Self Portrait Reflection

The two aspects of my personality I was trying to portray were my calm and conservative side (black and white) versus my hot headed and outgoing side (bright colors). I faced many challenges while creating this painting. The biggest was getting what was in my head onto paper and actually portray what I wanted to. Having the right amount of paint was also difficult for me because in some areas, my painting looks very dark whereas in others, you can see right through to the grid. I think my initial sketch was pretty accurate to the picture. What I can work on is definitely painting. If I were to do this painting differently, I would try to use more highlights and low lights because I think that it would make my use of color more realistic and generally more put together.

Works of Art I Know

Louis XIV at the Age of Five, 1643

Jacques Sarazin, French 

My First Reactions: 

This sculpture uses the use of texture so that it provides more life and depth to the sculpture without any color. Texture is used on the hair, clothing, and wreath especially well. I think texture was made with some sort of fire or metal tools because the bust is made out of pure bronze and for that reason Sarazin would not have been able to use his bare hands to mold and form it. 

Works of Art I Know

Man on a Bench, 1997-1998

Duane Hanson, American

My First Impressions:

I was struck by how real this sculpture is. I think that Hanson was trying to portray the sadness and slowness of oldness and illness. The man looks to be contemplative and tired, even though he just went to go fetch his mail.

What I've Learned: 

This sculpture portrays the aspect of life and death. This man is supposed to be just making his way through life, one day at a time, slowly drifting into death. Hanson makes his sculptures that are consider to be in the Pop Movement and classify under the category of hyperrealism through lifecasting. He tends to make his art revolving around the daily life of working-class citizens. He uses materials such as bronze and epoxy resin to make the models and then fits them with real hair and clothing to make them particularly life like. 

Sources:

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/duane_hanson.htm 

Works of Art I Know

Works of Art I Know

The Copley Family, 1788

John Singleton Copley, American

The artist's point of view seems to be that the women and children are all very content and happy. Since all of the women and children are wearing all white, they seem to give off an angelic glow. Whereas it seems that he wants to portray men being as more severe and independent. Copley uses contrast a lot in this painting through not only color but also facial expressions. He also uses grouping to show that the women and children are together while the men are sort of distant. From his use of leading lines, I notice that the man sitting down does not embrace the baby who's arms are up and from this looks distant and uncaring. I feel like the emphasis on this painting is on the men. It is on the men because they are wearing the opposite color of the rest of the painting and because they are so different from the other members of the family. They almost seem as if they are about to attack or go to battle. I think that it is interesting that Copley would choose to depict his own family in this sense. He probably knows something about his family history that we don't and I love to find out what that is.

Works of Art I Know

Nighthawks, 1942

Edward Hopper, American

My First Impressions:

This is actually not the first time I've seen this painting. I have seen it in person actually at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It's really beautiful up close. The first thing I notice is the diner and the couple on the far right. I think that this takes place in Philadelphia due to the name of the diner "Phillies". I think that this is supposed to be early morning or late late night because the streets are deserted and the stores are closed. It also seems to be fairly dark outside.

What I've Learned: 

Hopper has said that the inspiration behind Nighthawks is "a restaurant in New York's Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet." Hopper didn't intentionally paint the loneliness and isolation of a large city, but he says that he might have subconsciously. 

Hopper brings a sense of unity to the painting with the use of contrast in color: the dark background as opposed to the light streaming in from the diner. He also uses repetition from the buildings in the background. The placement of the man in the middle of the painting draws us to him primarily. From the man we can follow his gaze to the couple and then to the waiter. Although the people in the painting are totally different, the way Hopper created them makes them totally unified. 

Reflection

If I could do one of the projects again I would probably do the self-portrait picture over again because I should have thought more about time spacing and I could have done a much better job. But I would also love to do the found object sculpture over again just because it was so much fun!

Of all the artists I've researched I think Andy Goldsworthy is the most interesting because of the way he creates his art: using only natural materials. I think it's great how he understands that his art won't be a forever piece but he makes them so that he understands the land. 

Works of Art I Know

Leaf Horn, 1989

Andy Goldsworthy, British

My First Impressions: 

Well it's pretty spectacular how he could do all this with only natural materials. I wonder how he made the leaves look so shiny? I really like the contrast between the leaves and the grass. I think that makes your attention go toward the horn. 

