Class assignment (Vik Muniz wasteland)

The documentary titled “Wastelands” follows artist Vik Muniz on his almost three year journey home to Brazil to visit the world’s largest landfill and draw inspiration from the “Catadores” which is Portuguese for garbage pickers. Initially his goal was to give back to the place he once called home and in doing so he had the chance to meet some amazing people. Throughout the documentary you can see how the daily interactions where sort of a humbling experience for Vic. We got to see how people who we may consider less fortunate take so much pride in what they do day to day. It was wonderful to get to know each person along with the artist because they each had amazing personalities as well as see how such a wonderful encounter has influenced each Catador.  It was in a way a little difficult for me to watch because as the story went on you can see that Vic gave them a peek at a different life and then you realize that these people take pride in what they do because they have no other choice, but given the chance being a catador would be the last thing on their list.When first seeing the documentary I was intrigued by his “sugar babies” portraits and grew really anxious to see how he would make portraits out of garbage possible. 

Marilyn Minter slides

Drizzle- The model in this painting is Wangechi Mutu who is also an artist. This photo was the beginning of many collaborations between the two

Liliputti

Photo 

"Coral bridge towers" 

One of Marilyn's first pieces of work was of her mother 

"Silver Flicker"

Was taken behind a cold wet glass plate

Bruce Nauman @ the MoMA

Bruce Nauman is a contemporary/modern artist whose work span ranges from sculptures to video to large space installations and photography. but what he is most known for are his Neon light installations. It was said that his neon lights pieces were created to invoke a type of emotion to the viewer. Which I myself could relate to. The Bruce Nauman exhibit was my first experience with large space installation art and  I wasn't quite sure of what to make of it at first. It was a little bit difficult for me to connect....I found myself enthralled in one piece of work I believe it was "Make me Think me" (which I have posted below as well) and then suddenly bright lights caught my attention to the left side of the room. Almost like feeling you get when you first turn on the lights on the christmas tree "ooooo's and ahhhh's"😆😆😆

One thing I have noticed in Nauman's work is how he highlights repetition and the mundanities of everyday life. When I look at "100 live and dies" and "Days" posted below which is an audio piece of the days of the week. In "100 live and dies" it shows us that death is inevitable, there are so many twists and turns that a person's life will take but no matter what when it's time to go....we are gone.

For "Days"  I feel like I could have related to this piece of work so much more when I was a working mom and not an actual college student. One thing I have learned about living and working in NYC is that everything is a rat race...it's fast paced...it's unforgiving....and person can easily loose themselves in it. I feel like I'm getting a break in sense because I'm in school now.  But I definitely remember the days on the train when I was just counting down the days of the week to Friday only to wake up all over again on Monday to do it again and again.

Marilyn Minter Outline

Outline

Marilyn Minter is a contemporary visual artist who is well known for her sensual paintings, erotic imagry and her photorealism style.

Artwork

1. Silver Flicker
2. Rosary
3. Food porn

Bibliography

Artnet.com. (2018). Marilyn Minter | artnet. [online] Available at: http://www.artnet.com/artists/marilyn-minter/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Marilyn Minter. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Minter [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018]. 

Marilynminter.net. (2018). MARILYN MINTER. [online] Available at: http://www.marilynminter.net/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018].

Surrealism...

1. What were the roots of Surrealism? Surrealism is considered a cultural movement that began in Europe between the back end of World war I and the beginning of World war II. It came about as a response to the DaDa era and is best known for visual artworks, Paintings, literature.



2. How did Surrealist artists work to access their unconscious minds? Each artist worked off of a recurring motif either from dreams or and unconcsious mind. The way that they would do this is by transcribing dreams and recording trance states.




 3. Where did Surrealism draw inspiration?
Surrealist drew inspiration from thinfs that couold provide them with a different set of aesthetics and social value that which they considered primitive cultures.

Art @ the Met

This painting titled "Cypresses" was made by post impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh. It was painted with oil paints on canvas and has circular textured strokes. It was said that he made this painting in the beginning of his stay at the Saint- Remy asylum in France. I chose this painting because although the scene itself its very serene. The colors and the textures are very loud and bold.

This painting is titled " Tilla Durieux" is by Auguste Renoir. Aguste Renoir was an impressionist artist. I was drawn to this painting because Tilla Durieux's facial expression is so welcoming. Renoir has captured the softness in her hands, posture and hair by using soft complimenting colors. 

