Little Bouquet in a Clay Jar is bursting with life and detail. I love how he added little bugs to make it seem like more than just something pretty to look at, but a source of life to creatures in the world outside. It reminds you that these are from nature and come from outdoors. The artist said that flowers are more beautiful than gems and coins, and to show this he has placed some of those objects in the foreground of the painting. They look like scattered scraps compared to this incredibly overstuffed clay jar. It reminds us that flowers, though completely natural, are more abundant and striking than even precious metals and gems that have been refined and altered to please the eye. In their raw form they are far less stunning than a simple flower. You don’t have to alter them in any way to make them beautiful; they are that way naturally. The darkness behind the bouquet makes the colors really pop against the background. The petals of the irises and lilies are especially realistic, the way they appear to be transparent and textured in just the right places. They also contain several flaws, some of the blooms aren’t fully opened and some even appear to be wilting. Undoubtedly the flowers began to decay during the process of the painting and instead of painting the flowers perfectly, he included the imperfections as is. This further proves that even at an imperfect state, this bunch of flowers is more stunning than the pricey jewels and coins beside them.
The passage written about John James Audubon's, Carolina Paroquet, neglects to tell us very significant information about the parakeets. These parakeets (the only parrot native to the US) became extinct in 1917 because "it was all the rage" and high fashion, to wear the feathers of these birds in women's hats. I think this event brings a deeper meaning to our current society. We currently hunt and kill animals, some becoming endangered or extinct, to satisfy our needs (even if they are not relevant). We can compare these parakeets to hunting for whales in the oceans, killing elephants for there tusks, killing alligators for there skin and killing sharks for there fins. We do these things because we are a "now" society, not thinking about the how these events affect the future of these animals (even our own future). A simple water color painting could hold so much information; from the birds in their environment, the details in the feathers and face, and the parakeet shown at all different angles. In a sense Audubon, has captured the scientific history of these beautiful birds and created a beautiful painting at the same time.
The Social Mirror, by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, makes a great statement by mirroring a garbage truck. The mirrors are meant to reflect observers faces, making them aware that they create trash and are responsible for the impact trash has on our world. The mirrors glamorize the garbage truck, possibly intending to make the job glamorous as well. What bother's me is that Ukeles's uses a clean truck. Why? Is it supposed to be ironic? The most disgusting thing about a dump truck is the smell and the gross marks the trash leaves behind. Would mirroring a dirty, smelly truck be more significant for observers? Or do we just want to look at a idealized, clean garbage trunk? In my opinion, a dirty truck makes more of a statement. I like that the work focuses on ecological issues, but I just want it to be pushed further.
"Why Don't They Go To Country For Vacation," rendered by George Bellows, has quite a different look and feel from most of his more famous works. Not much is found on this cross hatched lithographic nightmare, probably because it wasn't famous enough. Never the less, it was an awesome retaliatory portrait of how the upper class views the lower class who live in the city. In an almost Queen Marie Antoinette fashion, it begs the statement, Why Don't they go to country for vacation, as if they do not already want to. This piece is a drastic contrast from the piece that inspired this one, "Cliff Dwellers." However, W.D.T.G.T.C.F.V is a little bit more visually manipulative due to enhancements granted by implied motions (amongst the children in the foreground) and implied lines (outlines of buildings, and tops of crowds). Most of the people in this drawing seem depressed, mostly enhanced by the color scheme, black and white. The gradation of the cross-hatching, really gives the dirty and crowded city, that crowded and dirty city look. I found this little treasure to be quite an interesting piece to ponder over.
I really liked The Fourth Plate of Muscles. Being a nursing major and currently taking an anatomy course, this picture was really interesting. When first looking at the picture, I did not know what was coming off the person. Then after doing some reading, I found out it was the outer muscles. It was very nice to finally see a picture that dealed more with anatomy. Chapter 13 was about the body, but it was less anatomy related. Other than that, the nature and knowledge ohotos were also very interesting.
