Write a personal response to a work of art in the DMA that
you either LOVE or HATE upon first looking at it. Why do you feel this way?
What visual elements in the work create strong feelings?
The piece Nature or Abundance by Léon Frédéric is a piece that I absolutely fell in love with from across the room when I first glanced at it. The amazing details in color and figurative expression left me utterly amazed. The amount of varieties in dealing with each flower petal and stem of a fruit/vegetable was a real treat for the eyes. This has to be one of my favorite pieces in the DMA simply because of the great placement of colors and realism that it carries can draw you towards it to gaze closely at it for a very long while! I think the best visual elements this piece supplies are the soft lines and brush marks both mother and children posses in comparison to all the busy places that carry throughout the artwork from the vegetables and fruits.
When we had our first trip to the DMA, I noticed a piece that looked quite odd in my perspective? I observed it for quite awhile before I decided I despised it! The colors, the composition, the organization, the contrast.. I couldn't stand it and I couldn't wrap my head around what it meant? I later found out, the next time we attended the DMA, it was Andy Warhol's print piece titled the 'Electric Chair'. I was dumbstruck when I became aware of this fact. Andy Warhol, being one of my favorite artist since I was in Elementary School, and I was repulsed by one of his portraits! I couldn't believe it..! But, when we discussed it as a class.. When I heard the meaning and background to the print-piece.. I'm glad to say that I have great appreciation for the 'Electric Chair' now. It's not one of his best portraits (from my point of view), but I'm glad to say I don't hate it. And I'm also glad to announce that I was inspired and am recreating the color scheme in one of my own pieces. Now I know it's best to fully understand what a particular artwork is about before you gain a particular feeling towards it.
BY: Antonia James Untitled-Whirlpool By Shozo Shimamoto (oil on canvas)
Description: This piece can be compared to spilled gasoline. This piece contains layers upon layers of paint puddles, each decreasing in size. This is almost like a bullseye shape, except more organic. The colors used are not very pure--they are mostly tints/shades of every color. The background behind the shape is dark.
LOVE
- Why do I feel this way? I loved this piece upon a first glance because it made me think about how much effort was put into it. Even though it looks organic and random, I know this artist was meticulous and put a lot of effort into this piece. He had to let the paint ooze very slowly onto the canvas, and stop abruptly so that the current shape could fit perfectly with the layer below it. I also loved this piece because it pops out and almost looks three-dimensional.
- What visual elements in the work create strong feelings? Shimamoto did not choose to use the brightest of colors, however, he did use many of them. The different colors really draw attention to this piece. In combination with the meticulousness and randomness of this piece, the colors create a feeling of pressure and anger. Since the entire shape fits into the frame (there is no tangent) this piece feels very contained. This containment gives a feeling of bottled up emotions; ready to pop out.
I love Untitled- Whirlpool by Shozo Shimamoto (1965). I was drawn to it when we very first entered the museum on our first trip there as a class. I have even more appreciation for it because we spent time with the piece we chose, and I feel like I formed a relationship with it. Initially I gravitated to the painting because of the many bright colors, and loved it even more upon closer inspection. It is a large piece with a black background. The main subject is an abstract shape made of many layers of paint that was dropped from above and expanded (over and over again). One reason I love this is because the shape is organic. It is how the paint expanded of its own accord without the interference of the artist. I like the thought that it's as if the paint did some of the painting. I also love the colors that were chosen. They could be seen as spontaneous, but I'm sure much thought went into each one. They are unique. The visual elements that create feelings are the colors and shapes. Yes, that is all the piece is, but they create emotion. The many colors and swirls and layers conjure up something inside, like the painting has said something in a conversation and I need to reply. I do not exactly know what this feeling is, but it is feeling. Maybe it's passion or confusion, but I can't categorize it with a word from the dictionary. That's why I love this piece- it's indescribable.
