What I Have Learned From Art

This semester flew by really fast, but during this whole time, I have learned so much more about art than I already knew. I learned many new terms and learned about many of the different types of arts and art pieces. I learned about what conceptual art means, which might be one of my favorite types of art because it takes real objects in life, such as nature or the environment, and put it together to have deep meaning behind it. I also learned more about abstract art, which is very fascinating to me because of all the beautiful and bright colors an artist can use to show and express what an object can mean to him or her. The types of paintings I like the most are the ones with very different types of hues that consist of tint and shading. I also like the way that cross-hatching appears on paper.

There were a couple art topics that intrigued me. The first one was the topic was about controversial art. I loved learning about the art museum in New York, which was going to be shut down due to unfair decisions. I cannot believe that a piece of art could have so much damage to the state of New York. The other topic that I enjoyed reading about was Thomas Kinkade, the “so-called” artist. I found it very sad about what kind of art he was selling. To me it seemed like he was a phony who pretended to care about the American people by printing patriotic art photos, which in reality he just wanted to make money.

Art to me now is much more interesting because I can look at anything nowadays and try to find something artistic about it. There is a cherry blossom tree in front of my house and every day when I see it in the morning it gives me a sense of a beginning by the way the tree looks, but then when I look at it in the sunset, it gives me a different sense, like a winding down of the day and just a relief to see it because I know my day is almost over. Everything I look at I can see something artistic about it, and before taking this class, I never even thought of skyscrapers, buildings, roads, etc. being art. I truly have a new appreciation for it.

What I loved most about the class is the use of the new online technologies, such as the blogs and the voice threads. Unlike other online classes, this class seems like we know each other personally because the way each student personalizes their blog. I believe we are getting more out of this online class because one can say whatever he or she wants on their blog. I also loved the voicethread because we get to hear what Michelle has in store for us this week as though as she was right there in front of us and actually talking to us. I found those two tools to be very helpful.

Art Visit

For my art visit assignment, I visited the Crocker Art Museum, which is located in Sacramento Valley Capitol Region. I visited the museum over the weekend on April 18, 2008. There is a huge difference in actually visiting a museum and seeing that art work right in front of you and in person rather than viewing art work in a book or on a screen. By viewing the art work in person, one can see the actual size of the art work and compare it to how big it really is.

When viewing an art work on screen or in a book, one cannot see the actual size of the piece. The book gives the height and the width of the art work, but one can only imagine how big it is, but once one see’s it in person and really see’s the painting is as big as a car, one can come to appreciate that piece of work more because one cannot imagine what this particular artist went through in order to finish this piece of work. There was a piece that the Professor Pacansky-Brock put up in one of the announcement walls of an old dead mans face, but I forgot what the piece was called. Anyways, it saw it at the museum and I did not realize that the painting was that actual size. It took up almost the whole wall, and was probably bigger than a car. I was amazed by the art work and truly appreciated the piece a lot more than I did before. I saw many paintings, some that were small, some medium, and some even as large as a car. Also, viewing art work in person gives one a much better experience because one can see the texture of the piece. If the art work is rough, smooth, bumpy, etc. Another plus for viewing art in person is one can see the true colors of the art work. Again, when I saw that painting of the dead man in the announcements it sort of looked like a gray and white painting, but when I saw it in person, it was much more than that. The colors in the painting looked gray and white from afar, but once I got closer, it appeared to be very different. There were certain patterns in the art work and also consisted of different colors, which I did not appear to me on screen, but appeared to me when I saw it in person.

