Module 11 Art Gallery Visit #2

The Exhibition

Enough Killing

Theme of exhibit: Throughout history humans have killed each other. Gun safety and the realities of how many people are killed and the fact that we need to take responsibility for what is happening to not only people as a whole, but in particular to people of color.

The Artwork

Spot lighting is used throughout this space. The space itself is dim, with lights only shining on each piece of art along the neutral grey walls and the main piece in the middle of the room. The lighting on the main piece creates a shadow effect on the floor and helps to illuminate the brass and copper metal of the bullets that make up the piece. This really helps to showcase this artwork how it was intended to be seen. The walls appear to be basic drywall construction, the spotlights are mounted along a large metal frame across the ceiling. When you first approach the room where is exhibit is located, there is large wording saying Enough Killing! in black letters on a white door. In front of this is a work of art that is made to look like an all white video camera. When you enter the open door, there is a set of pieces that are all white. First, is supposed to be a ticket machine, like those in delis, where you would take a number and wait. Behind this is two more of the "video cameras" facing in at a "guillotine". Along the walls are numerous other framed prints and canvas artworks. In the center of the room is the main piece, by Robert Longo (b. 1953) titled Death Star, 1993. Made of 18,000 brass and copper bullets; steel armature, diameter of sphere: 36 inches; steel armature: 98 x 120 inches.as you walk through you are drawn to each area of the exhibit individually, focusing on one thing at a time.

The Gallery

The artworks in the Burchfield Penney Art Center are organized much differently than those in the Albright Knox Art Gallery. They are organized into divided areas of focus with very cool architecture throughout, such as, rounded walls and protruding walls that add definition and a fun way to display. each area has similarly themed piece of art, or art of a particular artist. The artworks differ by having many different materials used, artifacts, paintings, sculptures, fabrics and more. Each piece of artwork is displayed or framed in a way that helps to best showcase it, whether the room be brighter or darker, the frame simple or very fancy and detailed. All of the artworks are labeled with the artist, title, date and a description of the media used to create it and how the gallery received it. Some things are in display cases and they have numerous things listed and labeled all together. There are pieces throughout that are untitled as well. Each piece of art is displayed with enough space between each piece to allow you to appreciate them individually, but close enough that you understand which are displayed in conjunction with one another throughout a particular theme that is noted in the area. 

Art Criticism

Charles M. Kurtz 1855-1909

Here Lies The Past 1878

oil on canvas

Burchfield Penney Art Center, Charles M. Kurtz Trust 1991

This piece is fairly small, about 2" with the frame included

In this painting you will see a skull on the upper left, face to face with a large black rat. Below the skull is a large opened book with a deep red, cloth bookmark and intricately detailed large scrolled letter P and S. There is another, smaller book to the right and a box just below the face of the rat. The frame of this piece is intricate and gold, with many 3D layers that appear to make the painting look like it is in the distance.

Value was used in this painting, there is a black background, that the rat almost disappears or hides in. The book and the skull are light in color so they stand out more, which brings me to emphasis. Your eyes are drawn to the skull and the book first and then you notice the rat. Color is used, in the colors of the book and bookmark, causing that to pop out at you. Line and shape, making the shape and pages of the books detailed and noticeable.

I get a very strong pirate feeling overall feeling from this painting. Here lies the past, the title makes me think pirate as well as the skull and rat.

Overall, I believe the artist was trying to say that we all have a long past, like the books, with many stories and details, we all have skeletons in our closets as well as dark times and memories, which is where the rat comes in. Our lives, our stories, are full of so many details, and it should be seen as valuable no matter how much negative it may hold, which is where I feel the grand gold frame with its many layers of depth to it, is the same as our lives.

Edith Lunt Small 1931-2017

The Entry of Christ Into Manhattan, 1982

acrylic on board

Burchfield Penney Art Center, Gift of the Artist 2015

Medium sized

In this painting you see a street view of the absolute chaos that is Manhattan in New York City. There are people everywhere, both good and evil, all consumed by money and life. There are people performing, people protesting, a man running naked, people stealing from others, a bus packed full of animals, little small men dressed like Santa Claus all over and there is what appears to be the devil watching happily as all of this goes on. There is so much going on it is hard to take it all in, honestly, which is true of New York City, but in the distance you can see a bright white and yellow light coming down with angels and a white horse carrying Jesus on his back and landing right in the middle of all of this chaos.

