Extra credit assignment 3- Sue Mitchell exhibit

Extra credit assignment 3- Sue Mitchell exhibit

I recently went to the Riverside Museum of Art to go see Sue Mitchell’s exhibit “52.”  The best part about this exhibit is that you can go and talk to Sue Mitchell about her work.  I went with a friend and we had a lovely conversation with Sue about her exhibit.  She was telling us what inspired her to do this.  The exhibit is a collection of her work during her sabbatical that she took for her 60^th birthday.  The exhibit itself was really cool.  It was a collection of 52 trees that she photographed, that were in a park in riverside that she loved to go to.  In each piece, she included a close up of each tree’s bark.  I thought that was really cool because it was like each tree had its own finger print.  I found myself looking closely at each tree, distinguishing what was different about each of them.  She came across her idea for this exhibit when she realized that there were 52 trees in the park.  She was born in ’52, there are 52 weeks in her year-long sabbatical, and the 52 trees were a coincidence she decided to document.  Next to the photographs of the trees is a collection of everything that she had done for the year.  She threw away nothing from her journey to the exhibit.  Here are some pictures I took of it. 

After looking around, my friend and I had a lovely conversation with Sue.  She was really nice and gave us some really good advice.  She told us to keep a sketchbook journal of all of our ideas.  She was showing us her journal that she had kept for a couple of years before she started her sabbatical.  It was interesting to see the progression of her ideas.  She told us that if she had not written down her ideas, she probably would not have been able to pull of the exhibit, or it would not have been on as large of a scale as it was.  She was also interested in science and I am too, so we talked about some things that she was thinking about during her journey, like conservation.  Here is a photo of me and my friend (taken by Sue, it was pretty neat to have a professional photographer take your picture) in front of her picture of the lake in the park.

Extra credit assignment 2- My trip to the California Museum of Photography

Extra credit assignment 2- My trip to the California Museum of Photography

I really enjoyed my visit to the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, California, and it is also free to students, which was really wonderful.  The museum has a very interesting exhibit on the history of the camera, as well as exhibits on different artists.  There were two particular artists whose works I really liked.  One of them was Katy Grannan.  Here is a picture of her work that I took at the Photography Museum.

Untitled, photograph, 2011, Katy Grannan










 I really like the way that her photographs speak to you when looking at them.  She managed to capture the perfect moment, so full of emotion.  My favorite one of the pictures is the one of the woman with the dark hair.  Katy Grannan took this photo in a perfect moment of vulnerability.  This is a picture of a feeling that everyone has felt at some point in their life.  When I looked at it, I had a reminiscing feeling of my own life struggles.  This photograph moved me in the way that art is supposed to; it represented a part of the human condition.

            The other exhibit that I really liked was the work by artist Roberto Fumagalli, called “Blockaded.”  It is an exhibit on oppressive societies such as Iran and North Korea.  I was naturally interested in this because my mother is half Korean.  My grandmother was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, and left as a child while they still could.  When I saw this picture, I was immediately filled with different emotions.

Untitled, photograph, 2011, Roberto Fumagalli

My first thought was curiosity about how he managed to take these photographs.  Getting into North Korea is not easy.  That really shows dedication to his work.  When looking at this picture of this man, I feel a sense of longing in his expression.  It is like he is looking back, wishing for something else.  I imagine that is how being trapped in a country must feel.  No one living in a country like America can even begin to understand what this person feels, but I think that this picture offers a glimpse into the everyday life of a North Korean citizen.  Roberto wanted to show us that people living in these countries are not evil, and are not that different than us.  They are simply trapped under oppression that they cannot escape. 

            The California Museum of Photography is a great museum, and I would recommend it to anyone living nearby.  It was a fun trip to see the history of cameras, as well as the works of Katy Grannan, Robert Fumagalli, and other photographers.  