This post is actually related to Chapter 14 (Race, Gender, Clan and Class) because I could not find a spot elsewhere to post and something really caught my eye:
On page 386 of our book, there is a painting done by Jean-Honore Fragonard called The Swing. The book states that it is a work that is supposed to depict the care-free lifestyles of the upper classes in France during the mid-eighteenth century. Apparently, because the King held most of the power, and because work was performed by the middle-class, those belonging to the upper-class focused on self-indulgence.
What is really, really insane about this picture is that it is meant to show the sexual escapades of these people. The woman swinging in a beautiful dress has clearly caught the eye of the gentleman on the ground; he is unabashedly looking up her dress. That seems fairly normal, except for the other man, a BISHOP, standing in the background. He is swinging the woman and seems fully aware of what is going on, which makes me wonder about the role of the bishop. How can he be encouraging this behavior? It seems unlikely and I am unsure about what the artist is trying to say about religion during this time.
Anyway, an interesting piece and definitely worth a look, if only to raise an eyebrow at.
In the chapter title Nature, Knowledge, and Technology, there’s a painting title Gods of the Modern World by Jose Clemente Orozco. This Painting is about all the knowledge that humans acquire and that we can’t use for anything other then knowledge. This painting has a skeleton giving birth to some books and a baby skeleton. The books that the skeleton is giving birth to are probably all the books that are published every year. Most of these books have no practical use other than entertainment. Anyone can pretty much publish a book and this creates a conflict when we try to sort out what is useful information and what is not. The skeleton is missing its arms implying that the knowledge that the skeleton is giving birth to has no power to make any real difference in our lives. All of the baby skeletons are placed in jars and are thrown to the side along with the books like something that we would throw in the back of our closets, because we don’t need it but we want to keep it anyways. This could be because we learn a lot of stuff through our lives and if we don’t use it we forget it eventually. For example if we don’t use math we forget it very easy, but we can always get back that knowledge if we want to, just like the stuff in the back of the closet that we can pull out when ever we want.
Nature, Knowledge and technology to me was the most interesting part of this art class to me. It really caught my attention how artists very much portray what they know in their art. This week i was responsible for a presentation regarding the subject and we all chose George Bellows Why don't they Go to the country for vacation. The artist made his art mainly to mock certain citizens of what "they" considered the low class. But in reality not all poor really live life that way and Bellows with his observations understood that. Of course their are those artists who portay mainly what they have lived it it becomes a more personal work but on the contrary with Bellows he was born in the upscale but went more for the low class.
I thought this was a very interesting chapter. I thought the earthworks and site pieces section was fascinating, never having seen one myself. What I like about it so much is the element of land preservation that is brings. Growing up I always played at a park called Earthworks park in Kent, Washington. In my imagination the land forms were craters from meteors. Now thanks to this class and section I have been able to look up the park and find out that it is in fact a piece of art commissioned by the city in the early 80's. The piece was done by an artist named Herbert Bayer with the intention to promote dam's as being similar to nature rather than "interfere with the natural configuration of the land." The piece uses natural shapes; circles, cones and lines, to emulate the land and nature. The piece bring nature, science and art together.
Ecological Concerns... I really was Wow'd by THE SOCIAL MIRROR by Mierle Laderman Ukeles... Just reading and flipping the pages of my modern art book made me more aware of how we in society are the problem(when it comes to polution)... I feel that someone should remake that truck again and bring it to Los Angeles , Ca... Maybe it would open up peoples eyes about waste. Pretty much everywhere you go in Los Angeles there is some form of litter or trash on the ground. The truck with reflective mirrors will absolutely make us Angelinos more aware of the waste issue we have here. And talking about nature and polution...look at whats going on in the Gulf of Mexico...such destruction to our world...We should try to make our world more GREEN powered..
Serpent Mound leaves me with contradictory feelings. For some reason it give the feeling of calm and relaxation. I seems divinely inviting but at the same time it seems to be full of mystery and power, giving a feeling of fear due to the great feeling of divine power. The enormity of the landscape is immense and intimidatingly beautiful. It feels as if you can lay there for hours, read a book or just relax. It also gives you the feeling that you can take a long and relaxing walk through the long paths of landscaped nature.
