George Grosz: Responce to Presentation

The presentation of George Grosz was presented by O.C.. Grosz's work deals with the time he was working and living in, which was during world war 2. He attended college in Berlin and later returned there for the end of his life. There he was prosicuted for the pornigraphic subject matter in alot of his paintings. It seems to me that his art is timeless although it deals with almost specific issues of his time.

Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville: Responce to Presentation

Julie's presentation of paintings by Jenny Saville was eye opening. Jenny's subject matter deals with the portrayal of women in art. She tries to show the essence of women rather than the expected beauty. She also deal swith the changing of one's body and the relationship between the insides, organs and mind, to the outside.

I like that Jenny uses different sources for her paintings. She has watches surgeries and taken photo's as well as using human corpses for her subjects. Her painting technique is also very striking. Up close you can see almost every brush stroke and movement made. From afar the marks blend together and form a very realistic fleshy look.

Christian Boltanski Presentation Responce

I found Sabrina's presentation on the artist Christian Boltanski interesting. She showed us slides of his installations that deal a lot with the use of light. I learned of Boltanski's history with the Holocost and the profound effect it had on his work. His installations and sculptures deal with his relationships with life and death.

The installation titled "The Children of Dijon" is one that uses light in an interesting and different way. The light gives a soft glow and a calm almost somber ambiance. It also seems that this piece speaks of death and mortality.

Extracting Interpretation, Project Proposal

For my final project I plan on doing a series of images that combine photo-shop edited images with traditional materials. I'd like to show the developement of a character much like Tsung Tsai in the book "Bones of the Master". I'd like to utilize my new knowlege of photo shop in this project. I've aslo recently become interested in paper cut outs and would like to experiment and possibly incorporate them into the images. The images will be in a series of 3 and will be in chronological order. I'd like for them to be rather small, maybe 5x7" or so. I think that by keeping them smaller the details will be more precise and the images will feel more personal. I plan on having the character be cut out of the paper, and the back ground be the photoshop images. For source material I plan on using the Internet and scanned pictures from books.

Extracting Interpretations: "Bones of the Master" by, George Crane

Desciptive Words:
1. captivating
2. discriptive
3. difinitive
4. graphic
5. illistrative
6. authentic
7. poetic
8. picturesque
9. revealing
10. genuine
11. specific
12. lyrical
13. creative
14. legendary
15. colorful

When I read the book "Bones of the Master", the colors I pictured were warm tones of red, yellow and brown. To me they seemed to be shifting and changing, staying still for just a short moment at a time.

The scene that stands out most for me is when George meets Tsung Tsai in the 2nd chapter. The way George describes the scene is very discriptive. "But it was a morning so lovely: a few rambling clouds, a light pine breeze blowing, a waming sun that dazzled the snow..." The author gives the reader a feel of the weather and the smells in the air. The description of the sun dazzling off the snow causes me almost instictively to squint my eyes. I think this scene stands out to me also because it is some thing I can relate to, unlike the scenes in the 1st chapter which take place in Mongolia.

The author does an amazing job of describing the character Tsung Tsai. It makes it easy to picture this rather small, frail looking older man. With his tattered clothes and quiet demeanor he seems like a person that it easily looked over in passing. It seems that the outside of this humble inteligent man, although described in detail, is less important.

George, the other main character in the book, hasn't been describes in as much detail as Tsung Tsai. I get a sence of who he is, what he is about, and a little bit about his background, but not much about how he looks. I think that by not physically describing George the author allows the reader to fill in the blanks, and relate more closely to George. I am also curious of George's daughter, who Tsung Tsai says " This baby have deep Buddah roots." I'm interested to see if she becomes a more prominent character in the coming chapters.

"Born" 2002 by Kiki Smith

Fomal Discription of "Born" by Kiki Smith

“Born” by Kiki Smith is a life size bronze sculpture of a deer giving birth to a woman. It was the first image I came across on the Internet of her work. My immediate response to this piece was curiosity. It made me curious of what the artist was trying to communicate with such a bizarre sculpture. My first thought was that it could be comparing humans to animals, and to show the similarities between us. It sparked my interest in this artist.

“Born” is a life size sculpture of a young doe giving birth to an adult woman. The woman is fully exposed except for her ankles and feet. She is lying on her left side with her hands to her mouth. The deer is standing with her two front legs parallel to each other, and her the hind legs a step apart. Although the deer's ears seem to be at attention, the rest of the body seems to be relaxed and natural.

