Huh.

Never thought I’d ever use Tumblr ever again outside of a few college assignments but here we are. 

Final Exam

Name: Maybe...

This piece essentially sums up my relationship with creating my own art as well as my difficulty in trying to keep up with it. Work, hobbies, and so many other things in life, while I love all of the things I do in my life, I just never have the time to actually create or think about my own art. Maybe I’ll eventually get around to doing my own art again and finding my way in the Art World. But at the same time, who knows if I’ll ever get the time to do anything regarding my own art ever again?

Documentation:

Unfortunately, I didn’t do particularly the best job at documenting everything I needed to. This is excluding the piece when I finished it on Thursday, and the Final Piece that was completed today. I also don’t have the equipment in order to speed up a recording. Apologies.

Virtual Sketchbook 3

Thomas Waterman Wood's, A Bit of War History: The Recruit (1866)

WRITING AND LOOKING – Our senses emotions and memory will come together with knowledge.

How will you communicate with WORDS what you SEE and FEEL?

DESCRIBE PHYSICAL QUALITIES (THE FACTS)

Thomas Waterman Wood's, A Bit of War History: The Recruit works in many ways in terms of balance, subjects, colors, etc. To start off, this piece is made of canvas and oil paint. The size of this piece is 28 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (71.8 x 51.4 cm) (framed with 84.12a and 84.12c). The colors used are blue, brown, tan, black, red, grey, yellow, and green; the shapes being used are a body of a union civil war soldier, the soldier is African American, he has a beard, a gold medal with a red ribbon, a Civil War Union Kepi old time belt buckle, long coats, a musket with a gun strap, a roughed-up wall, brick is exposed, an old wooden chair with a paper of some kind on it, some old shirts/towels(?) on the ground, an open door behind the soldier with a piece of red clothing and canister within the room, and lastly, we have something on the wall regarding the Union and has a print of the US Flag next to it. The subject represented in this piece and every other piece in this series of paintings to me is to archive and honor some of the African Americans that fought in the Civil War and paint them in a realistic manner. The work was designed with realism, accuracy, and unity in mind. I would also say that this art is indeed balanced by having a soldier in the very center of the piece and there’re two rather older items on the bottom corners of the piece. Proportion is heavily emphasized due to this piece being done in a realistic manner, so everything is properly shaped. Rhythm is also emphasized; however, this is only emphasized if you include the entire series of paintings. There is a huge contrast by having a soldier with a rife that contrasts with the setting/atmosphere/background, especially seeing the soldier and his rifle have more intensity in contrast to the more muted/drab colors of the background, there’s also a clear area that’s shaded as well as an area that’s more lit up. Again, like rhythm, unity and variety is really only emphasized if you include this whole series of paintings.

THIS PART IS ALL ABOUT YOU:

This piece makes me feel that progress has been made within and that this soldier in the art (as well as the other pieces in the series) is willing to do anything so that him and every other African American gets the rights and equality they deserve. The reason this piece evokes these feeling is because as someone that knows a good bit about the civil war and by looking at this piece, it shows us that progress has been made regarding African Americans and equality. As for the soldier achieving the greatest victory imaginable, his facial expression to me anyway looks very proud and happy for what he is about to do, that and again, looking back at the Civil War, this was a huge victory for African Americans.

NOW RESEARCH:

This piece is a part of a narrative triptych of an African American within the US Military Service. This piece as well as the other pieces within this narrative triptych show that the artist is in full support of African American equality and is big into immortalizing some of the people he sees within his life. I can tell that the artist is trying to say that African Americans are people that are deserving of human rights and will do anything in their power in order to get those rights. I also feel he gets the message across perfectly, especially once you put the narrative triptych together, from the man being a Contraband who escaped the Slave States, to a Recruit who is ready to fight for his people and the rights he and all of the other African American people deserve as well as free those in slavery, and then finally to a veteran who gave it his all and lost his leg in the war so that African Americans can get their rights, and live a better life, a simple but extremely effecting and well told story in 3 parts. I’ll post the other 2 parts because I feel I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t. Now for Thomas Waterman Wood himself, there isn’t a lot of information regarding him other than the basic facts about his career, nit so much regarding his personal life/beliefs, unfortunately. So, based on my own research, and everything I have learned about art and Thomas Waterman Wood, the importance of this work of art to society and/or the world is that it shows us a time in history where African Americans had to participate in war in order to get out of slavey and get the freedoms and rights that they’ve always deserved. That and it also memorializes this huge transition of African American slavery to a citizen with the rights and freedoms they fought hard for.