In Chris Ofili's Monkey Magic-Sex, Money and drugs, the artist interpretation of a monkey is similar to the theme used by hindus and bhuddist in their use of monkeys. I think that the painting is using the monkey to represent the charachter failings that humans are prone to, in that our search for things that we use to make us feel better are a poor replacement for the things that should make us feel good about ourselves. We use money, sex and drugs as poor imitations of the things of the spiritual nature, to make us feel good about ourselves, make us feel secure, feel loved or wanted, or feel successful. The painting represents that the true value of money, sex and drugs is like that of animal pheses compared to the better ways of the spiritual realm.
I am amazed that Spiral Jetty is even possible. I was in shock when I learned that Spiral jetty was made by real ppl. When we were told that it was in a deserted place, it made me want to visit it even more.If i knew this exsisted when i visited Utah i would have gone and visited. To know that it's made by rocks, dirt, and salt amazed me even more. Where ever it might me, I'm sure it'll be worth while.
The lightning field....WOW. This picture opens your eyes to how powerful nature can be and how vulnerable we are to it. We can see how nature, in relation to the weather and light can awaken out inner love for it as well as our fear. It looks as if we're standing far away from the lightning and since we are safely at a distance, we are able to admire and love it, but if we get any closer to it, the feeling would probably be a different one. You can see that there are metal rods on the fields as if to attract the actual lightning and it is for that reason the being close to the actual light would not be a very good idea. It is better admired from afar.
Why don’t They go to the Country for Vacation-I believe this painting has the perfect name for it. It is showing a city at it’s best. A city of which is over crowded, there is no ‘personal space’, it looks to be noisy, stressful, and yet everyone wants to live there. People choose the city for the drama. They don’t want the boring country life, the quietness, the tranquility of nature all around, they want the city life. I personally like to vacation in the country, but just vacation. My parents recently made a home in the country, it is the best! But I would not live there… G.Huerta
Nature, Knowledge and Technology was the chapter that made me put more attention than any other chapter. The reason I payed more attention was because I love nature photography and I always felt that nature was a work of art specially if you printed the photo that you took and framed it. The piece that made the biggest impression to me was the Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson. The massive 1,500 foot 15 feet wide spiral and it is located at Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah. This piece is definitely art specially when aerial photographs taken of it. What amazes me the most is the magnitude and grandeur of this item, it is so large that it can be clearly seen from space. This piece appears to be amazingly different at different times of days specially at dusk and sunset and seasonal changes.
The image that caught my eye was spiral jetty by Robert smithson. What caught my eye was how the spiral was made on the water making it look so nice and how it starts so far at the beggining and ends really far in the water. How the path looks at the same level and how it stands out. After doing a little reading from the book it just gives me a feeling that he did a great work. How he had the time and inspiration to get away from pen and paper and went into the world. His artwork really stands out.
Response to Michelle. "In my opinion, a dirty truck makes more of a statement."
While I agree with you to a certain extent, there are dirty garbage trucks driving up and down the streets every day. That's not unusual or out of the ordinary. They're loud, clumsy, and smelly, giving people several excuses to complain about them. Yet those very nuisances are what keep our streets clean and make our lives much more convenient. In placing mirrors on the trucks he provokes thought, but doesn't steer you in any one particular direction. We look into mirrors every day, yet while glancing into this mirror you see the obnoxious truck go by with your face on it. And should you really be allowed to complain about something with your face on it? I see a striking parallel in street sweepers. Every few days I hear somebody ranting about a parking ticket. Look, the signs weren’t hidden, be more observant and stop complaining. If we didn’t have a street sweeper the town would look far worse and you’d have something new to whine about. Trash, leaves, and (in my city) sand would be filling our gutters. In fact, every time someone gets a street sweeping parking ticket, I should be able to complain about the dirty section of street that the street sweeper couldn’t reach because they’re dumbass car was in the way. (I SWEAR TO GOD a street sweeper just passed by my window, ha ha!) I’m going to go chase him down and see if I can put mirrors up all over his truck. Better yet, I could go plaster it with parking tickets. :)
Little Bouquet in a Clay Jar is bursting with life and detail. I love how he added little bugs to make it seem like more than just something pretty to look at, but a source of life to creatures in the world outside. It reminds you that these are from nature and come from outdoors. The artist said that flowers are more beautiful than gems and coins, and to show this he has placed some of those objects in the foreground of the painting. They look like scattered scraps compared to this incredibly overstuffed clay jar. It reminds us that flowers, though completely natural, are more abundant and striking than even precious metals and gems that have been refined and altered to please the eye. In their raw form they are far less stunning than a simple flower. You don’t have to alter them in any way to make them beautiful; they are that way naturally. The darkness behind the bouquet makes the colors really pop against the background. The petals of the irises and lilies are especially realistic, the way they appear to be transparent and textured in just the right places. They also contain several flaws, some of the blooms aren’t fully opened and some even appear to be wilting. Undoubtedly the flowers began to decay during the process of the painting and instead of painting the flowers perfectly, he included the imperfections as is. This further proves that even at an imperfect state, this bunch of flowers is more stunning than the pricey jewels and coins beside them.
