoken by them during their discussion in the class on October 13th. Where the talks focused on the key course objectives being stereotypes, post-colonialism, youth culture, and resistance.

The artwork is a realistic portrait of a women. It is abstracted with asymmetrical balance with exotic and vibrant colors. As if the women is sitting in the corner with two

The viewer is immediately drawn to the color of the sarong and its patterns. The most notable scene shows Lamour and her sarong sisters. Her design comes to life because her piece is flamboyant in color compared to the others girls and shorter in order to bring attention to not only Lamour but also the sarong she is wearing. Her design gives gives a nice balance of tropical feel to go along with the scene of the movie while maintaining cultural appropriateness. The other girls are stacked up towards Lamour which puts an emphasis on not only Lamour but more importantly her dress that was elegantly designed by Head (Edith Head papers).

Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.

Next is the use of color, or lack thereof. The colors in the background are very quiet and muted, mostly subdued blues and grays with hints of a deep red and brownish yellow peeking though. The colors used for the figure are browns and tans, almost as if the was painted with mud, like she is all-natural and from the earth. The range of colors would seem to have a cool tone if you were looking at them on a painter’s palette but the arrangement of color on the canvas gives the piece a warm feeling.

All of these clues point the reader to the conclusion that this she is utterly vulnerable, absolutely defined by her gender, and helplessly entrapped in the limitations society attaches to her. As well as this in the opening scene she has curly blond hair , she is wearing a skimpy dress and lots of makeup – in short, she is the picture of socially contrived femininity. Her eyes are huge and always directed upward, as though from a subservient position.

Also, collaged images of woman 's genitalia were cut out and spaced all around the portrait. The spaces were carefully used to show that the collages were floating around the woman. The artist used overlapping technique to show certain collage cut-out appear closer to the viewer. He pasted some collage over and some behind the woman that you could see through with the overlapping. The collage images were abstract that you could barely tell that they were buttocks until you zoom in and see them close up.

The feel of the picture lends to emotions of unease and recognition of sexual innuendo. The colors of the painting are vibrant, but for the most part are dark. The heavy tones and shades of the colors are well balanced throughout the piece. It can be noted that the brightest shades of color are found on areas depicting the actual woman. In areas that are understood as landscape, the colors are more dreary and create a sense of instability. Even Hess observes that the

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.