Camille, Corot, Le Pont de Mantes

I enjoy looking at this picture. My eyes run from the trees and grass right into the river looking at the man in the boat. The arches of the bridge have such nice architect. After my eyes leave the river they travel along the bridge itself looking to see anyone lingering a-crossed it. This picture has a very good representation of negative and positive space with the depth having your eyes travel through the layers of the painting itself.

the snail

Henri Matisse
1953
The Snail
Gouache on paper

I like this piece because the arrangement of the colored pieces look like a snail like the title suggests. The colors are eye catching but not distracting from the true genius of the piece. I especially love the different shades of purple, green, and orange that mesh perfectly. Also, the red, blue, and black pieces are a nice contrast against the stark white background.

Sunflowers

After looking at this painting in class, I really wanted to write my blog about it. I have always been fascinated with a lot of Van Gogh's pieces and I have to say this is one of my favorites. I like the simplicity with the use of colors. There are only a few colors used and I think it helps the subject stand out. I also really like the texture from his paint strokes, I think it gives the painting a very warm feeling. A simple, yet beautiful piece. After looking at the picture more closely I also realized that it says Vincent on the vase which I didn't notice at first. Its a very small yet cool detail.

Rainbow octopus, By Ashley Brown medium water color paint. I chose this painting because it is a very bright alluring painting. The use of color to accentuate the octopus features I believe are very interesting . The background gives the feel that the octopus is really moving through water It is a awesome octopus

The Pond by L.S. Lowry in 1950

I chose this landscape because of how he used space to make everything in the background look really far away and faded. I also liked how small he made the people in this drawing because even though they are drawn so small to scale there is still so much detail if you look close up. The colors of the houses also stuck out to me against the white that was mostly used.

Pablo Picasso, Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper, 1913

The piece of art work above is a collage created by the famous Pablo Picasso in 1913.  Picasso arranges a still life of a bottle, a guitar, and newspaper with a variety of sundry materials. Although all the these cuttings seem to be out of place, I believe that when you look at it closely they all are unified in some way. I think that Picasso meant for this to happen. I also believe that Picasso intended for this piece of work to have mulitple view points and different areas for which the eye can view. Instead of focusing on the color of the piece of art, Picasso focused more on the nature of the shapes.

Monet, "The Parc Monceau"

This is "The Parc Monceau" by Monet. It was painted in 1878 and is oil on canvas. This was one of five views of the Parc Moneau. In this painting I enjoyed the light and dark he captured from the sun and shade. It gives brightness to the grass and leaves of the tree. In the places where there is darkness it is just as nice. Behind the trees you can see a small piece of a building that also brightens the painting. 

Dirty White Trash

This sculpture is called "Dirty White Trash (With Gulls)" by Tim Noble and Sue Webster.  I chose this because Noble and Webster's works have always been interesting to me.  There use of trash and other materials to make elaborate shadow figures.  This sculpture is different because it utilizes Space more than most.  The forms created by the shadow are the negative, and are only given form by the positive, the light.  I also like the use of seagulls in the front.

No. 8 , Mark Rothko

I chose No. 8 by Rothko because I thought the way he layered the colors was very interesting. I loved the mesh of the two different yellows on the top and the way the yellow fades into red on the bottom.  This is an oil on canvas painting from 1952. The main element of art in this painting is color.

Mark Harrison, Brighton Pavilion 2002
This is acrylic on MDF 27"X27" Harrison used a blue color scheme for the majority of this piece, with touches of orange which complement the blue to make the light from the windows glow.

Hugo Elias, Radiosity Comparison

I chose Hugo Elias's Directly Illuminated Room and Globally Illuminated Room to compare the two.  Both were created in 2000 and are 3DStudio Max models.  I found it interesting to compare these two based on the element of value or light and dark.  In the Directly illuminated photo the sun was the only light source.  The room itself was black except for the areas where the sun was shining in.  When the sun comes in you see the redness of the floor therefore color is used as well.  In the second photo, the whole room was lit with a radiosity program.  Radiosity is an application of the finite element method to solving the rendering equation  for scenes with surfaces that reflect light diffusely.  The sun was also a the main source of light however, it has a different effect on the photo after radiosity was used.  The picture on the left is darker in value while the photo on the left is brighter and lighter.  I found it amazing how much light and dark could change the appearance of a photo.

