Abstract Expressionism & Pop Art

I chose Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the ‘50s and ‘60s because the artists in abstract expressionism applied color to let the viewer feel emotion. Pop art is interesting because it deals with everyday things in the commercial market as an art form. 

Franz Kline C & O deals with the space between the viewer and the painting. The color and form gives the painting impact and ambiguity. Colors float in no define space letting your imagination take control. Kline began his abstract paintings in only black and white but later added color. The act of creating the work was as important as the final piece.

Splotches and drops of color and forms cover the canvas Mountains and Sea by Helen Frankenthaler. The forms have life of their own. This painting was the first that she laid on the ground to create it. The way she applied the paint with a rag let the color sink in like a stain and not sit on the surface of the canvas. This technique caused unique colors to appear and it gave the artist no control. Whatever happens happens. This work was the first step for her into the spiritual and traditions that molded her. 

Willem de Kooning Morning: The Springs consists of marks that would be left by ice skates. The abstract forms are ones we recognize as plant shapes, light, and falling water. As de Kooning works on the piece he reduces and eliminates where he sees fit.

Jasper Johns Flag is as if we are seeing the US flag for the first time. Johns uses what is found in real world as in letters, numbers, and targets. The image is seductive and pulls you in, is a real flag or an abstract one. The painting has many layers of newspaper and paint, which has blobs and drips and the viewer, sees the many layers but can see it as a whole. It is a bold, simple, and symbolic piece.

Andy Warhol The Texan: Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg was like a son paying homage to his father. There are 28 images of Rauschenberg arranged in four lines. The feeling you get from the image is of a wanted poster. Warhol implemented the ideas but his associates executed them. He created this in his studio he called the Art Factory. The studio created 1,000 images a year. There is no individuality; Warhol creates his work so you don’t know where artificial stops and reality begins.

Roy Lichtenstein Girl with Hair Ribbon surprises and seduces you. He creates a mechanical coloring style like comic books. When we get closer to the painting the details take on a life of their own and you loose sight of the whole. The details are either dots or the white forms that between the dots. Lichtenstein used comic strips for inspiration on love and war, which stirs emotion and passion. The images use traditional ways to depict feelings by the way he draws the eyes. 

 The other video I chose is Andy Warhol: Images of an Image. Screenprinting is very enjoyable for me and I enjoy how he pushes the ideas. Warhol interests me because of his mind. He seemed so odd but then you wonder why he does what he does. He created Ten Lizes in 1963. It consisted of ten faces of Elizabeth Taylor but they were all the same. This idea was like an assembly line there was no distinction from the first one to the last one. The work does force the viewer to move because the white paint reflects differently and each image has a little different look. Repeating the motif causes you to feel dizzy and the image to invade everything. Warhol became an icon himself with his art, movies, and magazine. He would use a Polaroid camera and would take portraits of his friends and reproduce them as a print. He was making the celebrity a commodity, which is what society does and he was making it high art.

The in-depth discussions of paintings help to understand the abstract expressionism and pop art better. The more we see and hear about it the more the brain contains the information. Again I did not like the format of the Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the ‘50s and ‘60s. It cut your attention off every time it went to a different artist. The information was good though. Andy Warhol: Images of an Image was great. I liked to see the artist view of the paintings or prints. I never knew about the Art Factory before so that just adds to my thoughts about Warhol that he very flamboyant and a little off.

Pointillism, Dadaism, and Surrealism

I chose Dada and Surrealism because I enjoy Surrealist paintings. The artist using dreams and the unconscious to create paintings intrigues me. Dada artwork interests me but I have a hard time recognizing it. The video discussed six different artists that span these movements.

Kurt Schwitters was considered a Dadaist but he opposed them. Dada artwork explores what art can be and the thought of art embracing everything in the world. His work Merzbild 25A is a collage that uses cardboard, string, paint, and newspapers. The artwork consists of triangular and circular forms and also line and color. His work is an act of discovery as well as design. He began a magazine not to promote his work but modern art.

Hannah Hoch Cut with the Kitchen Knife is an attack on the society that she detests. The Dada work shows fifty different faces. Some are political leaders, physicist, and Dada artists. She finds the images in magazines, newspapers, and books to create her piece. It is chaotic and has blackness to it but also has energy.