Virtual Sketchbook 2

1.     JOURNALING (The Principles of Design) 

Unity and Variety: Unity is what art piece looks like, and Variety is simply the thing that provides, well variety/diversity in the piece of art in question.

Example: Andy Warhol's “Marilyn Monroe” uses Unity and Variety by having each Marilyn Monroe photo is unified by using the same photo, and it has variety because each photo is colored differently.

Balance: Balance is how elements in an art piece such as shapes, textures, lines, as well as coloring are arranged. And usually, they line up to be equal very well.

Example: Hubert van Eyck's and Jan van Eyck's “Ghent Altarpiece” uses balance by having 3 clear center pieces within the art and by having them surrounded, whether angel, people, or rays. The coloring on both sides is very similar, that and one final example of balance is that on the top far edges also have tall (but different) structures.

Emphasis and Subordination: Emphasis is something specific in an art piece that’s supposed to draw the viewer’s attention. Subordination is something in an art piece that, while natural, doesn’t catch the audience.

Example: Francisco Goya's “The Third of May 1808” uses Emphasis by focusing on the Napoleonic French Soldiers firing upon the Unarmed Spanish Rebels, and it uses Subordination by having a light between the Napoleonic Soldiers as well as the rebels, that, and the city/building/structure in the background, both of which are noticeable, but you don’t focus on them as much as you do the War Crime depicted.

Directional Forces: Directional Forces are essentially elements that gets the viewer’s eyes to move all around the art piece.

Example: Edvard Munch's The Scream uses Directional Force by having lines across the entire piece that makes your eyes wander around the entire piece.

Repetition and Rhythm: Repetition are elements in an art piece that creates a pattern, therefore creating a form of unity. Rhythm is when an art piece is dominated by elements that are in a repeated sequence.

Example: René Magritte’s Golconda uses Repetition having the exact same suited man all around the art piece. The Rhythm seems to be how the suited guys are lined up by being in the same distance as each other, probably worded that badly but I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.

Scale and Proportion: Scale is the size relation between two things, and Proportion is the size relationship of two thing a part of something bigger.

Example: Leah Saulnier's Orange Tree uses Scale by having an overly large Orange as well as Leaves on top of a seemingly normal sized tree, this is also next to possibly normal sized oranges. The proportions of the Tree as well as Oranges are completely normal/realistic.

2.     WRITING AND LOOKING

Diego Rivera’s Art Piece, Detroit Industry Murals (Ch. 7.3, Page 1, Fig. 7.5) contains both colorful and neutral colors, directional forces, geometric shapes (Rectangles, Diamonds and Cubes), emphasis and subordination, balance with the coloring, the factory and the machinery and its placement, as well as the three paintings at the very top, repetition with a line-up of workers as well as rhythm with a foreground and background.

3.     CONNECTING ART TO YOUR WORLD

Color has affected me in many ways, from my emotions, how it makes me feel about something, how it looks one me and others, etc. Overtime, I notice that I am usually into the absence of color (black) or colors with a lot of value and higher/neutral intensity. Colors with a mid-value are also more eye catching to me, probably due to how much more natural they look and due to them bring more prevalent in my personal life, however I absolutely adore colors with very high saturations due to them seeming more dreamlike, eye-catching, and overall, more appealing, it could also help seeing that high saturated colors are commonly used in early Silent Films. Speaking of Silent Films, whenever I personally think of my life, I tend to think of it as a Silent Film with High Saturated Tinting, changes depending on the time of day, the mood of the atmosphere, how I feel in my life, how someone else feels, etc.

Film: L’Homme du large (1920)

4.     ART PROJECT, ARTIST’S CHOICE (Comic) 

5.     PHOTO/DESIGN (Group 6)

Black and White vs. Color Photography

Sherrin Lim “.puppets on strings.”, 2011

Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron “View of Agen, France, showing the St. Caprais cathedral”, 1877

The motivation of the artists choosing between Black and White or Color are very different from each other. For the Colored Photo, we have a scientist/artist,  Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron, who simply wants to experiment with color in photography and wants to be a pioneer in that field, and I must say, he did a great job, gives this old world some life I never thought I’d see and makes me and probably others at that time feel that we can reach through the photo and actually touch the landscape. As for the Black and White one, we have an artist,  Sherrin Lim, who’s main style is black and white photography, especially with heavy shading to add to said style. She does an effective job, it makes something so common in our world (people riding a park ride) and manages to make it feel otherworldly, and yet does it in such a beautiful way.