On my visit I witnessed many different types of art works, paintings of landscape and nature, paintings of portraits, conceptual art, and modern art, which I all enjoyed very much, but there was one particular art piece that really stood out. This art piece was a portrait of our current President George W. Bush and was made by Richard Notkin. Notkin is American and was born in 1948 in the city of Helena, which is in the state of Montana. This particular piece was medium-large in size. There were not too many hues in this art piece, mostly black and white, which I believe plays a significant role in the piece because like many know, Bush has two answers, yes and no. Either we go to war with Iraq or we don’t or universal health care or not and so forth. This piece was made up of square pieces made of earthen ware tiles fired up in sawdust filled saggers. The colors were painted on by water color highlights and this particular piece was mounted on a panel. I loved this piece because from far away it was a portrait of Bush, but when I got closer it was a bunch of square pieces put together, and each square had a different picture on it. Most of the pictures on the squares were different, but some of the pictures also repeated itself throughout the art piece. The certain pictures that were on the square pieces were dominos, dice, skulls, missiles, barb wire, a man with a hood over his face, Jesus Christ’s feet, little sperm, ears, brains, heart, nuclear bomb, Iraq, and corpses. Each picture was symbolic of only some of the tragedies the countries go through when they experience war. I had my personal interpretations about this art piece and what the pictures on the squares symbolized. The dominos symbolized the domino effect, which is when dominos are lined up and placed together, once you knock the first domino over, then the rest all fall down, which shows me that once America invades a certain country, all the countries next to them will eventually after the first one falls. The dice symbolizes the chance we took in invading Iraq in the first place, we either invade them or we do not, and we did. The skulls symbolize all of the dead civilians that died during the war. It may also mean the Skull and Crossbones, which is supposedly a top secret group of the elite that run this country. The barb wire and the man with the hood over his face represents Abu Gharib and the torture the Iraqi civilians went through when the American soldiers tortured them. The little sperm, to me, symbolizes germ warfare. So many people in Iraq are dying from infectious diseases and viruses, which probably effect the sperm so when they have babies they will come out all disfigured with many problems. The art piece is a critiques and questions morality of the brink of destruction politics we have here in America. The art piece said so much to me, and it was like nothing that I have ever seen or experienced before. I loved the symbolic meaning of the square pieces and like I stated earlier, I love how from far away it is just a normal looking man, George W. Bush, but when you get closer and get to know him more or analyze the art work a bit more, one can see the hidden secrets behind this mastermind.

Overall, I loved my experience at the Crocker Art Museum. I am pretty sure I visited this museum when I was younger, but I have no recollection of my visit back then. When I visited over the weekend I had a blast. I did not realize a museum could be so fun. Growing up, people would always talk about museums being boring because when I was a kid, I did not know any better and I did not know how to interpret art and did not see all the symbolism in it. Now it is different and I can catch and pick out the symbolisms in the pieces and I really enjoyed doing that. Each artist has their own particular way in expressing their feelings, and each art work made by that artist has its own taste to it because of the environment that they grew up in. One can view many art pieces at a time, and can see full detail of the art piece and not miss any detail, like what happens sometimes viewing it on screen or in a book. I had a great experience and would love to visit another museum, hopefully this time in San Francisco!

Conceptual Art

In this weeks assignment we are to give our own definition of what conceptual art is to me. To me, conceptual art is made up of mostly our imagination and creativity. For example, looking at anything, such as an animal, a person, a computer, or even another picture, and adding your own twists and flavor to that particular object, person or thing. If I were to take a vase, put my own modifications in it such as different bright colors, then putting some different curves and humps to it, and then maybe putting a face on it is considered conceptual art to me. I am using my own imagination into something and turning it into my own work of art. At first, it may not be considered art, but when one puts their own artistic taste in it, then it becomes art.

One art work that I learned this week that is considered to be conceptual art is named Spade with Chains, by the artist David Hammons. This art piece is consists of the head of a shovel with chains hanging from the bottom of it, and in the middle of the shovel head, it appears to be an African mask. This artist used a technique called assemblage, which creates a sculpture by compiling objects taken from the environment. I believe this piece to be conceptual because Hammons takes different objects from the environment, and puts these particular and specific objects together to make this piece. He uses his imagination and creativity to put this particular piece together, and each piece that makes up this art has symbolic meaning.

I really enjoy looking at conceptual art because personally, I am not the type of person that can draw or paint something extravagant, but if you give me some objects and tell me to put it together and make something artistic with it, I can do that. I can relate more to conceptual art rather than other forms of art. I also love the symbolic meanings that is behind each piece of art. Although the art piece may appear bazaar or something one has never seen before, it is very interesting because it is different. Even though the art piece is something so small, it can also mean so much.