After researching Smith's work, I've learned that she prefers the concepts of her art be open to interpretation by the viewer. The composition and placement of the subjects in the sculture give the work movement. Naturally, we read from left to right and this picture of the sculpture reads from left to right and high to low. The way the light plays off the bronze gives the monotone sculpture monochromatic hues. The life size scale of the deer and woman helps the viewer relate to the subject.

Although to some this image may be disturbing, I think it is kind of beautiful. I think that the story relates to the relationship between humans and animals, how similar we all are. I feel that it could also speak of the reincarnation of humans into other earth creatures. I love that this piece can be interpreted by different people, each in their own way.

Alison Berger Glassworks

Before viewing the Design Life Now exhibition at the ICA I had a chance to scan through the book in class. Of coarse being a glass artist, I was instantly drawn to the blown glass. The glass vessels of Alison Berger Glassworks are simple in their form and color(or lack of color). My immediate response was to the simplicity of the classically shaped vessels and the weight they seem to have with the solid mass that occurs in most of them.

The vessels are displayed in a group of six. They are all blown of clear glass which allows the light to reflect and sparkle off of them. They vary in height from 10"-15". My favorite one is a solid sphere of glass at the bottom with a hollow neck of approximately the same length. The clear glass lets the small air bubbles and imperfection to show.

I feel that the variety of vessels work together and seem to form a single work of art. They all share similar traits yet no two are alike. The glass is left in its natural smooth texture. The lack color allows the light to add the colors reflected. The emphasis seems to be on the weighted bottoms which add balance.

I feel that Berger's designs directly relate to the history of glass blowing. A lot of the vessel shapes are directly taken from classic design. She took these classical shapes and added her touch on them without losing the strength of the original design.

Tibetan Painting Traditions with Pema Rinzin

Pema Rinzin uses the ancient technique of grinding stones to get pure color for his paintings. Stones, like malichite, are ground with water until smooth. The water helps to seperate the pure color from the dirt, the dirt floats to the top and can easily be removed. The stones that are harder have a richer color than those that are softer. The majority of the stones used are from Arizona, where they are plentiful, more affodable, and of the highest quality.

The paintings are done on a fexible canvas made of cotton/animal skin, and glue. Each canvas is dried in the sun and take about a week to prepare. The crushed stone colors need to be mixed with a binder so that they stick to the canvas and don't crack off as they dry. The binder is a glue made of cow/yack skin. The more common glue made of rabbit skin is less flexible and causes the paint to crack.

Painting is done in a very specific order. First a sketch is made in black ink. Then the larger areas are filled with color, starting with the mid-tones. Then the lights and darks of that area are added. Then so on until the small areas are filed aswell. Then the details and then the gold accents. The artist must work quickly so the areas of color will be consistent.

I found this lecture to be very informative. It's amazing to see where colors can be taken from and have been for thousands of years.

Kiki Smith, untitled 2002

Kiki Smith Research (so far)

Kiki Smith

Bio:
Kiki Smith was born on Jan.18,1954 in Nuremberg, Germany.
Her father,Tony Smith, was a sculptor.
Her mother, Jane Lawrence, an opera singer.
She had two younger twin sisters, Seton- an artists and photographer who now lives in Paris and
Beatrice-who died of AIDS in 1988
She was raised in S.Orange, New Jersey and moved to N.Y. In 1976.



Method, Style, and Form (work in general):
Uses many different mediums in her artwork, such as: prints on handmade paper, cellulose, terra cotta, bronze, ceramics, glass, porcelain, cloth, and wax.

She works to master every possible technique used in casting and printmaking.


Content of Work:
1980- the death of her father turned her work to themes of mortality and decay, focusing on human
corporeality. (example: hand in jar 1983)

1985- studied to become an emergency medical technician, her studies had a profound impact on her
work. (example: glass stomach 1985)

1990's- her investigation into the body continued into the 1990's, when she introduced the life size
human figures. (example: pee body 1992, tale 1992)


Working Process:
She likes playing around with different media, materials and techniques and to make reference to their different histories.

She believes her art is an artifact of a process and enjoys learning on the job.

She is inspired by curiosity and discomfort.