Extra credit assignment 1- My trip to the Hindu temple

Extra credit assignment 1- My trip to the Hindu temple

Over fall break, my best friend, who attends a local college in Los Angeles, invited me to go with her Survey of Asian Art class to the LA regional Hindu temple in Chino.  It was a really fun day of learning about a different culture, eating good Indian food, and seeing the beautiful art that goes into the temple.  The first thing that we learned is that everything is hand carved.  It is a truly beautiful place.  The BAPS cultural center is made of wood, and all of the panels were made by Indian craftsmen.  One of the things that struck me that the tour guide said was that the kind of art that the building was made from is not something that can be taught.  He said that all of the craftsmen came from a long line of craftsmen, and they grew up watching their parents and grandparents carving.  This is what the wood paneling looked like:

BAPS cultural center, Wood carving, 2011, various Indian craftsmen

Each of the panels and their placement have a different meaning, combined together to make a beautiful work of art. 

            The actual temple was one of the most beautiful things.  We were not allowed to photograph it.  The Hindu scriptures have detailed instruction on how to build the temple.  The building is made out of 36,000 different pieces, each interlocking to hold the building in place.  The temple does not look very big until you are walking up the marble steps.  I felt very small climbing up to the top to enter.  To respect tradition, we took off our shoes before entering the building.  When we entered, I was in awe of the beauty of the inside of the temple.  There were marble columns, all hand carved, and statues of the deities, as well as some golden statues.  I walked around admiring the work, and then we were told that a service was starting and we sat down to watch.  The music started to play and they lighted candles by the golden statues.  It lasted for about ten minutes and they blessed us.  We were not allowed to take pictures, but here is what the building looks like (taken from the internet).

LA regional Hindu Temple, Marble, 2011, various Indian craftsmen

One of my favorite things about our trip to the temple was learning about some of the misconceptions that people have about the Hindu religion.  Something that a lot of people do not know is that they are monotheistic.  All of the deities that they have are actually different representations and qualities of the one unifying god that they believe in.  This belief is translated well into the art that is incorporated into their religious services.

            

Assignment 12- 17th and 18th Centuries

Assignment 12- 17^th and 18^th Centuries

I really like the Baroque Era of art.  The colors are amazing and there is such a strong emphasis on beauty.  It is a nice change from Renaissance art as it favored more ornamental designs instead of a simplistic elegance.  I like to see this kind of art because it is really pleasing to the eye, it invites you to take in every detail and see the contrasts between the light and the darkness.  One person who achieved this in sculpture was Gianlorenzo Bernini.  This can be seen in his sculpture St. Teresa in Ecstasy.

St. Teresa in Ecstasy, 1645-1652, marble and glit bronze, Gianlorenzo Bernini

The first thing that I noticed was the detail in the clothes.  There are so many indentations in the marble that I feel like the cloth is real, like I could touch it and it would bend in my fingers. 

            Sculpture was not the only thing that came out of the Baroque Era.  The paintings were also really nice.  They used contrast in their work, layering dark rich color next to bright bold colors.  One example of this is the Entombment of Christ.

Entombment of Christ, 1604, oil, Caravaggio

The dark background really makes the painting stand out.  Another thing that really made the period extravagant was the architecture.  They really went bold in the designs.  The most extreme example of Baroque art is the Palace of Versailles.

Central Portio of the Garden(west) façade, Palace of Versailles, 1669-1685, Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardoin Mansart

While the colors were not as bright as the colors in some other movements, fauvism, for example, I like the contrast that you get when you put a dark background with a light colored center.  The art of the Baroque era is very aesthetically pleasing.

Assignment 11- The Price of Art

Assignment 11- The Price of Art

Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud recently broke the record of the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction at $142.4 million, which up until recently was held by Edvard Munch’s The Scream, sold for $119,922,500 .  The Scream was purchased at an auction in 2012.