George Grosz believed you shouldn’t live a city too long because you lose your identity. He pretended to be the saddest man in Europe. His work Untitled was a Dada painting that showed a bitter residue within the city but there is no life and you feel trapped. He also created Pillars of Society that depicts politicians, soldiers, leaders, and priests. He believes the people in this painting blindly lead society.

Joan Miro Dutch Interior I is a parody of a Dutch 17th century painting. The Dutch painting is exactly the way you would see it in the world. Miro uses patterns organized in its own terms. When you see the paintings side by side, the forms that Miro paints depicts the man with the guitar, dog, and cat. It is a Surrealistic painting because our subconscious mind can see these images even if they don’t look like you could.

Salvador Dali The Burning Giraffe shows a world that nothing makes sense. The figures have drawers as part of their forms; crutches seem to hold them up, which is a fetish of Dali’s. His paintings usually consist of an arid landscape that reminds him of where he grew up in Spain. His paintings were usually of civilization in a decay state. Dali was very influenced by the thoughts of Sigmund Freud, which he was a great influence for Surrealist artist. The drawers in the forms represent the ideas in our minds that are tucked deep inside.

Man Ray La Fortune has components that are painted true to life. Each component diverges from reality. The billiard table is at a skewed view and the clouds are each a different color. There is one for each primary and secondary colors. He likes to play with the juxtaposition of unrelated objects. Man Ray began as a Dada artist and then turned his interests to Surrealist ideas. The painting is open to many interpretations but a few are luck and wealth.

 The next video I chose was A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884 by Georges Seurat. He covered the canvas twice, which we know by x-rays. The painting is made up of dots and dashes and uses color to create an illusion of them mixing to create a cohesive image that is characteristic of pointillism. Seurat in his early years had great emphasis on drawing. He used texture paper and conte crayons to create these drawings of light and dark. A Sunday on La Grand Jatte has no clear interpretation, one thought was the island was well known for prostitution and the woman with the fishing pole may be one of them. The monkey on lead was added at the last minute but might help the interpretation because monkeys represented sexual desire. The prominent woman to the right might be a coquette, which would have several lovers, but always looking very fashionable. When he was preparing to make the painting he spent 6 months going to the island and sketching from the same vantage point. The proportions of the figures are off and the little girl in the middle of the composition is not covered in dots just white paint. The lady that stands next to her is in the identical pose of the Egyptian art of Lady Tuya. He also created Bathers at Asniers, which represented the lower class on the opposite shore of the people in A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. They are both 11 feet by 7 feet and believed they are suppose to be displayed together. France lost the painting in 1958 because they believed it was not worth it but changed their minds later. Frederick Clay Bartlett from Chicago bought the painting for $20,000. Since this painting is reproduced in so many ways people make a pilgrimage to the Chicago Art Museum to experience it the correct way.
The videos expand on the understanding of the movements of the 19th to mid-20th century. They show more detail on certain works of art and explains it more than what the book tells us. Dada and Surrealism video I didn’t enjoy because of they way it was broken up into six different films but was spliced together. I enjoyed A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884. I learned so much more about the painting that I wouldn’t get out of our book. I never knew it was in Chicago and know I want to make the pilgrimage to see it.

Paper Mache & Paint - Mask Making

I chose three masks from the Day of the Dead festival. It is held on November 1^st and 2^nd. This Mexican holiday coincide with the Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess called Mictecacihuatl. The festival is a celebration of remembering friends and families that are deceased. During the celebration, they build private altars, make the decease’s favorite food, and take it to the gravesite as a gift.

All the samples of masks are skulls. I have always enjoyed the Day of the Dead masks they are joyful and festive instead of scary and gruesome. The colors attract me the most. The third mask I chose was because of the flower and hairstyle.

The first mask I chose uses very vibrant colors. It has flowers that fill the eye cavities. Two birds reflected of each other on the forehead. His teeth with the lines around them show movement like they are chattering. The mask is covered with all this line work, which makes the mask have rhythm that creates such energy. It is symmetrically balanced what element is on left side is reflected on right. 

The next mask also has a flower filling its eye cavities. There is a pink flower in the middle of the forehead. The mask’s mouth is wide open as if it is ready to say something. The mask uses all the colors on the color wheel and they create this joyful skull. Line work is used again on this mask to create symmetry. It uses repetition of the same teardrop shape throughout changing its size and color. 