Britain Seen from the North

Tony Cragg's Britain Seen from the North is a collage created from found plastic objects that have been grouped together to form a larger shape. The figure on the left is a self portrait of the artist although Britain is his native country, he is looking at it through an outsider's eyes. I like how when looking at his creation, the viewer will notice the whole composition before moving on to the individual pieces. All of the elements have meaning to them, however as a whole they have a greater meaning. His work investigates the relationship of the part to the whole.

The Connectors

MARC&ANNA
The Connectors
2005
Poster
This poster was designed by Marc Atkinson and Anna Ekelund for a Sonic Arts Network event entitled the connectors. The reverse side contained the event listings. This poster is an example of thematic unity and shows the theme of how we plug into our lives. I think that this poster is interesting especially in a technology run world.

Pablo, Picasso, Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar, and Newspaper

This is a collage by Pablo Picasso. He started making collages in 1912 and would take cut pieces of paper and newspapers and layer them. I chose this picture because I find his works of art very interesting. Also, because he is taking and putting newspapers into his pictures, it is as if he is putting a piece of history into his works of art.

Firework Display at the Castle Sant' Angelo in Rome

Joseph Wright
1779

When Joseph Wright visited Rome, he was very impressed by the firework displays, his favorite coming from the roof of the Castel Sant' Angelo. I love the way he creates a vignette around the fireworks while still keeping the outer edges visible. I applaud him on his use of lighting because he creates this effect that causes the lights to appear as if they are actually glowing. Overall, I find this painting to have a warm atmosphere that is pleasing to the eye.

Lamentation over the Dead Christ

Since we discussed texture today in class, I decided Andrea Mantegna's Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 1480 was the perfect piece to blog about. It was made with tempera on canvas and is very lifelike. This picture has amazing implied texture. It appears as if the blanket is actually made of a very smooth, light cloth. The Lord's feet look very rough and callused over. The wrinkles in the faces of everyone around him show their true, devastated emotion. This painting also utilizes space effectively, focusing strongly on Christ, the center of the photo. The colors are dull, but still give the painting a dark and dismal feeling. 

"After Lunch" Patrick Caulfield

Patrick Caulfield's "After Lunch" is an Acrylic on canvas that was made in 1975. He uses black-outlined imagery and fields of flat color to create a very unique piece. It stood out to me because it is something I've never seen before. It clearly demonstrates his talent. He uses something as simple as lines to make a piece that turned out very complex.

Personage Throwing a Stone at a Bird by Joan Miro

I chose this picture because it heavily focuses on the use of color. Joan Miro used color to "hold the picture together. In the book it showed that by using black and white, the picture shifts and becomes off-balance. Joan used the red and green to balance the white of the foot. Throughout this picture the colors balance each other out creating the image shown.

No. 61 (Rust and Blue)

Rothko

1953

Oil on canvas

No.61 (Rust and Blue) is one of Rothko's most famous paintings. This piece was originally exhibited in the MoMA in 1961. The layering of the colors is done masterfully with different shades peeking through every color block which may appear as flat colors at first glance. 

A Version of the Rubin Vase by Alan Pipes (2003)

The main reason I chose this picture was because of the optical illusion the artist gave off. I liked how it can look as two different things: a vase or two faces. I liked how he did this only by using black and white and the same drawing symmetrically. It also sticks out to me because of how the artist used positive and negative space. 

Rock Concert Poster for The Yardbirds, The Doors, etc. by Bonnie Maclean (1967)

I chose this rock concert poster by Bonnie Maclean in 1967 for The Yardbirds, The Doors, and others at the Filmore, San Francisco. This poster mainly stuck out for me because of the psychedelic art  which was very popular in the late 1960's. I love the colors that the artist had used together with the orange standing out against the green and blue. I also like how the Art Nouveau style was used which is based on "sinuous roots and stems". The font of the text also had caught my eye along with the woman's face blended into the green background.