Three Studies of Lucian Freud, 1969, oil, Francis Bacon

The Scream, 1893, Tempera, Oil paint, Pastel, Edvard Munch

On the same day as Three Studies of Lucian Freud was sold, another record sale was made.  This record was for the most expensive art sold while the artist was still living.  That honor goes to artist Jeff Koonse, whose sculpture Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for $58.4 million.

Balloon Dog (Orange), 1994-2000, stainless steel, Jeff Koons

Something that is interesting about the balloon dog is that there are 5 different balloon dogs, each a different color, all with a different owner.  The blue balloon dog is at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the magenta balloon dog is owned by billionaire François Pinault, the red one is owned by Dakis Joannou, and the yellow one is owned by Steven Cohen. 

            One of the most expensive paintings that really surprised me was the painting White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) by Rothko, which sold for $72.84 million.

White Center (Yellow, Pink, Lavender on Rose, 1950, oil, Mark Rothko

What surprised me about it was how little detail there is.  There is almost no detail in this painting.  To me, it looks like a few blobs of color and a black line.  I think that a preschooler could have painted that.  Rothko wanted you to see what you wanted in the painting, and that is a nice thought, but I am not sure that I think that it is worth so much money for this piece to be hanging on your wall. 

            On the other hand, I think that Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, is actually worth what it went for.

Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890, oil, Vincent Van Gogh

This painting sold for $82.5 million at auction.  I personally wish that this painting was in a gallery where people could see it.  I like it because it is impressionism of a person, and I feel like portraits are not often done in an impressionistic style.  I like the way that the bold strokes look o the coat and how Dr. Gachet looks so stoic.  This painting is actually of something, which in my opinion should make it more valuable than the Rothko. 

            Another piece that I think deserved what it was paid for is the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer that was purchased in 2004 by Ronald S. Lauder for $135 million.

Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer, gold, oil, Gustav Klimt

I think that the fact that he used real gold adds a lot to it, but the history also contributes to it.  This piece was taken by the Nazis after Austria was taken during World War II.  It was supposed to be destroyed, but it survived.  It is an amazing part of history that has survived, and it deserves to tell its story.  Right now it is on display at Lauder’s gallery, the Neue Gallery in New York City.  

Assignment 10- Ancient Mediterranean Works

Assignment 10- Ancient works

The section of our text book that I felt most drawn to in the ancient Mediterranean worlds section was the section on Rome.  I took Latin as my language in high school, and we looked at a lot of the architectural work and art that was done by the ancient romans.  One thing that my Latin teacher always said was, “the Romans were lazy, they did nothing but copy the Greeks.”  He cited examples like the Gods and the buildings.  The one thing that he always asserted was that the Romans improved upon what the Greeks did. When I was looking at the text book, the first image that I instantly recognized what the Colosseum.  Everyone has heard of the Colloseum.  It is one of the most amazing ancient structures still standing today.  The building was planned based on Greek architecture, but the Romans built it better.  They built it to last and on a much larger scale. 

Colosseum, Rome, 72-80 C.E.

A good example of a comparison between the architectural work of the Greeks versus the Romans is looking at the similarities between the Greek Parthenon and the Roman Temple of Portunus. 

Parthenon, Athens, Greece, 438 B.C.

Temple of Portunus, Rome, Italy, first century B.C.

The similarities between these two are very telling.  The Parthenon was built approximately three centuries prior to the Temple of Portunus.  These were both holy places for the people.  The Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena, and the Temple of Portunus was built for the God Portunus.  The thing that I noticed first about both temples is the columns.  Both temples have tall columns supporting the top of the building, which look very similar as well.  The roof of the Parthenon is degraded, but I can see from the structure that it probably looked very similar to the Temple of Portunus.  By the time that the Romans were building with columns, technology had become more advanced.  They had other ways to hold up the roof, which is shown in the side walls in the Temple of Portunus. The columns in the Parthenon were for the purpose of holding the building upright, whereas the columns in the Temple of Portunus was a style choice.  I think it is interesting that even though they did not have to, the Romans architects made a conscious choice to use the same design styles as the Greeks.  