ReplyDeleteThe passage written about John James Audubon's, Carolina Paroquet, neglects to tell us very significant information about the parakeets. These parakeets (the only parrot native to the US) became extinct in 1917 because "it was all the rage" and high fashion, to wear the feathers of these birds in women's hats. I think this event brings a deeper meaning to our current society. We currently hunt and kill animals, some becoming endangered or extinct, to satisfy our needs (even if they are not relevant). We can compare these parakeets to hunting for whales in the oceans, killing elephants for there tusks, killing alligators for there skin and killing sharks for there fins. We do these things because we are a "now" society, not thinking about the how these events affect the future of these animals (even our own future). A simple water color painting could hold so much information; from the birds in their environment, the details in the feathers and face, and the parakeet shown at all different angles. In a sense Audubon, has captured the scientific history of these beautiful birds and created a beautiful painting at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThe Social Mirror, by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, makes a great statement by mirroring a garbage truck. The mirrors are meant to reflect observers faces, making them aware that they create trash and are responsible for the impact trash has on our world. The mirrors glamorize the garbage truck, possibly intending to make the job glamorous as well. What bother's me is that Ukeles's uses a clean truck. Why? Is it supposed to be ironic? The most disgusting thing about a dump truck is the smell and the gross marks the trash leaves behind. Would mirroring a dirty, smelly truck be more significant for observers? Or do we just want to look at a idealized, clean garbage trunk? In my opinion, a dirty truck makes more of a statement. I like that the work focuses on ecological issues, but I just want it to be pushed further.
ReplyDeletethe above 2 comments have been posted by michelle douglas
ReplyDelete"Why Don't They Go To Country For Vacation," rendered by George Bellows, has quite a different look and feel from most of his more famous works. Not much is found on this cross hatched lithographic nightmare, probably because it wasn't famous enough. Never the less, it was an awesome retaliatory portrait of how the upper class views the lower class who live in the city. In an almost Queen Marie Antoinette fashion, it begs the statement, Why Don't they go to country for vacation, as if they do not already want to.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is a drastic contrast from the piece that inspired this one, "Cliff Dwellers." However, W.D.T.G.T.C.F.V is a little bit more visually manipulative due to enhancements granted by implied motions (amongst the children in the foreground) and implied lines (outlines of buildings, and tops of crowds). Most of the people in this drawing seem depressed, mostly enhanced by the color scheme, black and white. The gradation of the cross-hatching, really gives the dirty and crowded city, that crowded and dirty city look. I found this little treasure to be quite an interesting piece to ponder over.
I really liked The Fourth Plate of Muscles. Being a nursing major and currently taking an anatomy course, this picture was really interesting. When first looking at the picture, I did not know what was coming off the person. Then after doing some reading, I found out it was the outer muscles. It was very nice to finally see a picture that dealed more with anatomy. Chapter 13 was about the body, but it was less anatomy related. Other than that, the nature and knowledge ohotos were also very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis post is actually related to Chapter 14 (Race, Gender, Clan and Class) because I could not find a spot elsewhere to post and something really caught my eye:
ReplyDeleteOn page 386 of our book, there is a painting done by Jean-Honore Fragonard called The Swing. The book states that it is a work that is supposed to depict the care-free lifestyles of the upper classes in France during the mid-eighteenth century. Apparently, because the King held most of the power, and because work was performed by the middle-class, those belonging to the upper-class focused on self-indulgence.