"L'Annunciazione" by, Carlo Crivelli

Color Grid

Carlo Crivelli: Color Vocabulary

In the painting "Saint George Slaying the Dragon" by Carlo Crivelli, the castle in the background is monochromatic, painted in different values of browns. Saint George and his horse have accents of warm colors, reds and yellows, that cause them to stand out. The intense reds and blues of the saddle and armor are striking. The white horse has a lot of variation of value which give texture and depth. The rich colors compliment each other and work together to give the intense feeling evident in the subject of the painting.

Carlo Crivelli: Expressive qualities of color

*royal
*deep
*rich
*expressive
*elegant
*luminous
*warm
*dark
*vibrant
*striking
*intense
*shimmering
*regal
*classic
*fancy
*refined
*purposeful
*suggestive
*unearthly
*imaginative

Museum Visit: part B

Viewing "Saint George Slaying the Dragon" at the Gardener Museum was a much different experience than seeing it on-line. The gold of the background isn't even close to being as vivid as it is in person. The raised details don't give the illusion of depth or texture as they did in the museum. All the colors are just a little lighter on the computer screen. I think that viewing the painting in the museum is a much better experience than on-line. The colors are richer, and the golds are brighter and reflect the light. By viewing it on-line the viewer doesn't get a sense of the mood the artist intended. I also feel that seeing this painting in full scale is important.

Saint George Slaying the Dragon

1470Carlo Crivelli, Italian (Venice), 1430-1495

Gold and tempera on wood, 94 x 47.8 cm

Gardener Museum: part A

Saint George Slaying the Dragon,1470 by Carlo Crivelli is the painting I chose for this assignment. The first thing I noticed about this painting was how the details in the armor of the soldier and the saddle of the horse have a 3D feel to them. They were painted in such a way that they are raised and cast little shadows that give depth. Saint George and his horse are in the center with the slain dragon to his right(the viewer's left). The saint is wearing beautiful armor of gold, blue and red with raised details. He has a sword in his hand that is raised and ready to strike as he struggles to stay atop the frightened horse. The horse is standing on his hind legs and has a red and gold saddle with details like the armor. In the background there is a castle with a woman on her knees praying.

The composition of this painting makes Saint George the center of attention. The colors of his armor and his horse are much brighter than anything else in the scene. The background is also bright, but without many contrasting colors around it, it blends in. The dim lighting adds to the dark, treacherous mood of the painting. The line of the sword mimics the line of the path behind it as well as the angle of the horses stance. These lines seem to lead the viewer's eyes to left, where the story begins.

The artists tells a story which to me, is obvious. Saint George is riding a horse which implies that he traveled to this remote castle. The woman kneeling in the back seems helpless, praying to be saved. Here comes Saint George to slay the dragon and bring her to safety!

"Portrait of Time" collage

In this assignment we asked: "If you made a portrait of this time what would it look like?". We were to construct 5 collages, with that question in mind. Five created using Photoshop and one done traditionally. The first idea I had was to make a collage showing what my life is about at this time, school, family, art, etc... After doing some sketching and some brainstorming, my idea shifted drastically. I realized that what I wanted to portray through my collages is that time is continuous and the only thing that ever stays the same, is that everything is constantly changing and growing. In one of my collages I try to show a life cycle, from birth to death. In another, I was inspired by our reading about lines, and used lines to represent continuity. Although I am still in the process of refining the collages I feel that what I've done so far will be effective in giving the viewer a sense of time.

I feel that this assignment has helped me to think about composition, color, and meaning. I also found that being required to use Photoshop rather challenging. I haven't had much experience with Photoshop and in the last assignment I felt pretty lost with it. I'm proud to say that I think I'm getting the hang of it. It might take me a little longer than it should, and I'm sure that I'm not utilizing all the tools I could, but I'm happy with my project so far. :)

Hannah Hoch

(November 1, 1889 - May 31, 1978)
Hannah Hoch studied art in Berlin and worked as a pattern designer and writer on women's handicrafts. Through her affair and artistic partnership with Raoul Hausmann, a Viennese artist, she became part of the Berlin Club Dada. Club Dada was a German group of Dadaists, an artistic movement dating from about 1916. The group was also involved with political radicalism after the WWI. She didn't express herself politically as much as other members of the group. From 1926-1929 she lived and worked in Holland. She spent the years of the Third Reich in Germany, trying to remain quiet. She married Kurt Matthies, a businessman and pianist, in 1938 and got divorced in 1944.
She created and exhibited her photo collages until her death. She used photos, paper objects, machines parts and various other objects in her work which was usually pretty large.