Assignment 9- Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

Assignment 9- Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was 12 years younger than Henri Matisse.  The two artists worked at the same time and knew each other personally.  The two of them were a certain type of “friends but enemies.”  They analyzed each other’s work, and they also tried to best each other.  Both Picasso and Matisse went through an evolution of their work.  They both started in a more realistic style.  They are both incredible artists in their own rights.  They have the ability to paint things that are so realistic, but they chose to represent their emotions in other forms.  For example, the piece Woman Reading was one of the first pieces that Matisse did.

Woman Reading, oil, 1894, Henri Matisse

You can see the details in this painting.  It is very beautiful and could easily be compared to the great works of realism art.  Picasso painted a piece called the Old Fisherman.

Old Fisherman, oil, 1895, Pablo Picassa

This piece is so detailed and there is so much depth.  This piece shows us the incredible talent that Picasso possessed.  Both artists could have spent an entire career painting like this, but instead they decided to choose a different kind of art, expressing themselves through styled including cubism. 

            As time goes on, both artist begin to focus less and less on the details and more and more on the shapes and the colors.  A great example of the shift in Matisse’s work was the piece Dance(II).  

Dance(II), oil, 1910, Henri Matisse

There is no longer the details that make a painting look realistic, but rather a focus on the shape and the free flowing motion of the people and the contrast of the colors.  Picasso also shifts focus in the same way, shown in his painting At the Lapin Agile.

At the Lapin Agile, oil, 1905, Pablo Picasso

You can see a similar change that is seen in the Matisse painting.  This painting is a little bit more detailed than Dance (II), but it is still not realistic.  The colors and the shapes have become more important that the details of the face at this point in Picasso and Matisse’s career.

            As time goes on, both artist move further and further away from realism, moving towards abstract art.  The piece Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya shows the change in the style of Henri Matisse.

Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya, oil, 1947, Henri Matisse

This piece is very similar in style to Picasso’s painting which is untitled.

Untitled, oil, 1923, Pablo Picasso

Even though the Picasso painting is a distorted shape, you can see the parallels in the two pieces because the Matisse has a distortion in color.  The change in the styles is very drastic from their original works. 

            The final pieces of the two artist’s life are very telling of the way that their careers have progressed.  Henri Matisse turned to using paper cutouts when he could no longer paint.  In 1953, only a year before his death, he made this piece Standing Blue Nude.

Standing Blue Nude, gouache and cut out paper, 1953, Henri Matisse







 Picasso painted a final self-portrait in 1972.

Self Portrait, oil, 1972, Pablo Picasso

This painting also shows how far Picasso has come away from realism.  This piece is both a representation of how he sees the world and how he saw himself.

Assignment 8-Georgia O’keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz

Assignment 8-Georgia O’keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz

            The first and most striking difference between the work of Georgia O’keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz is the use of color.  Kathe Kollwitz uses black and grey for all of her works.  Georgia O’keeffe is the exact opposite of Kathe Kollwitz.  She uses very vibrant colors in her work that really light up the canvases.  Georgia O’keeffe gained most of her inspiration from the desert.  Some of her best works came from the time that she spent in the desert of Santa Fe New Mexico.  This piece, Ram’s Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills.

Ram's Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills, oil, 1935, Georgia O'keeffe

You can see the details and the beautiful colors in this painting.  She put a lot of emotion into this painting.  The colors next to each other make this painting incredibly vivid.

            Kathe Kollwitz had a very depressing life.  She had lost a son to the war and she believed that art should reflect the conditions of the time.  Living in what was then East Prussia, there is no question as to why her paintings are so grim.  It was a rough place to grow up and live in, and that is reflected in her works.  This one is called Woman with Dead Child, and it really shows her sadness.

Woman with Dead Child, etching, 1903, Kathe Kollwitz

The contrast between these two pieces is striking.