Virtual Sketchbook 1

1. WRITING AND RESEARCH

Hello everyone! I've always had an interest in any kind of art, especially 2D art, this is due to the fact that I have a lot of friends that are 2D artists as well my fascination with 1910s and 1920s Silent German/Weimar Film Posters. I will say that my favorite kind of art is Film, which is a drastically different kind of art from what we're talking about and the kind of art we'll be learning about, but I thought I'd throw that out there. A little fact regarding me is that I actually used to draw quite a lot during my Late-Middle School/Late-High School Years, but I eventually lost the motivation and gave up, though after looking at the art my friends make as well as looking at said German Posters, I've been motivated to draw art again as well as appreciate a lot of art I see.

Alice Neel 1980 Self-Portrait.  Oil on canvas; 54” x 40”

Five Facts about Alice Neel and Self Portrait.

1. Alice Neel depicted women through a female gaze, as in them being aware of the objectification by men.

2. This painting started five years earlier before 1980, however she abandoned this project for a certain period of time before returning to it.

3. This painting was created only four years before Alice Neel's Death, in 1984.

4. Alice Neel painted people from many backgrounds, starting from her family, neighbors and friends, to people of color, the poor, immigrants, pregnant women, homosexuals, transsexuals, the elderly, children, young adults, etc.

5. Alice Neel painted herself, and all of the people she painted, while in her own style, in a truthful manner.

After I did research of this Self Portrait, her other pieces as well as research on Alice Neel herself, my thoughts on this has changed quite a bit actually. When I first saw this piece, I was essentially like, "Oh, a portrait of a nude woman, um, cool?", I essentially didn't think much of it. But the more I did research on this piece as well as Alice Neel as a whole, I realized that this plays a bigger story, and I appreciate how she wanted to draw herself in a truthful manner as well as make a social stance. That and from everything I read about her as well as her art, she thought that people, no matter who they are, are beautiful, and is against, especially for women, objectification.

2. ART AND WRITING

An art piece that means a lot to me that I constantly look at is Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes' “El sueño de la razón produce monstruos". This is the 43rd painting in Goya’s Los Caprichos Series, which consists of 80 etching paintings where he criticizes Spain in 1799, the methods used to create all of these paintings are etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin. This painting in particular is believed to be Goya’s Manifesto, most assume that the main in this piece sleeping on his art tools is Goya, and the creatures surrounding him (which are of Spanish Folklore origin) are meant to resemble his nightmares on Spanish Society during 1799. I genuinely love this pieces and find it to be one of Goya’s most beautiful works, the gothic and haunting atmosphere as a man is sleeping and dreaming up of all the horrors surrounding him, getting ready to potentially destroy him and anyone else in their path, and as odd of a creative choice at this is (I personally haven’t seen many art pieces do this), I think it’s clever how the title of the piece is on the side of the table, as if it’s meant to be in that artistic world.

3. WRITING A SELF-PORTRAIT

When it comes to me, I don’t know if you’d consider this a baggage, but I feel that I will simply be bringing a rather “Open-Minded” and “Newbie” point of view to this class, mostly due to the art that we’ll be going over with in this class are quite the blind spots to me. I’m a 20-year-old Caucasian male from Florida. For fun, I usually talk to and/or spend time with friends and family, watch films (primarily silent and foreign), play with my dogs, as well as occasionally play a video game here and there. I am not a member of any organized group and never plan to be, I will say that I currently work at Target as a front store worker, usually cashier but more recently, cart cleaner/guest greeter. As for whet makes me “uniquely me”, I personally never found myself to be a unique individual, but if I had to throw some unique traits they would be, my fascination with films made during 1895-1919/1920, my all-time favorite artist is Josef Fenneker, the fact that I tend to write paragraphs and sometimes essays for pieces of art I see on the Internet, as well as the fact I have a rather strange work tactics that somehow make many people happy, and those are about all I can think about at the moment.

4. ART PROJECT (SELF-PORTRAIT)