What is really, really insane about this picture is that it is meant to show the sexual escapades of these people. The woman swinging in a beautiful dress has clearly caught the eye of the gentleman on the ground; he is unabashedly looking up her dress. That seems fairly normal, except for the other man, a BISHOP, standing in the background. He is swinging the woman and seems fully aware of what is going on, which makes me wonder about the role of the bishop. How can he be encouraging this behavior? It seems unlikely and I am unsure about what the artist is trying to say about religion during this time.
Anyway, an interesting piece and definitely worth a look, if only to raise an eyebrow at.
In the chapter title Nature, Knowledge, and Technology, there’s a painting title Gods of the Modern World by Jose Clemente Orozco. This Painting is about all the knowledge that humans acquire and that we can’t use for anything other then knowledge. This painting has a skeleton giving birth to some books and a baby skeleton. The books that the skeleton is giving birth to are probably all the books that are published every year. Most of these books have no practical use other than entertainment. Anyone can pretty much publish a book and this creates a conflict when we try to sort out what is useful information and what is not. The skeleton is missing its arms implying that the knowledge that the skeleton is giving birth to has no power to make any real difference in our lives. All of the baby skeletons are placed in jars and are thrown to the side along with the books like something that we would throw in the back of our closets, because we don’t need it but we want to keep it anyways. This could be because we learn a lot of stuff through our lives and if we don’t use it we forget it eventually. For example if we don’t use math we forget it very easy, but we can always get back that knowledge if we want to, just like the stuff in the back of the closet that we can pull out when ever we want.
ReplyDeleteMario Mosqueda
Art 1
Nature, Knowledge and technology to me was the most interesting part of this art class to me. It really caught my attention how artists very much portray what they know in their art. This week i was responsible for a presentation regarding the subject and we all chose George Bellows Why don't they Go to the country for vacation. The artist made his art mainly to mock certain citizens of what "they" considered the low class. But in reality not all poor really live life that way and Bellows with his observations understood that. Of course their are those artists who portay mainly what they have lived it it becomes a more personal work but on the contrary with Bellows he was born in the upscale but went more for the low class.
ReplyDelete-Leslie D. Caceres
I thought this was a very interesting chapter. I thought the earthworks and site pieces section was fascinating, never having seen one myself. What I like about it so much is the element of land preservation that is brings. Growing up I always played at a park called Earthworks park in Kent, Washington. In my imagination the land forms were craters from meteors. Now thanks to this class and section I have been able to look up the park and find out that it is in fact a piece of art commissioned by the city in the early 80's. The piece was done by an artist named Herbert Bayer with the intention to promote dam's as being similar to nature rather than "interfere with the natural configuration of the land." The piece uses natural shapes; circles, cones and lines, to emulate the land and nature. The piece bring nature, science and art together.
ReplyDeleteEcological Concerns...
ReplyDeleteI really was Wow'd by
THE SOCIAL MIRROR by Mierle Laderman Ukeles...
Just reading and flipping the pages of my modern art book made me more aware of how we in society are the problem(when it comes to polution)... I feel that someone should remake that truck again and bring it to Los Angeles , Ca... Maybe it would open up peoples eyes about waste. Pretty much everywhere you go in Los Angeles there is some form of litter or trash on the ground. The truck with reflective mirrors will absolutely make us Angelinos more aware of the waste issue we have here. And talking about nature and polution...look at whats going on in the Gulf of Mexico...such destruction to our world...We should try to make our world more GREEN powered..
Serpent Mound leaves me with contradictory feelings. For some reason it give the feeling of calm and relaxation. I seems divinely inviting but at the same time it seems to be full of mystery and power, giving a feeling of fear due to the great feeling of divine power. The enormity of the landscape is immense and intimidatingly beautiful. It feels as if you can lay there for hours, read a book or just relax. It also gives you the feeling that you can take a long and relaxing walk through the long paths of landscaped nature.