The last mask I chose has this red flower in her hair. Her hair and the flower are sculpted so there are 3 dimensions form to them. This mask only uses red, black, and white as a color palette. The mask has a heart, teardrops, and scallops as design elements. It has asymmetrical balance to it due to the flower and hair. This mask has a more subdued feeling to it because it doesn’t consist of a lot of line work that creates rhythm. It is very unified because the artist distributed the color evenly.

The process of making the mask was fun. I got to play with paper mache again. I had to research how to make it and it surprises me that it is flour and water. I used a balloon to the base of my skull and then used plastic containers and tin pans to make the details of the eye cavities and the nose. Then I drew out several options for my design. I knew I wanted it symmetrical and to use a lot of color. After, I made a decision on the design; I needed to figure how I was going to use color. Finally created a final guide with the design and the colors I was going to use. As I painted I added other elements to embellish the skull. The dots I repeated from the top of the mask to the bottom so it would be balanced. I am very pleased with my results.  

India, Middle East, and Japan

Great Mosque of Damascus

I chose Islamic Art: India & Middle East because India has always interested me. The architecture is so grand, with pointed arches before Gothic Age and beautiful mosaics of stylized plants and script. A mosque is suppose to have a feeling of home. Islam had an explosive expansion from Spain to the border of China unlike any other religion. There are two groups of Muslims the Sunni and Shiites. The Sunnis believe that the leader of Islam should be from Muhammad’s bloodline but Shiites believed the person should be qualified for the position. The Great Mosque of Damascus was built on the Temple of Jupiter, which was converted into a cathedral. The cathedral was used for both Christian and Islam religions. Once Al-Walid took control he demolished the most of the cathedral and built the mosque. It took 10 years to build. It had a fountain in the center and a meeting place. The mosaics inside show trees and water but no one in it. It is believed it represents paradise as in the Quaran and it is waiting for us. This mosque was design was all other mosques for 1,000 years. The Muslim people were ahead of Europeans in aspects of science. There were sundials and other gadgets to show this. The desert palace of Umayyad caliph Al-Walid II was surrounded by huge hunting park, sculptures of curvy topless girls, and gorgeous mosaics buried under the sand. Islam went back and forth on the thoughts of imagery it was what was fashion at the time. Fatimids were a revolutionary force in Islamic art. They created colleges in 972 AD to spread Shiite ideas. They were also fascinated with quartz. They would carve it until paper-thin. Safavids built bridges over the Balikhichai River. They were usually 2 levels, one level was for camels and the bottom level was for tearooms. You can rent them and pleasure seekers and free thinkers would meet there. Islam was always trying to depict paradise.

Borobudur Temple

I chose the video Buddhism because I enjoy the image of Buddha, he is so calm and relaxed. Bodh Gaya in India was a place where Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains made pilgrimages. Buddha was compassionate but also rebelled against authority. He believed you have to extinguish your desires and things that feed your ego to reach enlightenment. There were two schools of Buddhism, which are hainayana (monks) and mahanyana. The Great Stupa shows the aspects of Buddha’s life but there is no visual imagery of him. Borobudur Temple in Indonesia is built in a form of lotus flower. As you go up levels the reliefs show world temptations and then shows lessons of Buddha. At the top, there are 432 carved Buddhas. It took 100 years to build but was abandoned until 1990s. The Chuang Yen Monastery in Camel, NY has the largest Buddha in the Western hemisphere. The building had to be built around it. The Great Buddha Hall has no internal pillars but layers of timber that is glued and pressed together. Surrounding the large Buddha statue there is 10,000 little Buddhas. On the pedestal there are 12 bas-reliefs of Bodhisattvas and the outside wall has paintings.

Kandariya Mahadev Temple

I chose the video on Hinduism because their believe of gods and goddesses intrigue me. The imagery of them is beautiful. Varanasi is the holiest city in India and the Ganges River is the symbol of life, death, and rebirth. Hindu gods and goddesses function like Christian saints by providing access to Brahma/God. Hindus invest so much in elaborate decorations because it is believed you can’t take it with you. A devote Hindu can’t touch a dead body only outcasts do. Mamallapuram, India is where the Gange River turns into stone. It is a holy and highly decorated place. There are underground caves that depict the epic and ordinary and the fantastic and familiar. In Khajuraho, India there is Kandariya Mahadev Temple that is for Shiva, who lives in the surrounding mountains. Panels on the side of the temple depict erotic scenes. Sex reflects the love that Brahma gives to us. Hindus were the writers of the Karma Sutra.

