It's difficult to tell, but this week I began gridding up my paper in preparation for my self portrait.
This week I put a grid on my paper and finished the contour drawing. Unfortunately, when I was tinting my paper, it got too wet and the first layer of fibers came off. It stripped both my grid and my contour drawing off of my paper so I may have to start over. At least I like the color!
The two readings, although different in topic, contain some common themes. The first reading about James McNeill Whistler and John Ruskin talks about modernism and what they both understood of it. Similarly, the second reading is about modern Arab art and its increasing appeal in the West. Since the focal point of the first is America’s view on modern art and the focal point of the second is the Middle East’s view on modern art, it is easy to analyze both reoccurring and opposing themes between the two. As it appears, America and the Middle East don’t necessarily agree when it comes to modern and contemporary art.
In Whistler v Ruskin, the two men had a lawsuit because they disagreed on what was or wasn’t considered modern art. In Arab Spring, it was mentioned that modern Arab art wasn’t even considered a real thing until relatively recently. These differences realistically show how two places in the world can have complete opposite reactions to certain art movements. I’d also like to point out how the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control had to get involved when artist Ahmad Aali lent his self-portrait to an exhibition in New York. Personally, I found all of this extremely surprising. The fact that there was a lawsuit over art is kind of comical, and the fact that the government had to get involved when an American exhibit wanted to show an Iranian work is also pretty strange. It just goes to show that the way one place sees a certain thing is not always the same way another place sees it. Readings: Whistler v Ruskin Arab Spring: Middle East Artists find new audience in the West |
AuthorGrace Barron Archives
June 2018
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