The use of color is very clear here, there are so many different colors, all symbolic in their own ways. The use of line and shape to create the buildings, cars, people and more. Contrast, where the bright yellow and white lighting is coming down into this otherwise darker colored painting. Proportion, making the buildings appear to be so big in proportion to the people, allowing you to be easily aware that this is supposed to be New York City.

The woman in the front portion of the painting who is surrounded by a red color, has red around her eyes, a black outfit, and appears calm and seems to be enjoying the chaos, is supposed to represent evil, or the devil in this case. The white and yellow light coming down from the sky, is representative of angels and Jesus coming down from heaven to help save these people from the evil that is taking over. 

I think the artist was trying to say that Manhattan was filled with people, being overcome by greed and the evils of the world, and that Christ needed to be brought into their lives to bring hope and change to save them from themselves.

Jonathan Rogers

Maybe This Time It's The Angel Of Death from the Little Dancer series 1990-2006

oil on canvas

Courtesy of the artist

Medium sized

In this painting you can see mostly everything is the color red. There is a small portion of a red floral wall to the left, there a little boy blends in, in an effort to hide. There is a staircase in the center with a black railing extends to the right side against another small portion of red floral wall. Floating down the staircase, away from the boy, is a white lighted angel.

Color and contrast is used, emphasizing the red color of the space, and the bright white and yellow of the angel. Lines and shape making up the staircase and the walls.

I feel like the angel is a clear representative of just that. I also feel that the red and black that this little boy is hiding is a a representation that his life is dark and scary.

The title of the piece is Maybe This Time It's The Angel Of Death, tries to make you question whether or not this angel is a good angel or something different. I believe that this little boy is suffering in his life, whether he lives in fear or sadness, he does not appear to be happy. This angel coming into his house at night seems to be there to watch over him somehow, but because of the title and the way hes hiding, it is as if he hopes she is there this time to take his life to relieve his pain and suffering.

I really enjoyed my experience at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Looking at the exhibitions through the perspective I did, by paying attention to the space as a whole, noticing how they use the lighting and colors of the walls to help create the exhibit what it is meant to be allowed me to have a whole new appreciation for it. 

Module 10 Video Blog

Module 10 Video Blog

Videos watched: 1. Buddhism and 2. Hinduism

1.      The historical facts explain that there is a relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism. Sri Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha or the enlightened one, was originally born from India as a prince. As a prince, he was not aware that outside of the palace there was suffering, pain, sadness, and more going on until one day that he went out to see what life was like outside of the palace and came across all of these things. Due to this he went out on a journey to find the meaning of life and everything that truly comes with it. When he was a prince, he was a believer of Hinduism and once he achieved enlightenment or nirvana, he went against it. This connection that exists between these two beliefs is worth exploring.

2.      In Buddhism the architecture like pillars, temples, and walking paths each contain the Buddhist teachings engraved in them as a reminder and a guide to those who chose to follow that path. Each structure has a story to tell. The Great Stupa is the most famous structure among the other architectural structures because it was built where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. In Hinduism, which is also from India, the city of Varanasi is the oldest city containing historical monuments going back in history more than 3000 years. The river, Ganges, surrounds these monuments and is a symbol of cleansing for the Hindu believer about reincarnation. Each Hindu temple has different gods and their structure and design are built around the concept of that god.

3.      The textbook explains in further detail about Buddhism and its founder, Buddha, that this structure is representation, of what those who want to be awakened most, follow to obtain it. The textbook also explains that Hinduism architectures are not just a symbol of worship, but they also used to be a place of sacrifices.

4.      Both films were very educative, however, I noticed that there is a major difference between both Hinduism art and Buddhism art structures. In Hinduism there is no sense of obtaining peace through the temple, it seems that it focuses on achieving a better afterlife. In Buddhism, there seems to be a gaining of peace while achieving enlightenment in this life.

Module 10 Mask Making

This animal mask of the Amazon Indians was used as an inspiration for the creation of my own mask because of the addition of "hair" coming off of the mask.

The use of contrast here really draws your eyes to the texture and color of the hair and to the shape of the face, appearing to have the animal ears sticking up above the eyes, through the use of line. There is very little color and a limited amount of detail which does not allow for much of a pattern, but the use of contrast, line, texture and also form are obvious. You can not see it in the front view of the mask, but the nose is formed and protrudes outward into a round shape with a hole through the middle. 