House by Rachel Whiteread

I chose the picture titled House, by Rachel Whiteread.  This is a picture of Rachel's sculpture.  It was completed on October 23, 1993, and destroyed in January 1994.  House, one of her best known works, is a concrete cast of the inside of an entire Victorian terraced house.  Whiteread uses the element of texture in her sculpture as well as form to create the 3-dimensional image.  This image stood out to me because in the book it is under the subject of "Modern Art in Your Life", and it really brought to my attention how buildings are such works of art.  The shapes of buildings are so distinct and the amount of texture used to create them is just fascinating.

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette. Auguste Renoir. 1876. Oil on canvas.

I love this painting; it's absolutely beautiful. The light from the shadows is so delicate. There is so much movement, so much going on in the painting. The brush strokes help give the illusion of movement in the painting.

http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/dance-at-le-moulin-de-la-galette/rQEx7CtGiKE3yg?projectId=art-project

The Last Supper by Tintoretto

The above piece of artwork was created by the famous Jacopo Tintoretto, titled "The Last Supper". He had developed this painting by the use of oil on canvas during 1592-94. I think that Tintoretto was trying to create a very dramatic scene by using dark shades and little light. Tintoretto used darkness in efforts to describe the tragic situation that was about to occur. However, I do believe that Da Vinci's "Last Supper" was more realist and more appealing to the eye.

Red Studio, Matisse

This painting was made in 1911 and is oil on canvas. I chose this painting because I liked how even though the whole room is the same shade of red, Matisse was still able to show depth. I also liked how he only outlined certain objects while making others a completely different color to make them stand out. An element of art that is definitely used in this piece is color.

The Listening Chamber

I chose The Listening Chamber  by surrealist Rene Magritte on oil on canvas because I found the idea of a painting an everyday object in a unusual place to be very interesting. I like how the apple is placed out of proportion and and context as it creates a sense of mystery. By up-scaling everyday objects we are reminded of how beautiful ordinary objects can actually be. I felt as though the painting was supposed to represent some form of irony, as the title is The Listening Room, yet the room is closed off and engulfed by a giant apple, containing no room for anything.

Adbusters, Prozac

Adbusters, Prozac
1997
Poster

This poster was a spoof advertisement from the anti-consumerist organization Adbusters. It was created by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz of Vancouver, Canada. They built their foundation on the belief that consumers do not have the same information flows as organizations. This particular poster is a satire of the obedient and housewife and the image that housewives are supposed to have it all together. It also satires society's dependence on antidepressants. I found this poster very interesting because I had never heard of this form of anti-advertising before and I think that it has a good point, society is dependent on so many types of medications in order to allow people just to live their ordinary lives.

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Caravaggio
1598-99

Caravaggio introduces a new technique called tenebrism in this piece. He focuses on both Judith and Holofernes by painting them bright and leaving the background almost all black. This sets a strong tone and forces viewers to focus on the more important areas, such as the action taking place and their intense expressions. With its bold contrast and dramatic subject, I still find this piece to be extremely beautiful.

Tintoretto, "The Last Supper"

This is "The Last Supper" by Tintoretto. This was painted in 1592-1594 and is an oil on canvas. This painting can be seen on display in Venice. I actually like this painting better than Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. I like this angle is more appealing to me. I also like how dark the painting is but by the heads of each it is lighter.

John Heartfield, Adolf the Superman- Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk 1932.

This photo was used as an anti-Hitler poster during the 1932 elections. It drew attention to the financial support Hitler received from wealthy industrialists who feared that Germany might vote for a communist government. Heartfield created this strategical image by combining a portrait of Hitler, and x-ray of the human body, a swastika to represent the Nazi party, and a vertebrae of gold coins. He used this image to target capitalism and fascism as an evil force.

Artist Sketching with a Wollaston Camera Lucida

This image is by Cornelius Varley, Artist Sketching with a Wollaston Camera Lucida, 1830. This image is fascinating because the camera lucida enabled artists to draw outlines in perspective. The paper was laid flat. The artist looked through the lens containing a prism to see the paper and an image of his subject. This image was drawn using projections! Important elements of art in this image are line, (outlining and hatching), and value. There are various shades and hues of black and white. This image appears to be very lifelike and there even seems to be texture in the man's clothing.