Two Worlds Collide

This week were are discussing photographic images that are digitally remade in order to get a different look on the original photograph. The pictures and images by the artists Keith Cottingham and Aziz and Cucher directly relates to this weeks topic. These artists used the technique of digitally modifying their photos in order to get depict what they want. In Aziz and Cucher’s art photos, the use of digitally modifying these photos is obvious. Aziz and Cucher distorted the people’s faces in order to make it look like art, which is a bit creepy, but very meaningful. The people are posing in a certain way, very casually as if they were just taking a regular photo, but the only difference is, the faces are distorted. This means that everyone is human, and deep down inside, everyone is the same. It does not matter how one looks, it is what is inside that really matters. By distorting the faces, this indicates that no one should be frowned upon because of their look, it what is inside that counts.
Keith Cottingham uses this technique as well, but instead of distorting the images, he cuts and pastes images. He also digitally remade some photographs by taking the image of the boys face and placing it onto two other bodies. He shows the boy in three different types of positions and puts them all together in one final portrait.
In this day of age, there are many ways one can manipulate pictures. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how to digitally modify a photograph. I see my younger sister on the computer cutting and pasting photos on her Myspace all of the time. She is manipulating other photographs online as well just because she knows how to use the modern technology. One can find manipulated pictures everywhere, especially on the internet. There are many pictures on the web of so-called celebrities scandals. Some websites show a celebrity’s face on another person’s nude body in order to sell false photos. People cut and pasted these images and illegally posted them on the internet. I have also noticed many digitally modified photographs in magazines as well. This presents many problems to the teenage group as well as the young kids. The teenagers and younger kids see photos of skinny blonde haired girls with a six pack and large breasts actually believing that this is the way one has to look in order to be called beautiful. So these kids are brain-washed from the beginning, and not knowing any better, these kids resort to many harmful ways in order to look like these fake Barbie’s, when in reality, these photos are not even real, just manipulated pictures. The things people will do in order to look like the person on the cover of a magazine. One will undergo surgery, unhealthy eating diets, and many experiences diseases as well, such as anorexia and bulimia.
I love seeing images of “spirits” in photos. I used to believe in those photos because I would never understand how the shadow of a young kid could appear in the photograph, but since I read the lecture, it kind of saddened me. It was just a spot that the photographers forgot to clean off. So sad, but some pictures are questionable, as I saw on the website related to spirits, so we might just never know.

My Favorite Painting

This painting named “I Am Crow” was painted by the artist Kirby Sattler. The painting was done sometime in the 1990’s. The style of painting Sattler uses is called realism, which means painting objects or people the way they really are. This painting is of a Native American Indian wearing his crow hat to indicate how high and powerful he is on the totem pole. The pigments Sattler used is very dull and plain, there are not too many hues in this painting. He is covered in feathers which is probably decorative and maybe even for spiritual reasons and superstitious. He is wearing necklaces, beads, and earrings. Then painting on his face is probably to try and camouflage himself while hunting down wild animals for dinner.

The reason I chose this particular painting is because indigenous people always fascinated me, particularly the Native Americans. As one can see in the painting, Crow’s face looks like he has been through many troubles in his life, maybe because of the Pilgrims that invaded their country or maybe all the hardships of trying to get food, and many other reasons as well. There is just a certain look on his face that tells me that he a warrior and if someone ever wanted to get into a battle with him, he would definitely know how to defend himself. I also love how well-detailed this painting is. The wrinkles on his forehead and under his eyes and his nappy hair just intrigues me. The well-defined texture and surfaces really caught my eye. I also love the spiritual beliefs that Native Americans posses. Like how certain people posses certain animal characteristics. I find it very interesting how the Native Americans were able to survive with different medicines than we use today. Today people use medicines such as Tylenol or Asprin to get rid of headaches, but the Native Americans did not. They mostly used herbal remedies and natural herbs to cure illnesses and diseases. I am also fascinated by the way they had animal names such as Running Turtle or Lightening Horse. I wonder if there was any specific reason for those names.

The artist that made this wonderful painting is also fascinated by the indigenous people of the earth. The artists detailed paintings examine the relationship between the Indian and his natural world. Each painting functions on the premise that all natural phenomena have souls independent of their physical beings. Under such a belief, the wearing of sacred objects were a source of spiritual power.

Overall I love this painting. It has so much to say about the Native Americans and so much about the artist, Kirby Sattler.