Saturday, January 28, 2017

I really enjoyed going to visit the Baltimore Museum of Art and seeing all of the different pieces. Computer screens do not do the artwork justice because you cant see the simple brush strokes or which areas in the painting are jolting out or even the actual size of the art. The three pieces of art I chose are titled, 9.11.01, Chimeras in the Mountains and Nude. I found the first piece very intriguing because Jack Whitten used mixed media to create his response to the 9/11 attack. He used a variety of things to create this art like bone fragments and blood. The second photo is of a piece by Max Ernst and the picture does not do it justice. In person, you can see the small detail he used and in certain areas of the painting jolts out. I painted a self portrait of Max Ernst so to see his actual work in person was pretty amazing for me. Lastly, the painting entitled Nude was my favorite. Cross used small brush strokes to create this painting with eye popping colors. The thing I enjoyed most was the colors he chose because it made the art pop and the vibrant colors really stood out to me. I really liked his style of art and how he was able to make the painting look very realistic by using the same brush stroke throughout the whole painting.  

Jack Whitten 9.11.01 C. 2006
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Max Ernst Chimeras in the Mountains C. 1940
Oil on Canvas

Henri-Edmond Cross, Nude C. 1985-1896
Oil on Canvas

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Visibility

As someone who admires art and who loves to find meaning in artwork, I never thought of viewing movies the same way I view art. After reading this article, It never dawned on me what actually happens in order for a movie to be on TV. The movie has to first be written out, then visualized, then an actual construction of the film has to made and the final step is to make it into the actual film. It's fascinating in a way to think about how much work every single person that creates that movie goes through and how much of a thrill it must be to start from just an idea and watch it play out in a theater. One of the topics that Calvino touches on is imagination. I really enjoyed the quote, "the imagination is a kind of electronic machine that accounts all the possible combinations and chooses the ones that are appropriate to a particular purpose, or simply the most interesting, pleasing or amusing." I think this quote is a really good interpretation of our imaginations and how we are able to let our brains go wild and imagine all of sorts of things. It is fascinating to think that we have all of these thoughts that pop up in our head and imagination allows us to think outside the box or behind the scenes in order to get a unique and creative idea or concept. 

Thursday, January 19, 2017

The Whole Ball of Wax

                 Art is the freedom for expression and allows for the ability to create brilliant and unique pieces that helps relate to a person's life or aim to inspire new ideas. All over the world, art is illustrated through paintings, photography, graffiti, poems, music and in so many other forms and in each of these different styles, each piece displays a different emotion, vision or feeling towards someone.  As mentioned in the article The Whole Ball of Wax, art helps people see things differently in the world and to many, an artist's work can lead to a change in the world and connect people together. Saltz says that art may not be able to fix the actual problem of global warming, or halting the spread of AIDS but artists can express their feelings through the piece of art leading to a person seeing the painting and being able to take away a new perception or new knowledge on the problems in the world today.  
                 One piece of text that stood out to me was," when we look at art, we're not only looking at it;  we're also looking into and through it, into and through the paint, pigment, canvas, or whatever to something else." This sentence is very powerful to me because it makes me realize that it is not all about understanding someone's art but it is about experiencing how the artist got his idea, how he painted his idea through his art and how the artist experienced his reason and motivation to create what they did; almost like I am jumping into the body of the painter and seeing who inspired them. Art is an inspiration to many and creates an amazing connection through emotions, feelings and the way people see different things.