            Both of these artists drew inspiration from the areas that they were living.  This allowed Georgia O’keeffe to paint many beautiful images, drawing inspiration from the beauty of her surroundings.  She painted the beauty of New York, Hawaii, and New Mexico.  She was able to go outside and sit in isolation and paint all of the beauty around her.  This lead to some really lovely pieces of art, such as the Pineapple Bud and Blue and Green Music.

Pineapple Bud, oil, 1939, Georgia O'keeffe

Blue and Green Music, oil, 1921, Georgia O'keeffe

You can clearly see the influences of where she lived in these pieces.  I think that Blue and Green Music shows the busy life of New York.  It is the color of music of her time.  While it is very busy, it is also very pleasant.  Pineapple Bud is from her time in Hawaii, and it is very representative of the land.  However, the colors are skewed, putting complimentary colors next to each other.  It makes it so vivid and bright. 

            Kathe Kollwitz shows the sadness of where she lived in her painting Survivors, which was painted in a very broken post World War I Germany,

Survivors, graphite, 1923, Kathe Kollwitz

You can also see another example of this in her wood etching In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht, done just a few years before Survivors.

In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht, wood etching, 1920, Kathe Kollwitz

Both artists wove their lives into their work in different ways.  Though very different, the composition of their lives work were created in a very similar manner.  

Assignment 7- Inspiration and Influences

Assignment 7- Influences

Leonardo da Vinci was 31 years older than Raphael and was a major inspiration and a mentor to Raphael.  It is most evident in his sketch “Woman on a Balcony,” which shows clear resemblance to da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

 Woman on a Balcony,  ink, 1504, Raphael

Mona Lisa, oil, 1503-1505, Leonardo Da Vinci














It is obvious how similar these two pieces are.  The Raphael sketch is very similar to the Mona Lisa.  It is theorized that the sketch was inspired by one of the earlier versions of the Mona Lisa that was painted by da Vinci. This sketch was never painted by Raphael, but a very similar piece was painted, called Young Woman with a Unicorn.                                                            

                                                                      Young Woman with a Unicorn, oil, 1506, Raphael

The way that he portrays facial features is very similar to the way that da Vinci does, for example the Ginevra de' Benci.

Ginevra de' Benci, oil, 1474-1478, Leonardo Da Vinci

I really think that the way the two painters portray eyes is similar.  They both place an emphasis on eyelids.  They also use a lot of the same facial expressions in their paintings.  People never seem to be smiling in a da Vinci or a Raphael painting.  Raphael also seems to use a lot of the stances that da Vinci has his subject take.  The majority of both of their portraiture work involves a woman with her hair out of her face with her shoulders back. 

            Raphael also clearly got the way that he portrays mother and child from the work of da Vinci.  Both of them paint mothers looking lovingly down at their children.  Side by side, some of the mother and child paintings are so similar that you can barely tell which painting belongs to which artist.  For example, looking at the Madonna and Child with a pomegranate by da Vinci,

Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate, oil, 1487, Leonardo Da Vinci

we can see that it bears a resemblance to the Raphael painting Madonna del Granduca, which was painted 18 years after Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate.

Madonna del Granduca, oil,1505, Raphael

The similarities between these pieces are too strong to say that Raphael was not influenced by Leonardo da Vinci.  It is obvious that he drew a lot of inspiration from the pieces that da Vinci had produced before them.  Both artists are incredible in their own rights, and da Vinci had to have been inspired by someone as well, and Raphael in turn inspired the next generation of artists.  

Assignment 6- Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonrotti

assignment 6-Michelangelo and Leonardo

One interesting thing about both Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo is that when you first think of them, each has a signature piece that comes to mind.  For Leonardo, it is the Mona Lisa, and for Michelangelo, it is the Sistine chapel.