ReplyDeleteM Mata
In Chris Ofili's Monkey Magic-Sex, Money and drugs, the artist interpretation of a monkey is similar to the theme used by hindus and bhuddist in their use of monkeys. I think that the painting is using the monkey to represent the charachter failings that humans are prone to, in that our search for things that we use to make us feel better are a poor replacement for the things that should make us feel good about ourselves. We use money, sex and drugs as poor imitations of the things of the spiritual nature, to make us feel good about ourselves, make us feel secure, feel loved or wanted, or feel successful. The painting represents that the true value of money, sex and drugs is like that of animal pheses compared to the better ways of the spiritual realm.
ReplyDeleteMario Lam
I am amazed that Spiral Jetty is even possible. I was in shock when I learned that Spiral jetty was made by real ppl. When we were told that it was in a deserted place, it made me want to visit it even more.If i knew this exsisted when i visited Utah i would have gone and visited. To know that it's made by rocks, dirt, and salt amazed me even more. Where ever it might me, I'm sure it'll be worth while.
ReplyDeleteThe lightning field....WOW. This picture opens your eyes to how powerful nature can be and how vulnerable we are to it. We can see how nature, in relation to the weather and light can awaken out inner love for it as well as our fear. It looks as if we're standing far away from the lightning and since we are safely at a distance, we are able to admire and love it, but if we get any closer to it, the feeling would probably be a different one. You can see that there are metal rods on the fields as if to attract the actual lightning and it is for that reason the being close to the actual light would not be a very good idea. It is better admired from afar.
ReplyDeleteM Mata
Why don’t They go to the Country for Vacation-I believe this painting has the perfect name for it. It is showing a city at it’s best. A city of which is over crowded, there is no ‘personal space’, it looks to be noisy, stressful, and yet everyone wants to live there. People choose the city for the drama. They don’t want the boring country life, the quietness, the tranquility of nature all around, they want the city life. I personally like to vacation in the country, but just vacation. My parents recently made a home in the country, it is the best! But I would not live there…
ReplyDeleteG.Huerta
Nature, Knowledge and Technology was the chapter that made me put more attention than any other chapter. The reason I payed more attention was because I love nature photography and I always felt that nature was a work of art specially if you printed the photo that you took and framed it. The piece that made the biggest impression to me was the Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson. The massive 1,500 foot 15 feet wide spiral and it is located at Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah. This piece is definitely art specially when aerial photographs taken of it. What amazes me the most is the magnitude and grandeur of this item, it is so large that it can be clearly seen from space. This piece appears to be amazingly different at different times of days specially at dusk and sunset and seasonal changes.
ReplyDeleteJairo Cisneros
The image that caught my eye was spiral jetty by Robert smithson. What caught my eye was how the spiral was made on the water making it look so nice and how it starts so far at the beggining and ends really far in the water. How the path looks at the same level and how it stands out. After doing a little reading from the book it just gives me a feeling that he did a great work. How he had the time and inspiration to get away from pen and paper and went into the world. His artwork really stands out.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Michelle. "In my opinion, a dirty truck makes more of a statement."
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you to a certain extent, there are dirty garbage trucks driving up and down the streets every day. That's not unusual or out of the ordinary. They're loud, clumsy, and smelly, giving people several excuses to complain about them. Yet those very nuisances are what keep our streets clean and make our lives much more convenient.
In placing mirrors on the trucks he provokes thought, but doesn't steer you in any one particular direction. We look into mirrors every day, yet while glancing into this mirror you see the obnoxious truck go by with your face on it. And should you really be allowed to complain about something with your face on it?
I see a striking parallel in street sweepers. Every few days I hear somebody ranting about a parking ticket. Look, the signs weren’t hidden, be more observant and stop complaining. If we didn’t have a street sweeper the town would look far worse and you’d have something new to whine about. Trash, leaves, and (in my city) sand would be filling our gutters. In fact, every time someone gets a street sweeping parking ticket, I should be able to complain about the dirty section of street that the street sweeper couldn’t reach because they’re dumbass car was in the way. (I SWEAR TO GOD a street sweeper just passed by my window, ha ha!) I’m going to go chase him down and see if I can put mirrors up all over his truck. Better yet, I could go plaster it with parking tickets. :)
Thanks for a great semester, Kayla Moody