This parade mask from the Devils of Yare, made in Northern Venezuela was an inspiration to my own mask creation because it is similar to the masks we make in my home country of the Dominican Republic. I took from this, the use of multiple colors and the use of paint.

This mask has a very clear use of pattern, contrast and color throughout the entire design. Both sides are made to be almost perfectly symmetrical, although the shape differs slightly because it is hand made. There is also a clear use of line, repetition and form, in how the horns, ears, nose and mouth all have a 3 dimensional shape to them. and the small repetitive lines throughout.

This Mexican day of the dead mask was an inspiration to the creation of my own mask because of its use of circular patterns throughout.

This mask uses pattern, color, form, line, repetition, rhythm, shape, contrast all in one very clean and symmetrical design. the use of the different bright and dark colors through make each section stand out on its own, while flowing together perfectly. The details in the circular designs draw your eyes from one area to the next, noticing more and more detail the longer you look at this piece.

My sketches

My Mask

I focused on using color with the bright colored paints of the face, line with the black lines outlining and separating the colors from each other, pattern by creating a somewhat symmetrical design from one side to the other, texture by the use of the crinkled paper hair, contrast through the use of color as well as black and white, and lastly shape is used by creating different shapes within the design. There is a rhythm to the use of the various designs and details such as the gems.

My overall opinion of my mask is that it turned out well, it is bright and makes me feel happy when I look at it, whereas many of the masks I saw through research were kind of frightening or freaky. I enjoyed making the mask, but I will be buying new paint brushes as i have realized the ones i have are not very good.I accidentally hot glued on the one "ear" too high but wasn't able to remove it and change it so the symmetry I was aiming for was slightly thrown off.

Module 9 Video Review

Videos:               #1 Velazquez            #2 Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master

1. I wanted to learned about the life of Diego Velazquez, therefore I watched the documentary titled: Velazquez. In the documentary, Albrecht Durer was mentioned as someone that Diego Velazquez copied, so it peaked my interest in wanting to know why Diego Velazquez copied his style.

2. In the documentary, Velazquez, it mentioned that Diego Velazquez had a great friendship with King Philip IV and the royal family. Velazquez had one the biggest libraries of his time because he was not only a painter, he was also a scholar, engineer, and architect. Most of his portraits are based on reality. He trained in Italy for couple of years to learn from other famous painter’s lives work such as Raphael, Davinci, and Michelangelo. He also, mimics the style of Albrecht Durer in his portraits. His lives work was either portraits of the royal families, or the opposite of them. In the Documentary, Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master, it is mentioned that Durer has a particular interest in hands and the process of aging. Many of his works of art illustrate these two concepts. Durer had completed his first self-portrait at the age of 13 years old. He also composed many prints for artists to use the method of using grids and human anatomy, similar to the same process Leonardo Davinci used. Durer was involved in politics and he was around when Martin Luther had the reformation movement going against the catholic church.

3. The videos had similar information compared to that of the textbook because they all mentioned famous art work that both Diego Velazquez and Albrecht Durer created that are known worldwide. However, both documentaries go further in detail about these artists life.

4. Both videos have provided me with more understanding about both Diego Velazquez and Albrecht Durer. Also, the readings helped me to understand the artist movements that were taking place when these artists were alive.

Art Making/Material Exploration: Exploring Line

1.) It was very interesting using my own hands as a subject matter for drawing. I never really looked at all of the details that are involved in something as simple as my hands. Here you have your hands, that are usually what you are using to create other things and art with. In this case, you are using the hands you create art with, and show casing them as the focal point instead of anything else.
2.) I selected to use pencil because I do not have charcoal, and because I feel like it is less messy and creates a variety of values really effectively when used properly.
3.)It felt extremely awkward and uncoordinated, as I expected, to create a drawing with my non-dominant hand because I do not hand the same control with that hand as I do with my dominant hand.
4.)I think my sketches are surprisingly very accurate drawings. I did use my dominant hand to shade in and go over my drawing that I sketched with my non-dominant hand to complete it, which helped me to feel more satisfied in its overall outcome.
5.)I would not consider using my non-dominant hand to create art in the future. I felt like I struggled and my art began to look abstract rather than realistic because i struggled to create a straight line. It was frustrating, yet interesting, but overall it was not enjoyable for me.