Sistine Chapel, fresco, 1508-1512, Michelangelo

Mona Lisa, oil, 1503-1517, Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo both spent a lot of time creating works of art for the Catholic Church.  They also were both masters of the human anatomy, they studies the form and were incredibly skilled at showing movement in flat images.  One thing that I find interesting about both of them is that they tried things outside of their comfort zones.  Michelangelo said that he was not a painter when he was asked to paint the Sistine Chapel.  Where Michelangelo was an amazing sculptor, creating beautiful works such as the Pieta, Leonardo Da Vinci was an amazing painter.  

Pieta, marble, 1498-1499, Michelangelo

Leonardo was going to try his hand at sculpture when he was commissioned to sculpt a massive bronze horse that would stand 24 feet high.  It was commissioned by the duke of Milan to guard his castle.  Da Vinci was going to make sure that it was done right, and he spent years working on sketches and finally made a full scale model.  This project, however, was stopped when the French army was attacking and all of the bronze was used to make cannons, and sadly the clay horse was used as target practice.  Years later the sketch was discovered and a group decided to cast the bronze horse, unveiling it in 1999.

Horse, ink, 1482, Leonardo Da Vinci

Completely unrelated to their work, it is rumored that the two prolific artists hated each other.  It is truly a shame that these two were not friends because so much of their work is similar and they were both mentors to Raphael.  You can see similarities in their work by looking at pieces such as the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo Da Vinci. 

Battle of Cascina, oil, 1504, Michelangelo

Battle of Anghiari, oil, 1504-1505, Leonardo Da Vinci

Looking at the two side by side, it is easy to see how similar they were.  They both had an amazing command of the human form, and were both able to make musculature come alive.  Who knows what could have come from the two of them working together.  

Assignment 5- Sculpture and Installation

Assignment 5- sculptures

This is one of my favorite Renaissance sculptures, the Crouching Boy, by Michelangelo. Marble, 1530-1534.

Crouching boy, Michelangelo, Marble, 1530-1534















I like this sculpture because it is a lot more raw than what he usually does.  So many of his other sculptures, like the Pieta, are so immaculate.

Pieta, Michelangelo, marble, 1498-1499

While the Pieta is absolutely beautiful, it does not appeal to me in the way that the Crouching Boy does.  It is too perfect.  When I look at the Pieta, I feel like it is high above me.  It is so shiny and there is so much detail that it feels real.  It feels like I am looking at something that is too good for me.  The Crouching boy, however, is very simple.  You can still make out the form, but the details are not present in the way that they are in the Pieta. 

            So many of his pieces were religious, which makes sense because the church hired him to create many masterpieces for the cathedrals.  Another piece that he created that is religious in nature is Rachel.

Rachel, Michelangelo, Marble, 1545

Beautiful sculpting did not end after the Renaissance, and I really enjoy the work of modern sculptor Emil Alzamora, who, like Michelangelo, mainly focuses on the human form.  Much like Michelangelo, he is incredibly keen to proportions and to the details of the human anatomy.  However, he skews parts of the body in an amazing artistic representation, for example, his piece Tether.

Tether, Emil Alzamora, Bronze, 2006

I think that this piece is amazing.  The way that the body looks so real and yet due to arm length you know that it is not possible.  I love his sense of the human body as well as his use of the arms to show an emotion. 

He mainly does humans, but in the piece Sleeping shark, he shows us that he also has a talent for animal anatomy. 

Sleeping Shark, Emil Alzamora, Ceramic and auto paint, 2010

I am really amused by this because a living shark could never take this position, it would literally drown.  A shark needs to propel water to keep oxygenation, either by moving or constantly open and closing its mouth.  Perhaps this shark is not sleeping but rather is dead.  It is an interesting piece even though it is not scientifically accurate.  It shows a more peaceful side to an animal that we almost always associate with violence and death. 

Out of all of his pieces, my favorite by far is Hone.                  Hone,  Emil Alzamora, Bronze, 2011. 

It is a very lager piece with exaggerated features, but when I look at it I can imagine this person standing up and walking away.