One of the contemporary pieces that I absolutely fell in love with was Cathedral by Jackson Pollock. I am usually not a huge contemporary art fan, but this piece just drew me in the moment I first saw it on our first trip to the DMA. When I stood in front of it I would just let my eyes wonder around the canvas and soak in the layers upon layers of scattered paint. What makes me really love this work of art is its ability to make me think about it; Why the scattered paint? What made him develop this revolutionary and unique style? Upon first sight the viewer can automatically recognize who created the piece, but when I look at it I know it is different than all the other Pollock paintings because he implied a different meaning to this piece. I think the Idea of having a concept of what the scattered paint is supposed to be in his work makes me enjoy it more. But my favorite part of the painting is the thick and inconsistent texture of the paint; something about it just makes it feel so real to me and lets me connect with it in a really deep and emotional way.
Yellow Roses in a Vase (Roses jaunes dans un vase) by Gustave Caillebotte is a piece I fell in love with. At first glance, I was immediately fascinated by the use of brush strokes. The shapes in this piece seem to be defined by their highly developed texture. I love this piece because it makes me wonder about the technique that Gustav used to create it. Gustav has added interest to a seemingly plain vase of yellow flowers. The simplistic subject of this painting allows the viewer to really focus in on certain elements that may otherwise be overlooked. The dark and plain background of this piece is made interesting through texture. It appears as though it may have been finger painted. The white table adds a great deal of contrast to the background and the fallen petals seem as though they are jumping off the canvas. This illusion is created through the use of extremely loose and undefined lines. It is interesting to me that the piece does not rely on sharp lines to define its shapes. The shapes are created through the painting technique and the placement of color. This still life is so simple, yet so fascinating.
The piece Water Lilies by Claude Monet is a piece that I absolutely fell in love when I first saw it. The abstracted details and color choices really catch my attention with the contrast against the brown frame. The varieties in texture shown in the water and on the Lily pads give it a natural feel. This has to be one of my favorite pieces in the DMA because of the placement of colors and lines created on the reflection on the water carries your eye from the bottom of the work up to the top. In my opinion the best visual elements are the soft brush marks and light colors in comparison to the dark more detailed frame.
Untitled by Cindy Sherman is a type-c print I was immediately drawn to. It is a simple horizontal image of a woman laying in ruffled sheets glancing off to the side. The piece is very passive in its soft shades of pink and beige, creating almost a dream-like image, and contrasting with the darker shadows emitted from her, particularly from her face. I think I was so interested in this image because of its seemingly effortless qualities that contain so much simple beauty contrasted with the mood in the woman's face- a unknown mood of anxiety, contemplation, or maybe just of indifference. I also noticed a wedding ring of her finger, which I thought was interesting and made me curious as to why that was included. Sherman accomplished this strange, dreamlike, and somewhat dark and mysterious, mood primarily through her contrast of imagery through color and light source and through her actual subject matter.
I was intrigued by Papier à Cigarettes Job, a lithograph, by Jane Atché. The print depicts the “New Woman”, the subject of the poster is a young, beautiful woman in a green dress and a cigarette in hand. The sophisticated feeling is created though the use of the hazy smoke surrounding the image and her luxurious clothes. The print has a minimalistic and yet very bold color choice, the green, black and white contrast each other and add depth to the poster. The print makes me wonder about the woman featured in it, and upon learning that Atché was the first, and only, famous poster maker of the time I was even more interested in the poster.
The piece "Youth" created by : Nic Nicosia American,1951 at first glance, gave me the impression of symbolic meaning or representation. This photograph depicts the seemingly wild, and care free life of three individuals riding motorcycles surrounded by a sunset display.Two of which are a couple kissing unaware or careless to the road ahead. The remaining character is another young male who of which is dressed in an uncommon outfit for riding motorcycles. The man is wearing only underwear, tennis shoes, a hat, and muscle-shirt. After rotating my main view of the man, which gave me the initial impression of humor, I later realized the symbolic debt after seeing the entire imagery. What I love most about this piece is the emotional manipulation that occurs from viewing the piece bit by bit.Later after reading the label I felt a sense of relief and appreciation all at once. I acquired this due to the anticipation created to see if my assumption was correct to the meaning of the piece, and the appreciation comes from understanding the piece and empathizing with it.