What I've Learned:

Goldsworthy made the leaves shiny by greasing them made from the tree they fell from and he pinned the leaves to the ground using thorns. This was created in "Le Jardin Massey" in Tarbes, France. Goldsworthy created outdoor sculptures all over the world using various natural materials and takes colored photographs of them because they won't last forever. His intention in creating his art is not to "make his mark on the landscape" but to have a better understanding of it. 

sources:

http://www.rwc.uc.edu/artcomm/web/w2005_2006/maria_Goldsworthy/biography.html 

Works of Art I Know

L.H.O.O.Q., 1919

Marcel Duchamp, French/American

My First Impressions:

This is clearly a reproduction of the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. However, Duchamp decided to draw a mustache and goatee on her therefore making fun of the painting and the artist. I think that it is interesting that Duchamp decided to make fun of one of the most publicly known and famous paintings in history. I am sure that Duchamp got a lot of attention for this painting. I wonder what L.H.O.O.Q. stands for. 

What I've Learned:

The title, pronounced in French, says the phrase "Elle a chaud au cul" meaning "She has a hot ass." This painting is one of the most famous "acts of degrading a famous painting." Duchamp is known as the "Greatest Influence in 20th century art" by art historians.

sources: 

http://www.marcelduchamp.net   

Works of Art I Know

An Officer, 1929-1930

Rembrandt, Dutch

My First Impressions:

Rembrandt used a lot of realistic, earth tones. I like how he used shadows because one half of his face is hit by the light while the other is darker because of the shadows. Also, on the officer's collar is gleaming from the light. I wonder what he is looking at.

What I Learned: 

Rembrandt is considered to be "one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history." After attending the University of Leiden he was apprenticed to a Leiden history painter named Jacob van Swanenburgh for three years. 

sources:

http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/ 

Story Collage

The story I'm trying to tell in my collage is of me putting on a show in my living room when I was younger in front of my family. It usually consisted of me doing little dances or skits.

The most challenging aspect of making this collage was not being able to draw anything but only to use paper, scissors, and clue.

The most successful aspect of my collage is the three-dimensional hair on my mom on the couch.

The Spotlight, 2009

Works of Art I Know

Three Musicians, 1921

Pablo Picasso, Spanish

My First Impressions: 

Although there are three musicians in this picture it is hard to distinguish the three. There is are so many colors blended together that the attention really is brought to the middle musician because his outfit is the only part of the painting using warm colors and clear shapes (in this case triangles). Picasso used a lot of earth tones and cool tones in this painting. 

What I've Learned:

The middle musician is a Harlequin (recurring throughout Picasso's work, some say as a stand-in for the artist himself) guitar player with a masked Pierrot to his left and a monk to his right. Although I didn't realize it at first, there is a dog in the bottom left corner. Picasso used Synthetic Cubism to create this "jigsaw-puzzle-like composition." 

Sources:

http://moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=78630 

http://artquotes.net/masters/picasso_cubism.htm 

I See the Light Drawing

Dark to Light, 2009

The story I'm trying to tell in my collage is walking out of a movie theater, where it is very dark, and walking into the midday sun. 

I used value in my drawing to show the difference in light and dark, colors, and also to define certain aspects of the drawing such as the difference between the wall and floor. 

The most challenging aspect of making this drawing was drawing the girl walking out of the door because I haven't drawn a lot of people in my past. 

The most successful aspect of my drawing, I think, is the shading I used because, in the first steps of creating the drawing, there were tons of lines and to erase them I used shading. 

Works of Art I Know

The Two Fridas, 1939
Frida Kahlo, Mexican

My First Impression:
It seems to be one of her very famous self-portraits except in this one there are two of her. One's heart seems to be destroyed while the other's is perfectly healthy. Perhaps the healthier Frida is helping the ill one. Kahlo uses value a few times in this picture but it is also very colorful. The background has the biggest representation of value and it shows the dark sky and clouds. It makes me think that the mood is somber and sad. She also uses value to show the shadows and the creases on the clothes.

What I've Learned:
When Frida painted this she had moved back with Diego Rivera in San Fransisco where she got treatment and rest for her poor health and recovered quickly. The year later, Rivera and Kahlo remarried. Frida underwent 30 surgeries in her lifetime as a survivor of polio, and a serious bus accident which seriously injured her in more ways than one. Kahlo explains that she was very lonely as a child due to her polio so she created a make-believe friend of whom she told her deepest secrets to. Some think that in this painting, she recreated her friend as a twin of herself. Of the 200 odd paintings that Kahlo created, about 50 are self portraits.

Sources:
http://www.fbuch.com/fridaby.htm
http://www.fridakahlofans.com/biobrief.html
http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/worksofart/index.html

Works of Art I Know

Missouri C, 1972

Charles White, American

My First Impressions: 

At first glance it just looks like a simple sketch of an African-American woman but there is a deeper meaning to it. Her face looks troubled or hurt because her eyes are closed and she seems to be thinking. The focal point seems to be on her face and the background turns for dark to light. 

What I Learned: Charles White was born in Chicago, Illinois and discovered he could draw at the age of seven. White was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1972. He taught at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1965-1979, his death.