Madame Matisse- Matisse

The reason I selected this painting was because of how the contrast was shown using color. I think its interesting how Matisse is able to portray so well the difference in lighting on the face just by using different colors. Its a very simple piece but to me it gives off somewhat of an elegance and I really really like the use of all the different colors. I was reading a little bit into fauvism and just thought this piece was really interesting overall. There are so many different lines for shadows and details, you can really tell a lot of time was spent getting the shading correct.

"'Road to Happiness" Victor Figol

The painting, "Road to Happiness" by Victor Figol is made up of intricate detail that allows someone to make out exactly what he is trying to portray. It immediately caught my attention because of the bright colors that he uses. In addition, it displays several other elements of art such as lines, form, and shape. The painter allowed for the work to blend together nicely, yet still allowing anyone to clearly identify what's going on in the painting.

Fighting Forms, Franz Marc

I chose this painting by Franz Marc titled Fighting Forms.  It is an oil on canvas and was completed in 1821.  The colors of this picture was the first element of art that stood out to me.  The artist used a variety of bright and dark colors that come together in a unique way.  I also found it fascinating how the artist used lines throughout the picture.  Marc's final works were abstract objects, this picture being one of the many he did.   I liked how the giant red and black swirls take up the foreground of the picture.  They are the largest objects and therefore hold most of the attention in the picture.

Improvisation 26 (Rowing)

http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/improvisation-26-rowing/0wGJpQbb7tRDzA?projectId=art-project


Wassily Kandinsky "Improvisation 26 (Rowing)" 1912. Oil on Canvas

I thought the colors and lines in this painting were beautiful. I also really liked that the colors looked textured. The black in the painting makes the other colors pop. It isn't a piece I love, however.

 This is Jackson Pollock she wolf. Mr. Pollack is most famous for his work with drip paintings though most likely he took the idea from me anyways I digress  I like this painting because it is very abstract it's use of color gives me a sense of invigoration. It also reminds of the old story of how the mother wolf fed the founders of Rome it is interesting and I'd love to have it in my room

 This is another Jackson Pollock entitled western expansion it is a dark yet beautiful view of conquering the frontier. His use of color is minimalistic yet he is able to convey many different dimensions in his work it is almost as if everything is moving clockwise in this painting. The road looks ominous and uncertain the animals look desperate but yet they trudge on.

This oil on canvas by Vermeer is also one of my favorites, especially in person. Seeing this in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. really changes your mind about this painting. I chose this painting because at first it just seems as someones portrait, but up close you start to notice her characteristics and clothing, her facial expression and she becomes a mystery. Her clothing and jewelry catch your attention besides her face, and you start to wonder who she is. Vermeer, I believe, did a nice job on portraying her delicateness and used the perfect lighting.

This pretty Monet "Poppyfield" is actually one of my favorite pieces from one of my favorite artists. I chose this painting because the colors and texture give a sense of peace and tranquility.
Claude Monet settled in Aregenteuil where he painted this in 1873. Settings are usually my favorite especially with colors such as these.

Dorothea by Chuck Close

I chose this painting because I found it interesting how it looks very pixilated and how the woman's face is made up of different shapes. This is an oil on canvas made in 1995. I also like the black and white effect and the shading.

Swifts: Paths of Movement + Dynamic Sequences

Giacomo Balla

1913

Italian Futurist artist Giacomo Balla adapted the latest techniques involving rhythm and motion. At first you notice the many layers of the painting, but with further viewing, you understand the "paths of movement," as mentioned in the title, suggest the paths of swifts and the wing-like objects represent the "dynamic sequences." Although his use of muted tones and his use of multiple layers may come off as chaotic to some, I find his layering of different strokes to be well thought out and placed in an orderly manner. At times I find myself indifferent to this painting - one moment I enjoy looking at it because I notice something new that I never noticed before, but at other times I find it forgettable and lacking some elements to it.

"Swinging" by Wassily Kadinsky

The reason I chose this painting was not only because of the clear use of different shapes but also because of the very interesting use of different colors. So many of the shapes are going in different directions and I also like how when the shapes intersect the colors are different in the intersect. There are so many different spots of lighter and darker colors as well. This piece really caught my eye.