The Great Wave by Hokusai

I chose The Great Wave because the painting is seen in so many contexts. I wanted to learn more about it. At age 70, he had a lot of downfalls and had to go back to creating art. This print was a piece of the 36 Views of Mt. Fuji. When Hokusai first sold the prints it only sold for a price of a large bowl of noodles in the 19^th century. Since it was a print, it was thought as throw away art. For each color printed a different wood block had to be carved. The original copy was destroyed in the process of making the blocks. The printer used a new imported pigment called Prussian Blue, that didn’t fade. Hokusai used geometry to create print using circles and triangles with space collapsing. The print seems to be a work of today’s artist. It seems to be benign at times but then violent at other times. The West sees scary and fear and the Japanese see courage and perseverance in the print. The boatmen in the print weren’t fighting the wave but were going with the flow. It is believe that it is an extreme wave not a tsunami. A distinct Japanese style is the floating world style, which is living life in the moment; it wasn’t only in art but novels and illustrated poetry books. Hokusai must have studied Dutch prints and the writing was written horizontal instead of vertically, which is the Japanese way. The Great Wave influenced Warhol, Hockney, and Lichtenstein in the 1960s but it was used so much and people abused it.

The videos give us a better understanding of the photographs in the book. We can see the sculpture and architecture in 3-dimension. I get more details about the specific work in the video then the book could give me. The book only has generalized descriptions of the works. My favorite videos were Buddhism and Hinduism. The religions peak my interest. I’m Christian but I like to learn about different faiths. The imagery in them two religions just intrigues me. One day I want to go to Thailand to see the grand Buddhas there and the artistry that they create in fabric and jewelry.

In Country: Soldiers' Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan by Jennifer Karady

 The Exhibition 

The title of the exhibit is In Country: Soldier’ Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan by Jennifer Karady. The theme is the challenges that soldiers have to deal with when returning to civilian life and adjustments they have to make to survive in society. The exhibit is used to reach the community and veterans, it is designed to hang as fine art or it could be published as a book. 

Market Arcade (Main Street facade)

Market Arcade interior

 The Gallery

I went to Cepa Gallery that is in the Market Arcade in Downtown Buffalo. Cepa Gallery has exhibits on all three floors and also in the basement of the building. The exhibit I went to see was on the 2^nd and 3^rd floor. Since it was on two floors it was not the ideal way to display them but that is the way their space is. There are other businesses in the building so it seem they took what space was open. The 3^rd floor was only their gallery and I think they should take over the whole third floor to have cohesiveness. The building has a skylight that runs the concourse of the building, which brings in a lot of natural light. The 2^nd floor gallery has walls that filter out the natural light where the windows are. The walls could be used to hang artwork, too. Small LED lights that were attached to a track lit the photographs. In the 3^rd floor gallery they didn’t have them walls so there were bad reflections in the glass of the frame. The walls and ceiling were all white with traditional style gray trim around doorways and baseboards and crown moulding. The ductwork for the heating and cooling was visible which is very industrial but painted it white to camouflage it. The floors were original wood and they creaked but I like the combination of old and new. The galleries were long hallways but they had small divisions where doorways were. It created a very intimate space for the artwork that hung in the different divisions.

The Artwork

The divisions that were created by the doorways the artwork was organized by one photograph in first, then two photographs, and one photograph again, and so on. There were a total of 14 photographs and I read her goal is to do 25 in total. The 3^rd floor gallery was set up in the same way. When two photographs were presented in one space there was approximately 5 feet separating them. They are all colored photographs that measure 5 ft x 5 ft. All of them have a soldier’s story that is labeled on the side on a separate board, which is 11 in x 14 in. Each work has a 1 in white frame around it that blends in with the walls. The photographs have an image of the actual veteran within the scene. Each artwork is different because the composition of it coincides with the story being told.