The piece Nature or Abundance by Léon Frédéric is a piece that I absolutely fell in love with from across the room when I first glanced at it. The amazing details in color and figurative expression left me utterly amazed. The amount of varieties in dealing with each flower petal and stem of a fruit/vegetable was a real treat for the eyes. This has to be one of my favorite pieces in the DMA simply because of the great placement of colors and realism that it carries can draw you towards it to gaze closely at it for a very long while! I think the best visual elements this piece supplies are the soft lines and brush marks both mother and children posses in comparison to all the busy places that carry throughout the artwork from the vegetables and fruits.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had our first trip to the DMA, I noticed a piece that looked quite odd in my perspective? I observed it for quite awhile before I decided I despised it! The colors, the composition, the organization, the contrast.. I couldn't stand it and I couldn't wrap my head around what it meant? I later found out, the next time we attended the DMA, it was Andy Warhol's print piece titled the 'Electric Chair'. I was dumbstruck when I became aware of this fact. Andy Warhol, being one of my favorite artist since I was in Elementary School, and I was repulsed by one of his portraits! I couldn't believe it..! But, when we discussed it as a class.. When I heard the meaning and background to the print-piece.. I'm glad to say that I have great appreciation for the 'Electric Chair' now. It's not one of his best portraits (from my point of view), but I'm glad to say I don't hate it. And I'm also glad to announce that I was inspired and am recreating the color scheme in one of my own pieces. Now I know it's best to fully understand what a particular artwork is about before you gain a particular feeling towards it.
ReplyDeleteBY: Antonia James
ReplyDeleteUntitled-Whirlpool
By Shozo Shimamoto
(oil on canvas)
Description: This piece can be compared to spilled gasoline. This piece contains layers upon layers of paint puddles, each decreasing in size. This is almost like a bullseye shape, except more organic. The colors used are not very pure--they are mostly tints/shades of every color. The background behind the shape is dark.
LOVE
- Why do I feel this way? I loved this piece upon a first glance because it made me think about how much effort was put into it. Even though it looks organic and random, I know this artist was meticulous and put a lot of effort into this piece. He had to let the paint ooze very slowly onto the canvas, and stop abruptly so that the current shape could fit perfectly with the layer below it. I also loved this piece because it pops out and almost looks three-dimensional.
- What visual elements in the work create strong feelings? Shimamoto did not choose to use the brightest of colors, however, he did use many of them. The different colors really draw attention to this piece. In combination with the meticulousness and randomness of this piece, the colors create a feeling of pressure and anger. Since the entire shape fits into the frame (there is no tangent) this piece feels very contained. This containment gives a feeling of bottled up emotions; ready to pop out.
I love Untitled- Whirlpool by Shozo Shimamoto (1965). I was drawn to it when we very first entered the museum on our first trip there as a class. I have even more appreciation for it because we spent time with the piece we chose, and I feel like I formed a relationship with it.
ReplyDeleteInitially I gravitated to the painting because of the many bright colors, and loved it even more upon closer inspection. It is a large piece with a black background. The main subject is an abstract shape made of many layers of paint that was dropped from above and expanded (over and over again). One reason I love this is because the shape is organic. It is how the paint expanded of its own accord without the interference of the artist. I like the thought that it's as if the paint did some of the painting. I also love the colors that were chosen. They could be seen as spontaneous, but I'm sure much thought went into each one. They are unique.
The visual elements that create feelings are the colors and shapes. Yes, that is all the piece is, but they create emotion. The many colors and swirls and layers conjure up something inside, like the painting has said something in a conversation and I need to reply. I do not exactly know what this feeling is, but it is feeling. Maybe it's passion or confusion, but I can't categorize it with a word from the dictionary. That's why I love this piece- it's indescribable.