Module 8 Video Review

Module 8

Video – More Human Than Human

1.)    This was the required video to be watched.

2.)    The key concepts of this video were about how we all see art and how we interpret it. Many images we see that are of the human body are extremely unrealistic, yet we still interpret them as the human body anyways. This goes back thousands of years even, to the Egyptian civilization, where they combined human bodies and animal heads. However, their art did also possess a regular side, or more realistic creation of the human body. Their style was unique, as was their architecture as well. The Greek civilization was another that was fixated on the human body, specifically of the athletic body. They believed that your shape should be that of perfection. The Greeks were actually the first to create a replica of the actual human body.

3.)    The video and text relate because they include much of the same information on how we view the human body and of how it is represented to us in the world and through art as well as how we interpret it. The video does go into a bit more detail about the different civilizations and their contribution to this topic.

4.)    I enjoyed the video because it really helped me to get a good visual and understanding of what was being taught in a more interesting way than simply through text.

Video – Late Gothic Art and Architecture: England 1400 – 1547

1.   1.)    The reason I chose this video was because I was interested in knowing more about the art and architecture that came from, and survived, the 15^th and 16^th centuries throughout England in such a hard and bloody time.
2.   2.)    The key concepts of this video explain that some of the greatest art was created in this time. Throughout the 15^th and early 16^th centuries, extravagant cathedrals and parishes were built, many of them being the result of kings creating their own permanent churches, often trying to out-do the last. These cathedrals were excellent opportunities for architects to be able to create amazing works of art that they otherwise couldn’t possibly showcase on such luxurious and grand scale.  Some of the incredible artwork included religious images on stained glass windows, tapestries, tombs, sculptures, pendants, jewels and charms. Into these parishes went a lot of money, competitiveness, and good works - the idea that these pieces were good for your soul. Saint Georges Cathedral was very chivalric. Saint Mary’s Church in Warwick was a memorial church containing tombs and more. In this time, the Catholic religion was very big and the belief that you should live a good life and die a good death gave great love for these grandeur cathedrals filled with lavish, religious works of comfort. Throughout this time, with battles going on, there was much destruction. Stained glass was smashed, gold plates and chalices were melted, and sculptures were attacked. Only a fraction remains that survived this cultural disaster.
3.   3.)    The videos relate to the text because they both discuss the art and architecture, such as stained glass, sculptures, tapestries and others that were created at this time. They both explain the devastation that England experienced throughout the 15^th and 16^th centuries and how the art and architecture was effected. Although, the video was able to get into more detail of the works of art, the kings and the time period surrounding the topic.
4.   4.)    I enjoyed the film because I was able to see actual footage of the insides of these lavish cathedrals. The intricate designs throughout, especially on the ceilings. It is truly incredible to see what beautiful things people can design, especially so many years ago.

Module 7 - video blog review

1.     1.)  For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

In the video, Architecture: The Science of Design, one fact I learned is how skyscrapers are usually built with the use of concrete, cement and steel beams. One thing that the video points out is that concrete has good compression qualities but since it is a brittle material it fails under tension. For this reason, steel beams are also used because they have good tension resistance. When combined with concrete, it ensures that a building is safe from both compression and tension. In the video, Frank Lloyd Wright, The Man Who Built America, one of the many facts I learned about the architecture designs of Frank Lloyd Wright is that his buildings were a part of nature. One thing that it is impressive is his last architecture design, which was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is a circular building in a society where rectangular buildings are most common.

2.      2.) How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

The videos are related to the textbook in the sense that the textbook talks about the same concepts of architectural design. However, the textbook talks more in detail about the different types of structures that exist outside the United States, gives more of a clear view of the actual drawings and designs of the supporting columns, as well as the foundation.

3.     3.) What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of Architecture?

In my opinion the films were both good to watch and learn from because they help you to further understand what you read in the textbook. They added depth to the understanding of architecture and how architecture itself is its own type of art. Also, in architecture one can see aesthetic and creativity.

4.) Why did you choose the films that you watched?

I choose the two videos because one speaks about the science behind architecture design, as far as, how are the structures built and what makes them safe for the general public to use. The other video I chose to watch, about Frank Lloyd Wright, was because in the past when I visited the Guggenheim museum in New York City I was fascinated with his work and I was curious to learn about his thought process behind designing and building it.