Final  Essay

After going to the Museum of Modern Art PS1, I was first introduced to a strange gallery that was interesting, yet I found myself very confused and lost due to the different directions of the object, the creation of illusion and how the artist is trying to create a purpose. Most importantly, I found it difficult to describe this work. This artwork, named the “Flat Side of the Knife,” was developed by an artist named Samara Golden. I have never seen this artwork before. As I looked closer to see what was so unique about it and how dose it create so much attention I found myself in a room, looking at this artwork that covered the entire two-storey space, filled with objects.

 Everywhere I looked, there were different types of sections that could be seen from the first floor to the second floor. There were objects hanging from the ceiling to the wall, some where settle on top of other objects, a grid of mirrors placed from the bottom, stairs going towards different directions, and also I believe there was a sort of a sound, coming form the television on the second floor. What really interests me the most is how the sculpture was developed using engineering to make me believe as though the room was cut in half showing one room that is opposite to each other, but also showing it upside down.

When I first looked at it I believed that there was more to this story that the artist is trying to present this creation as a dream that can relate, not just her, but to others as well. Personally when I look at this sculpture to me it feels like it’s   presenting more of a dream with different doors opening to her memories that she doesn’t want to forget.  As it describes in the Museum of Modern art exhibit Samara Golden is trying to present more of the six dimensions from her unconscious mind of her past, present and future, that exist in one exhibit, simultaneously. So what I see here is the artist used mirrors from the bottom that reflect creating a sort of illusory space of the artist mind, seeing multiple section from her past visions and also some important elements, giving its own hidden story.

There are a whole lot of objects that are listed such as stair ways, sofas, beds, lamps, fans, instruments, wheelchair, stuffed animals and decorations that give the artist sculpture the sense of everyday objects that are used in her life.She used her body to sit, to play, and to see with those objects. Golden has suspended three bedrooms from the ceiling, which reproduce themselves almost identically in the layout. There are three bedrooms with their own unique characteristic that provide her personal space. By putting mirrors on the bottom floor, golden has created an illusion of distance so that these three bedrooms expand well beyond the double story gallery. She has made vertical loops of depth and height; of material sculpture and immaterial image, which endlessly converge as separate.

 Golden has included the second floor. While entering, a small living room it can be seen that she provided some objects as well, such as a couch, stuffed animals, vinyl records, a television that provides sound and final a second viewpoint of the sculpture. I wasn’t too familiar about the purpose of the television, yet I believe that its purpose was to give the artist relaxation for her body. The television was located on the edge of the stairs on the right side, the furniture was on the left, packed with her personal possessions on top of the furniture and finally a man siting on the furniture which I’m not sure if he was a part of the art or he is just relaxing. I also notices that she provide patters on the floor mat, the umbrella and the ribbon. Finally there is one more thing that I wonder from viewing the television, which is why is it on the edge of the stairs. This leaves me to wonder if this had some sort of connection with the wheel chair that blocks the path from moving forward. 

 

                
                                       Assignment #9  Oral report Outline

Vietnam Veteran’s memorial




    Civil Rights Memorial

Women Table































  The Wave Field

What is Missing

                       Assignment #7

The style of Cubism was developed in the early 20th century that
presented a modern style of art that emphasized pictorial composition
over personal expression through color or brushstroke. Cubism has been
considered to be the most interesting influence in visual structure, music,
literature and architecture. According to the Museum of Modern Art exhibit,
Cubism was developed by two artists name Pablo Picasso and George Braque
that opened up a new level of style in Paris in 1907. Together they
had developed a visual language that allowed Picasso an Braque to create a style that was initially ridiculed by critics for consisting of “little cubes”. The
style was used for traditional subjects such as nude, landscapes and
still lifes that were reinvented as increasingly fragmented composited by artists working around and in the French capital. One of the most recognizable works of art that used cubism was created by an artist name Pablo Picasso. The painting, “Girl with a Mandolin” was developed in the late spring in 1910 Picasso
painted a naked female model who sat in front of him holding a
mandolin. In this painting we can see the woman is formed by abstract cubes that shaded of light brown, tan, yellow, and green olive between her upper body and to her head. Her head is looking toward the left, slightly looking down to her
mandolin giving us the sensation that she is actually playing it. In the background we can also see the woman in the painting is surrounded by random patterns of shapes and sizes.