One of the contemporary pieces that I absolutely fell in love with was Cathedral by Jackson Pollock. I am usually not a huge contemporary art fan, but this piece just drew me in the moment I first saw it on our first trip to the DMA. When I stood in front of it I would just let my eyes wonder around the canvas and soak in the layers upon layers of scattered paint. What makes me really love this work of art is its ability to make me think about it; Why the scattered paint? What made him develop this revolutionary and unique style? Upon first sight the viewer can automatically recognize who created the piece, but when I look at it I know it is different than all the other Pollock paintings because he implied a different meaning to this piece. I think the Idea of having a concept of what the scattered paint is supposed to be in his work makes me enjoy it more. But my favorite part of the painting is the thick and inconsistent texture of the paint; something about it just makes it feel so real to me and lets me connect with it in a really deep and emotional way.
ReplyDeleteYellow Roses in a Vase (Roses jaunes dans un vase) by Gustave Caillebotte is a piece I fell in love with. At first glance, I was immediately fascinated by the use of brush strokes. The shapes in this piece seem to be defined by their highly developed texture. I love this piece because it makes me wonder about the technique that Gustav used to create it. Gustav has added interest to a seemingly plain vase of yellow flowers. The simplistic subject of this painting allows the viewer to really focus in on certain elements that may otherwise be overlooked. The dark and plain background of this piece is made interesting through texture. It appears as though it may have been finger painted. The white table adds a great deal of contrast to the background and the fallen petals seem as though they are jumping off the canvas. This illusion is created through the use of extremely loose and undefined lines. It is interesting to me that the piece does not rely on sharp lines to define its shapes. The shapes are created through the painting technique and the placement of color. This still life is so simple, yet so fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThe piece Water Lilies by Claude Monet is a piece that I absolutely fell in love when I first saw it. The abstracted details and color choices really catch my attention with the contrast against the brown frame. The varieties in texture shown in the water and on the Lily pads give it a natural feel. This has to be one of my favorite pieces in the DMA because of the placement of colors and lines created on the reflection on the water carries your eye from the bottom of the work up to the top. In my opinion the best visual elements are the soft brush marks and light colors in comparison to the dark more detailed frame.
ReplyDeleteUntitled by Cindy Sherman is a type-c print I was immediately drawn to. It is a simple horizontal image of a woman laying in ruffled sheets glancing off to the side. The piece is very passive in its soft shades of pink and beige, creating almost a dream-like image, and contrasting with the darker shadows emitted from her, particularly from her face. I think I was so interested in this image because of its seemingly effortless qualities that contain so much simple beauty contrasted with the mood in the woman's face- a unknown mood of anxiety, contemplation, or maybe just of indifference. I also noticed a wedding ring of her finger, which I thought was interesting and made me curious as to why that was included. Sherman accomplished this strange, dreamlike, and somewhat dark and mysterious, mood primarily through her contrast of imagery through color and light source and through her actual subject matter.
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by Papier à Cigarettes Job, a lithograph, by Jane Atché. The print depicts the “New Woman”, the subject of the poster is a young, beautiful woman in a green dress and a cigarette in hand. The sophisticated feeling is created though the use of the hazy smoke surrounding the image and her luxurious clothes. The print has a minimalistic and yet very bold color choice, the green, black and white contrast each other and add depth to the poster. The print makes me wonder about the woman featured in it, and upon learning that Atché was the first, and only, famous poster maker of the time I was even more interested in the poster.
ReplyDeleteThe piece "Youth" created by : Nic Nicosia
ReplyDeleteAmerican,1951 at first glance, gave me the impression of symbolic meaning or representation. This photograph depicts the seemingly wild, and care free life of three individuals riding motorcycles surrounded by a sunset display.Two of which are a couple kissing unaware or careless to the road ahead. The remaining character is another young male who of which is dressed in an uncommon outfit for riding motorcycles. The man is wearing only underwear, tennis shoes, a hat, and muscle-shirt. After rotating my main view of the man, which gave me the initial impression of humor, I later realized the symbolic debt after seeing the entire imagery. What I love most about this piece is the emotional manipulation that occurs from viewing the piece bit by bit.Later after reading the label I felt a sense of relief and appreciation all at once. I acquired this due to the anticipation created to see if my assumption was correct to the meaning of the piece, and the appreciation comes from understanding the piece and empathizing with it.