IMPRESSIONISM/ POST IMPRESSIONISM

Impressionism began in the late 19th century and it can be identified by its short brush strokes, the way the artists uses the bright colors to indicate the natural lighting, and slightly rough surfaces.

In Edward Degas oil painting titled "Ballet rehearsal" we can see the how the bright white of the ballet dancers  dresses reflect the natural light that is coming in from the window while the short neutral brush strokes and slightly dark color on the top of the walls gives the painting a little more depth.

Post Impressionism came directly after as a reaction to the impressionism movement in 1886.Post impressionism art seemed to be a little more abstract and bolder in color. The figures aren't as polished and detailed.

Simon Schama's Rembrandt PT 1

Rembrandt's "The fur Merchant" is referred to as the business man's hero because of the detail in his characteristics. He is depicted as strong, solid, thoughtful, but weary man. Which may usually be the characteristics of a decent hard working man.  

 

The mood in the "83 year old women" is very dreary and somewhat somber. Rembrandt uses soft white and dark colors to create a bit of coldness in my opinion. The women's eyes are rough and looked troubled as if she is living out the rest of her days waiting to die.

In Rembrandt's Samson and Delilah I believe there is a sense of tenderness and weakness shown. Although Delilah is responsible to Samson's demise she still seems to be holding him protectively. Samson is also fully dressed as opposed to being shown naked and buff which gives him a more human image rather then a  strong warrior.

Design Elements and Principles (Online assignment 1)

   In our first online class assignment we were to watch the online lecture titled
" HarmonIntroDesignPrinciples".  In it were provided with a list of design principles as well as the meanings and visual examples if them. The paintings that I chose to use for my own references are both Van Gogh's and I have chosen them because I have gotten the chance to see them both in person. Starry Night on the left; I have seen at the Museum of Modern art and Cypresses I have seen at the Met recently.

Since I don't consider myself to have an experienced "artistic eye" I felt that I needed to find artwork where certain principles where obvious.

 Something that wasn't mentioned as a unification principle was texture. I'm not sure if someone can tell from this online picture of Van Gogh's Cypresses on the right but in person we can see that the painting is very rough and somewhat raised in most parts. Although the scene in the painting is calming and complete I feel that the texture gives this painting more personality or makes it a bit busy.

According to our lecture an artist may use balance to create an equilibrium but there are two types of balance and I chose Starry Night to represent "Asymmetrical balance".
Asymmetrical balance is when a piece is balanced by contrast. In Starry Night Van Gogh does just that by making the tree look bigger and closer while the moon seems  smaller and brighter on the other side.

 

 As a example of scale art I chose this photo of a large hand and a small Eiffel tower. Considering that when people see the Eiffel tower they think Paris... the city of light, love, and fashion it is rather odd to see it this small. By using scaling an artist can make something that usually seems so small rather large and vice versa.

David wojnarowicz @ the Whitney

One portrait that I have decided to analyze is David Wojnarowicz's self-portrait. From this portrait I interpret it as "Mankind killing its self". Most times in our country's history we tend to fret away from issues that are very important until they oppress others to great magnitude. Take for instance, the civil rights movement, women's suffrage movement, and the AIDS epidemic. For this day and age the me too movement, and the black lives matter movement. This shows that not only does time repeat itself but these issues tend to take new shapes in which people would need to make a call for change. This is what I see with Wojnarowicz painting. I see repetition of time, and repetition of world conflict. 

The next piece that I would like to analyze Is the photograph of Peter Hujar. The interpretation that I got from this photo was "Death". The Aids epidemic in the 80's was something that affected many people. From my interpretation Wojnarowicz wanted to debut the effects of AIDS, and how much pain it causes to the victims, along with others who mourn their deaths. The photo depicts Hujar with his mouth open encapsulating the realism of the moment every time viewers look at this photo.

    I am a 34 year old mother of three beautiful young girls whom have inspired me to step out of my boundaries and push myself to achieve goals that I once deemed unattainable.
After 14 years of being out of school and 11 years in a cubicle I have decided to pursue a degree in Nursing which has always been a passion of mine that was placed on a back burner because life took its course.

 Aside from being a requirement I have chosen to take this course because on a personal level I believe that Art is a form of healing and meditation and  since I rarely have a minute to myself this is something I can learn to do myself and teach to my children so that they are able to appreciate it well beyond macaroni necklaces and construction paper.