 

The style of Pop Art is a popular style in many cultures. It first appeared in the 1950s in London and in the late 1950s in the United States.. The techniques of Pop Art allow artists to use real objects that would create a character and the sense of optimism. The use of Pop Art gave the artist a variety of their choosing by using their surroundings and their collected imagination such as photographic, screen-printing, airbrush and etc. It was a way that brought new comers to simply use their everyday life and created a modern “hip” feeling. One of Pop Art’s media sources also include comic strips which it were one of the biggest inspirations for Pop artists that allowed them to arrange layers of drawing and display in a brief humor or form a narrative. Roy Lichtenstein was one of the first American Pop artists who was best known for his boldly colored parodies of comic strips and advertisements. Roy Lichtenstein was greatly influenced by abstract qualities, however during the arrival of Pop Art in the 1961 comic strips had a hugged impact on Roy Lichtenstein. With them he was able to create images that show American society, but in an ironic way. Because of his use of comic book images, Roy Lichtenstein was a critic that understood the significant movement of Pop Art. This next painting “Girl with ball” was one of Roy Lichtenstein’s earliest Pop Art work that was made in 1961, as is described in the Museum of Modern Art. Girl with Ball was inspirited by an advertisement from a hotel named Mount Airy Lodge, located in Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains. Lichtenstein took the image and transformed the photographic image into comic stripe. We can see that the painting is color with bright primary colors such as the woman bathing suit, skin and the beach ball. The girl round mouth is more like a doll then a female, making her if she was made out of plastic. The background is color in yellow for the sun that gives the feeling of fun in the summer. By using the technique from comic strip he was able to create his own rendition of the subject of a nostalgic photograph that leads him to creating unique work of art.

 Assignment #6

Maya Lin is a Chinese American who was born in Athens, Ohio in October 5, 1959. She is known for artistic skills in building and designing landscape and sculptures, but one of her far most impressive artworks that was made by her is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial It was built according to her design in Washington DC in 1981when she was 21. Viewing the world through the perspective of her background and culture made her truly capture the essence of nature and inspired Maya Lin’s artistic skill and style.

            Before Maya Lin became one of America’s most recognized artists; she as raised by cultivated and artistic parents, whose influence changed her life. Maya Lin’s mother, Julia Change Lin, was a professor of literature at Ohio University and a poet. Her late father, Henry Huan Lin was a ceramicist and the dean of fine at Ohio University. Maya Lin’s parents were Chinese immigrants that fled from their homeland and settled in America in 1948. Maya Lin personal life and hobbies involve in hiking and bird watching, entertained her self of solving problem and finally she was fascinated by her father artwork, which began her to gain interested in sculpting. Lin studied architecture and sculptures at Yale University and graduated a bachelor’s degree in 1981. Since then on she has continued to do more art projects that created symbolic meaning through out America and the world.

   After watch the video at Art21, I had know idea that she was responsible of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial nor did I know her personal background. I was kind of interested of the other projects that she work on the other videos such as the Disappearing Bodies of Water and the New York’s ecological past after Hurricane Sandy. Maya Lin is an Artist, Architect, mother, wife, environmentalist, an Asia American, a writer and activist that understand how to used her mind to created a unique work of art. What interested me the most was her way of using her imagination as a child       

  Vietnam Veterans Memorial

   Civil Rights Memorial

   Disappearing Bodies of Water

   New York’s ecological past

This is a drawing is based on a street in Manhattan located on W42nd st and 8 Ave  

     impressionism and post-impressionism

Both impressionism and post-impressionism refer to influential artistic movements arising in the late 19^th century that utilized new techniques, style and technology. At the turn of the 19th-century, Europe began to approach a modern age that presented scientific, religious, political, social, economic issues. It also presented influence in modern thinking that questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. In 1874, a group of French based artists sought to gain independents from academy doctrines and romantic ideals. They began to create a new style that focused on expressing artistry. Impressionism focused on what the eyes actually see, rather than what the mind visualizes. Impressionism is also based on the object, captures the true nature of landscape and also uses colors to created a rich effect to the painting. The painting “Arrival of the Normandy Train Gare St. Lazare" created by impressionist Claude Monet, focuses on outdoor activities, rather than human drama of arrival and departure. The color palette on this painting shows blue, green, and peachy orange and white that created an atmosphere of season on the railroad station, trains, workers, and buildings and soil. We also can see a standard Locomotive stokes that brings an effect of the belching steam and clouds glimpsed through the glass roof. 