Bursting Shell

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson's Bursting Shell uses strong lines and swirling colors to create his own representation of an explosion. In this oil on canvas painting he uses a radial pattern as the colors are radiating from the inside to the outside. The dark shapes are assumed to be pieces of debris fracturing the bricks and boards of buildings within an explosion during WWI. I like how Nevinson used a variety of lines to create interest within his painting and a variety of colors inside the spiral to create a focal point where all the pointed triangles come together to a vortex of bright light.

Gerrit Berckheyde, The Market Place and the Grote Kerk at Haarlem

Gerrit Berckheyde
The Market Place and the Grote Kerk at Haarlem
1674
Oil on Canvas


The reason why I chose this painting was simply because of how realistic it looked. Everything that needed shadowing had shadowing. I also like the look of the cathedral with the arching of the windows. The colors in this don't do much for me, but again the realism is what I enjoyed most.

Trademark No. 5, Ed Ruscha

I chose this painting because it is based on the classic 20th Century Fox logo. It starts off large on the left side of the painting, and then slowly decreases in size to the right side of the painting. Because of this it looks like the logo is closer to us than it really, and that it is almost right in our faces. He uses the use of color to make the logo stand out. The reds and yellows make the logo pop, while the white lets it fade. He uses brush strokes for the blue in the top and left side of the painting. Overall, he used two point perspective which adds an effect to it.

This week I chose Bug Blast by Fred Tomaselli, 1998. It is a collage of photographs including leaves and insects. From far away, you cannot tell exactly what it is, but as you get closer you can make out the shapes. The most important element of art in this image is shape. This piece of art is interesting because your eye jumps all over, the viewer is encouraged to look closer and closer to discover new aspects of it. There is also a lot of line and color utilized throughout the image. There are a lot of greens, oranges, yellows and browns. This image is lifelike and I feel as if I were to see it in person it would have an interesting texture.

Wassily Kandinsky

Swinging

1925

Oil on Board

I picked this because i liked all the shapes and the placement. I also like the colors that he used in the piece. It just all came together and gave the piece movement.

eBoy

This is an illustration from page 140 of eBoy.  eBoy is the shared brainchild of Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital,  Kai Vermeher and Peter Stemmeler.  The first three artists worked in two different studios in Berlin, and the Stemmeler worked making vector based graphics in New York.  This picture grabbed my attention because how busy it is.  This picture, which was made using photoshop, has almost no negative space, and in order to actually  find all the little intricacies you have to study the the shot for a reasonable amount of time.  Little things such as the bottles in the mid-left of the shot or the monster in the bottom right can be easily overlooked if one does not pay attention.

Picture Emphasizing Stilness

This picture is titled Picture Emphasizing Stillness.  It was created in 1962 by English painter, David Hockney, and he used oil and letraset on canvas.  I found this picture interesting, because at first i didn't notice the tiger.  After seeing the name, I became complexed further, because it mentions nothing of the tiger or the men or the house in the background.  This picture takes full advantage of the lines, to direct the observers eyes to the two men, both the floor and the the tiger's back arch toward the two men in the foreground.

"A Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh was painted in June of 1889, it depicts the view outside of his sanitarium room window at Saint-Remy-de-Provence. I chose this because it is my favorite painting. I have incorporated this painting into a tattoo that I had done this past summer. The flow of the sky and the hills with the town underneath is what I like most. Also, the way he depicted the moon is amazing, with the yellow-ish green surrounding it.

Road to Happiness
Victor Figol
oil on canvas

The colors in this painting immediately catch my eye. I love the reflection of the street lamps on the wet walkway. The couple walks under a small umbrella at dusk. There is so much detail, yet there are not many precise lines.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Prisons

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Prisons, this picture is one of the many series of his private collections. This picture represented dungeons and torture chambers bringing about the idea to other artists. This was his famous pieces of art and gave designers their own interests in prisons. I found this picture very interesting because of the perception that this artist put into this picture. My eyes wander from railing to railing trying to depict what people are strolling about.