Criticism of 3 Artworks

All the photographs are representational of the story that is told but has this surrealistic sensation. Karady wanted the viewer to experience how the soldier is feeling by imagery. She also wants the viewer to see how the soldier is adapting to everyday life, which usually incorporates their family and friends.

Former Sergeant Jose Adames, US Marine Corps Recon, Stinger Gunner, 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Brooklyn, NY, February 2009

48”x 48” Chromogenic Color Print

The photograph is of a city block on garbage day. The garbage truck is on its way but there is a pothole that it will probably hit. The pothole seems larger than the norm. The Marine veteran is crouched down on the sidewalk with his ears covered with his hands. Karady uses a variety of components to keep your eye moving. There is linear perspective used as the building, street, and sidewalk are all going to a vanishing point to the left of the composition. Your eyes follow the street and create movement of the garbage truck that is coming towards us. The pothole has smoke billowing out of it because it stands for the mortar explosion in a small scale.

 Former Senior Airman John Tingley, US Air Force, Airborne Radar Technician/Firefighter for AWACS, veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, with Manuel and Sid, Highways Theatre, Santa Monica, CA, May 2008

48”x 48” Chromogenic Color Print

The photograph is a scene inside a bedroom. There are two men sitting on the floor playing video games but the TV has a radar screen on it. There is a small plane model on top of the TV. There is a dog next to the men but his attention in to the Air Force veteran. The Air Force veteran is floating above his bed looking down at the men. He seems to be isolated from the rest of the scene. The nightstand holds many prescription bottles. Karady creates this bedroom scene, which keeps our eyes moving to see everything within it. She uses light that comes in from the lower left corner to make our eye move to the top, right corner. The weightlessness of the veteran represents how he felt inside the jet, which he never was strapped in. He was the radar technician in the jet so that is why the TV screen has radar on it. 

Former Staff Sgt. Andrew Davis, 75th Ranger Regiment, U.S. Army, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, with wife Jodie, and Iraq war veterans and friends Tom and Andy, Saratoga Springs, NY, October 2009

48”x 48” Chromogenic Color Print

The photograph is set in a rural area along a creek. The Army veteran is sitting on a rock with two of his buddies with blood all over their uniforms. The one man is washing the blood out. The Army veteran has an eyeball in his right hand and his buddies have eyeglasses on that have eyes on slinkies, which only the right eye is springing up and down. Also, there are eyeballs in the grass by the men. The Army veteran’s wife is pitching a tent in the background and looking towards him with hope. Karady uses the road to make our eyes follow the path, which makes your eyes go to the wife. The wife uses her gaze to help our eyes go to the men. She uses the creek to represent the story but also it could represent the men reflecting on their story. The artwork uses the trees in the upper part to balance the men in the lower part of the photograph.

I didn’t take my camera because I thought it would be redundant to take a photograph of a photograph. I’ve been to Cepa Gallery before and have taken classes there, too. I didn’t mind looking at the physical space of the gallery. I enjoy architecture of Buffalo, so I got to analyze the space within. I studied the space first and answered the questions that referred to it then I looked at the exhibit so I could enjoy it.

Hand Rendering

                                           Used Dominant Hand

                                         Used Non-Dominant Hand

I do not like drawing any part of the body. Hands seem very hard because there are your thumb, fingers, and knuckles. You try to keep them proportional to one another and the correct angles of how they are positioned. I kept on putting it off and I wasn’t looking forward to drawing with my non-dominant hand. My brother suggested just make a contour drawing with my non-dominant hand and make it a turkey. He made me laugh. I used pencil and charcoal. I used pencil to make a contour drawing because it is easier to erase. Then I went over with charcoal to get the shadows and highlights on my hands. I have no control drawing with my non-dominant hand. I had a hard time when I switched from charcoal to my blender tool not to pick it up with my dominant hand. My dominant hand drawing has roundness and the fingers seem proportional to one another. I believe the highlights and shadows are rendered well. My non-dominant hand drawing has fingers that bend in different ways and my little finger looks like it is glued onto to my hand. The shadows underneath the hand are done well. I will never use my non-dominant hand again. I don’t like that feeling of not in control.