 

Post-Impressionism began in 1885. It follows during the impressionist movement where artist presents a new level that rejected the style of inherent limitations and aims in favor of expressing what was seen through the artist's mind and soul. However through the process of learning Impressionism color technique this also gives the artist the choice of color brushstroke and created a deeper meaning of the artist’s imagination. The next painting "The Portrait of Doctor Gachet" was painted by a Dutch artist name Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh was one of the modern artists that understood the importance of Post- impressionist by introducing "extraordinary insight, mysterious, visionary and fantasy".  Van Gogh was an emotional man that went through a difficult lifetime. However by using emotionally laden reorientation it gives him the advantage to take a further step that shows the artist's heart, rather then his mind. These paining focuses a great deal of controversy. We can see that Van Gogh captures the true nature of emotion expression on the doctor face. As it describe the doctor is in depressed state. He rested his head on one hand, while the other hand rest on the table. The color behind him gives this gloomy feeling that swirl around him. Finally the face's expression shows his eyes are drooping in sadness and his skin color is slowly fading away. 

 

                                     Renaissance vs Baroque

The Renaissance and the Baroque period were the two distinct periods in history that influence people’s view of modern art and well develop masterpieces. The Renaissance began in the late 14^th to 16^th centuries. The Renaissance was named “Rebirth” that began to open a new era after Europe’s dark period call the “Dark Age” that lasted from the 5^th to the 15^th centuries. The Renaissance began to bring cultural movement such as philosophical, literary, artistic and also visual art that provide focus on humanism. The Baroque period began in the 17^th and 18^th centuries that followed Renaissance techniques and moved on towards a whole new level that created visual art by showing a great dramatic feeling. What makes the Renaissance and Baroque period unique difference is that the Renaissance period helped regained the knowledge form classic Roman and Greek culture and the Baroque period helped to bring an even greater style that presented drama and introduced light and dark scale.

The first painting “Madonna and Child” was created during the Renaissance period around 1457- 1504 by an Italian painter named Filippino Lippi.

The painting was made of tempera, oil and gold on wood. This work reveals a woman named Virgin Mary who is taking a hold of a child named Jesus Christ. While the woman grabs onto him, the baby is also reading some sort of book that is describe as The Bible that exercises his mind. On top of the woman and child there appear to be round luminous circles and the background contain dark shadows and decent amount of detail. The artist also provides objects that includes textile such as a cassone, a small fruit, the candlestick and finally the outside window that can be seen with detailed landscape on left side.  The colors in this painting are deeply rich with bright light seen on the lefts side and cool color that can be seen with in the cloths of Mary that brought more still life into this painting 

 

 

The second is painting “The Denial of Saint Peter” was painted by an Italian painter name Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) and was date it around 1570 -1610 during the Baroque period. The painting shows a man name Peter who denies knowing Jesus Christ. A woman accuses him of being one of the followers of Jesus Christ and solider approaches while it seems that he is attempting to arrest peter. In this painting this shows a dramatic scene where we can see both the solider and the woman are point fingers of exposing peter. Peter denies three time of knowing Jesus and also denies of being one of the followers. As we can see, peter looks confusing and unaware the existence and the relationship with Jesus. By doing so, peter hopefully that the solider would believe him as Jesus himself foretold it. The painting was color by using oil paint and this allow to created a dramatic effect by introducing on bright and dark colors that provide the scene taken from a dark night. For example Highlight can be seen towered the left where the brightness of the solider armor gear can be seen on one side and the other side heavy shadow can be seen on the right where his body is swallowed up by the darkness by looking towards the woman and peter.