I was drawn to Hannah Hoch's collages. They have a dark, somber feel to them. It's apparent right away that the images she creates are meant to tell a story. For example, "Abduction" was made in response to changes for women taking place in Weimer society. Before reading the description, my impression was that it was about women or a woman fighting against the current, fighting for her rights. She clearly gets her point across using very few images arranged just right.

Hanna Hoch- collage artist

"Victorian" by, Hanna Hoch

Line and Shape

Creating line in my environment

This is a picture I took of suds lined up in my hall way.

Line and shape in my environment

In this assignment we had to construct a line and a shape in our environment using unconventional materials. In class we watched an Art21 about the artist Andy Goldsworthy, who creates lines and shapes in nature using natural materials like stones and leaves. I found his work to be beautiful and inspiring. With his creations fresh in my mind I set out to create my own lines and shapes in my environment. I decided to do most of them in my house and a few outside with more of a city environment, to differ from Andy's work. I found that creating lines and shapes with unconventional materials challenging, and quickly realized photographing them was a whole seperate challege. Most of my pictures were taken when it was very bright and I had to take several shots with different settings just to get a few that were acceptable. I still have a few more photos to take which I think I will make night or evening shots.
This assignment made me look at line and shape differently than I had before. Creating lines that interupted the lines that already existed in the environment caused me to see new lines and shapes that I hadn't seen before.

Here are some photos taken off my back porch in the evening both using different aperture settings. The first uses F5.6 and the other is F8.

Light studies

Here are some pictures taken from my window of my neighbors roof at noon, evening, and night.

"See ourselves seeing": observing my relationship to my environment using the digital camera

Having not much expierience using digital cameras, this assignment was challenging to me. I had a little difficulty with setting the aperture on the camera. I never did completely figure out how to get the aperture to f16, but I do think that I understand what it does. The lower the number the larger the aperture is, which allows more light in to the lens. The larger the number the smaller the aperture, letting in less light. We were to experiment with aperture in a range of 5.6-16. I found that the photos I took in the evening with an aperture setting of 5.6 were alot clearer and brighter. After experimenting with holding the camera in my hands or setting it on something to keep it still, I found that setting it down would result in a much clearer picture. I shot most of the pictures with aperture setting of 8. the photos taken in the evening were slightly blurry, and the ones taken at night were were almost all black except for small spots of light coming from houses. The photos taken int the afternoon were actually the opposite, very bright and detailed in some spots. while even brighter was the sun coming in through windows, that it just blurred that spot into a white glow.
Overall I feel that I did learn alot from this assignment. I can now say I'm not completely clueless about digital photography. :)

"See ourselves seeing": observing and analyzing my relationship to my environment

While looking off my porch in the evening I notice that almost everything is completely covered in shadows, except for small areas of sunlight. There is a house directly in front of me that has only a small portion of the roof without darkness. The tree in front of the house is all dark with out a single spot of sunlight. It is difficult to make out the details of the houses, cars, and other objects beyond this large home because the street lights haven't been turned on yet. The weather is chilly and the shadows seem to add to that.
Doing this assignment made me realize how much of an effect light or the lack of light can have on my perception of space and even time. I feel like I have a little bit of a better understanding of the role light has on not only my environment but on me as well.

camera obscura

I thought the camera obscura was interesting. At first I didn't quite understand how it worked, and I'm still not completely sure. From what I understand it is basically a dark box of any size with a small hole punched through one side to allow light to enter. The light that enters projects the objects outside of the box on the opposite side of where the hole is punched. The object is projected upside down, like how the human eye recieves images. I learned that this the basis of how cameras were invented.
Today we were shown some of Abe's Morrel's work with the camera obscura. I thought it was fascinating how he used such a simple idea in a complex way. He used the camera obscura to project scenes of cities and sky lines on the walls of ordinary rooms like children's bedrooms and offices. I'm curious as to how he got these images to be so clear in his photographs of the rooms.
We also got to see a camera obscura in the Brant gallery. There was one set up for us to see a projection of the courtyard. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy outside and the image was difficult to see. There was also a smaller one set up with a some still life that was better lit. I found that once your eyes adjusted to the darkness, the objects were amazingly clear. I plan on going back to on a sunnier day to check out the larger one again. :)