Michelangelo, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Durer

I chose The Drawings of Michelangelo because I love his frescoes on the Sistine Chapel and I admire the tedious work that created that masterpiece. Many of Michelangelo’s drawings are gone by his own hand. He did not want people to see his hesitations and second-guessing. He apprenticed with Ghirlandaio, which he learned to sketch out space and used simplified abstractions for the figures. He was also taught how to use cross- hatching to create drapery of clothing. He taught himself to sculpt and learned by examples of classical art. He had more knowledge of the human body than classical artists so his work shows muscle and bone underneath the flesh. In created David, which took him two years to sculpt. In 1508, he was commissioned by Pope Julius II to do the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Medici commissioned him to do the family tomb in San Lorenzo. He took in perspective the angle of the viewer when he created it. He sculpted the veins in the body just as the drawings had them but never finished due to political unrest and he went in hiding. In Last Judgment, Christ is shown airy and three-dimensional: the saved and damned are not shown differently, they all have humanistic feel. This fresco depicts violence and brutality. It is believed he is questioning his own mortality. In the 1560s, as he approached his death, he felt hope and dread and the need for redemption.

I chose La Primavera video because I like Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Her flowing hair and how she is trying to cover herself intrigues me. Also, Adobe Illustrator used Venus as their icon for a few years. This video was about another painting La Primavera, which is still a mystery today. It was a very large piece that was 10 feet wide. It had nine figures from Classical mythology, which are Mercury, 3 Graces, Venus, Cupid, Flora, Chloris, and Zephyr. He threw out the restriction of Christian art but this painting could depict Venus as the Virgin Mary and Cupid as the Christ child. Lorenzo II commissioned this piece for his nephew and his new wife. This was built into a sofa bed in the bedroom of the couple. Botticelli used egg tempera to achieve the flesh tones and lead white for finer details. The painting consists of a darker them of the rape of Chloris by Zephyr. Flowers in the meadow are depicted like the real flower and there is a belief the flowers have a symbolic theme of marriage and love. This painting has so many connotations; I don’t believe anyone can be wrong. It is suppose to touch you by its beauty and intellectualism.

I chose The Power of Art: Caravaggio because I didn’t know much about him and now I wish I didn’t because he was mentally unstable. He tangled with the law most of his life and used his art to get out of trouble. He lived in cheap rooms, had drunken nights, and was always on the fly. His art was of the here and now, he never drew and went straight to the canvas. Young Sick Bacchus is a portrait of himself, which he represents himself of the god Bacchus. His skin is green and the grapes are starting to rot. He makes a god a human. Calling of Saint Matthew creates a real event not just a scene. He makes a sacred painting out of squalid. He covers Christ up so his finger is emphasized. Martyrdom of Saint Matthew is a brutal assault in an alley. The light is on the sinner and viewers look at it as if they are running away from the event. He work began to be too offensive and indecent for the Church. He paints David with the Head of Goliath to give to Cardinal Scipione Borghese for pardoning him so he could finally return home. He paints himself as Goliath. It is believed that is how he saw himself, the villain. It is believed he did this painting to recognize the person he was and faces the truth about himself.

I chose Albrecht Dürer: Image of a Master because I don’t know much about him and he was from the North where the Renaissance took longer to reach. He is known as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. He enjoyed painting portraits and hands and showing age in the faces. He was very skilled in his woodcuts and was his main source of income. He learned the art of perspective and perfect form. He traveled a lot and began to paint beautiful landscapes. In Venice, he painted the Festival of the Rosary, it had fresh, bright colors and he included himself in the back. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was a woodcut that shows support for Martin Luther. It shows stormy weather and the death that was occurring because of the conflict. He finally adapted to copper plates; which gave him greater chance to create lights and darks.

Every video gives greater depth into each artist and who influences them. They also talk more in-depth about certain works more than what the book tells us. The videos paint the artists are real people not just people we read about in art history books. I enjoyed all the videos. Artists are usually unique people but Caravaggio was off his rocker. They also gave us a chance to see more of the Renaissance art and the characteristics of it: bright colors, perspective, lights and darks, and nudes. Dürer was interesting because he did more woodcuts and etchings than paintings. It was nice to see a different medium done in the Renaissance.

Reviewing our peers

 I agreed with most of the elements that my fellow students represented. Danielle Saj’s movement photo was balanced, too. The rocks in the bottom left corner balances the trees in the top right corner. Deborah Russell’s texture photo also represents line. Lines either go vertically and horizontally. These were just a couple of examples that showed other principles and elements. Deborah chose Jehan Georges Vibert The Marvelous Sauce and I did, too. We both liked the photorealism of the artwork and the work that went into it to create that effect. Danielle had several pieces from Carolyn Panzica shown. I enjoyed that it was food and it was considered art. I searched Carolyn Panzica and found out she is a cake designer and she owns the Chocolate Bar in Buffalo.  I believe cake design is art and I’m glad to see it in a gallery.  I already do read my peer’s blogs. After we do a project or art making, I always go down the list and look at everyones. I like to see what other people’s view on subjects are and see what they create. There still no comments on my blog and today this is due so I’m not waiting any longer. I will check my blog for any comments after a few days. I’m interested to see their opinion.

Ancient Mediterranean Worlds & The Middle Ages

The video More Human Than Human showed how all the world likes to exaggerate the human body. We see that in Venus of Willendorf that was made 25,000 years ago. In this figure, the breasts, butt, and thighs are enlarged to unbelievable proportions. The video showed other figures that were found around the world and the same body parts were exaggerated. By 5,000 BC along the Nile settled civilizations appeared. Tomb of Ramses VI had proportioned figures but not realistic forms. The Egyptians showed the body from its clearest angle. The way they carved bodies didn’t change for 3,000 years. There is evidence in the Tomb of Ramose that they used a grid to form the body and used the same grid for all them years. After 3,000 years, the body began being exaggerated again which is believed to occur because we are influenced by our culture. In 1972, Riace Bronzes were found in the sea, they were made in Ancient Greece. The bodies were perfectly defined, anatomically correct, and perfect proportion. They believed the gods took human form so man should look good, also. The Kritios Boy from 480 BC was truly realistic but within a generation the Greeks abandoned realism. The sculptor Polclitus in 450 BC shows athleticism and divides the body into quadrants and creates the body to show at rest and movement. 

The next video I watched was Late Gothic Art and Architecture: England, 1400-1547 these years were very hard and bloody but it created glorious artwork. The church had to magnificent and huge compared to the mortals. It was an age of faith and consumption. Henry VII adds a Perpendicular style church to Westminister Abbey. The perpendicular style emphasizes vertical lines. It is lavish, symbolic, and virtuosity. There began a national identity and regionalism. Romanesque style incorporates wood roofs, vaults, and angels. The church became the social center of the community. During Reformation, altarpieces, stained glass, and plates were destroyed. 

The next video is A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript. Very few men knew how to read and write so the monasteries produced most of the books. They were copied by hand in adverse conditions, like low lighting, aching hands, difficult text, and demanding abbots. The scribes couldn’t talk to their neighbors so they would write their thoughts in the margins. After the book was done, the scribes would write in their own words a page or two. In the 13^th century, cities flourishes and trade increased which gave a lot of work to booksellers, paper sellers, scribes, illuminators, and anyone dealing with the book industry. How-tos, romances, histories, entertainment, and prayer books began to be popular. By the late 15^th century, the printing press replaced the scribes.

The last video I watched was Art and Life in the Middle Ages: The Luttrell Psalter, which was a prayer book in Latin. It consisted of scenes from the Bible, monsters, and everyday life. The illuminations were full of detail, hairstyles, emotion in the people’s faces, and fashion.  This book gave a glimpse into how Medieval people lived. It showed how the servants did the jobs for the Luttrell family. They farmed, spun wool, cooking, falconry, and games they played. Everyday life is weaved in with the stories of the Bible.

 I chose the three videos because I love Gothic architecture and the illuminations of the Middle Ages. The things I like about the architecture are the pointed arches, stained glass windows, and how massive the churches are. Illumination interests me because I’ve taken calligraphy and we had to illuminate a page. I enjoyed decorating a page to make it more interesting. The videos strengthens the thoughts in the book. I believe you can learn more easily by watching videos.  If you read it and then watch a video about it, it helps to contain that information so you don’t forget it. More Human Than Human video I did not like. I don’t like Greek and Egyptian art that much but everyone has the preferences. The other three videos I enjoyed. I love to see the different Gothic churches and I enjoyed seeing The Luttrell Psalter so in depth. It had such beautiful drawings from one page to another.