This past week, our class went to the new Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). We first did some group activities that involved studying the architecture of the building and describing it to others as well of painting it ourselves. I likes this activity because it made us focus on the space we were in and appreciate the beauty of the architecture. The exhibition they are showing right now is called "Declaration" and it focuses on themes regarding America, racism, and identity. The work was made in all kinds of mediums such as paint, ceramics, film, tar, and human hair. The diversity of the work was amazing but their commentary on America and society was incredible. It was also nice that a lot of VCU professors had their art in the exhibit. I love how a new and controversial building showed an extremely controversial show as soon as it opened. I think this art is important and touches on issues that a lot of people are afraid to address. I'm happy that there's a space for new art to flourish and I can't wait to come back again.
James Rosenquist has been one of my favorite artists since I discovered him in Art 2 Freshman year. The style and mark he uses to create his large, colorful, realistic paintings is something I attempted to emulate but could never achieve. I wanted to write about him for this awareness post because I saw one of his large paintings in person at the MoMA in New York. Rosenquist began painting billboards but stopped after one of his friends died after falling off the scaffolding. He then applied his sign painting skills to his other realistic paintings and continued on from there. His work exemplifies the beginning of the pop art movement. He juxtaposes the imagery of his paintings to represent themes of events like the war. I like his work because he paints realistically but the style in which he paints realistically is unique to him. I also admire the amount of detail he can get on such a large scale. Part of what is so captivating about his work is his use of color (which I am always so fond of). My favorite thing that he paints is spaghetti.
Ed Clark is an African-American abstract expressionist painter. He was one of the first artists to play with shaped canvases in the 1950s. Two important features of his work besides his shaped canvases are his use of color and large brushstrokes. He pioneered using techniques such as a push broom and working on paper with dry pigment. I saw his work in the MoMA. I’m always drawn to abstract expressionist pieces because of the color and the feel of the paintings, however when I saw Clark’s piece up close I noticed how beautiful his surface was. He achieved smooth passages with color with a large paintbrush but also had thicker splotches of paint from splattering or not smoothing out the color entirely. It’s clear that he would sometimes put down more than one color at once so that they blended together when applied with a brush. I like how he works on a tan/raw canvas instead of a primed white one. This neutral background allows the colors to appear brighter and allows for the application of visible white paint. The large scale of his paintings allows for more freedom with his mark. His paintings inspire me to go back to abstract acrylic paintings.
I began by just painting the background first. Then, I added the figure. From there I darkened areas I felt needed to be darkened and made more specific marks.
This spring break, I went to New York City with the art program! I had never really been before so the whole experience was incredible. On the first day we went to a few small galleries that resembled those on Main Street that we go to on walking field trips. I wasn’t expecting some huge-name artist to have their work in these galleries, however we eventually stumbled upon an entire Jeff Koons exhibit! It was amazing being able to see his paintings in real life because they’re so detailed and precise and it’s hard to realize that when looking at images of his work. That evening we saw a different kind of art - the broadway musical Kinky Boots! This show honestly took my breath away. The performers were insanely talented and watching the set change and morph into whatever setting they needed was so cool. It was nice being able to experience performing arts on this trip a lot because we don’t have as much access to that kind of talent in Richmond. In the next few days, we went to The Met, the Guggenheim, and MoMA. I saw SO much art. I tried to get through as much as the museums as possible but I still did not see everything. The Met was incredible because it was just a massive and more complex version of the smaller art museums i’ve been to in Virginia and even Philadelphia. MoMa had my favorite work, because I recognized a lot more of the artists. There were many recent pieces there alongside ultimate classics by Picasso and Van Gogh. Seeing so much art in such little time was almost exhausting, however I tried to pay attention to the methods and styles that the artists used to create their work. I was very inspired by the video work I saw and I hope to get more into that media in the future.
In NYC, I went to an exhibit by William Eggleston called “Los Alamos”. Eggleston was a pioneer of modern color photography. It was an exhibit featuring photographs from the southern midwest United States in the 70s and 80s. The images depicted everyday scenes, such as people eating lunch, getting gas, or flying on airplanes. The photographs captured the essential aspects of American life. Each time I looked at a piece, I could tell that they were distinctly depicting Americans and American culture. The color of the images and the simplicity of the subject matter is really what drew me in. The simple compositions with the everyday subject matter was so endearing and created an entire mood for the show. I think I relate to Eggleston a lot because I pay close attention to the color and composition of simple, commonly ignored things in life. My work is definitely not as good as his, but I am incredibly inspired by the way he can capture these simplicities beautifully. I hope to take more photographs like him in the future, but I also hope to take this inspiration and use it to influence my paintings as well.
When I was in Philadelphia touring a college, I stumbled across this interesting light fixture in the window of a large building. It looked like a pile of lightbulbs, glass, and wires arranged in the most beautiful, tangled-up way. Later that trip, my dad found an article about the man behind work - Warren Muller. Muller obtains his materials by walking down allies, yards, sidewalks, or receiving them from his clients. He makes anything from table lamps to complex chandeliers, and he co-owns an interior design company. He also incorporates iconography of myths and fairytales in his pieces. The motion he gets from juxtaposing random objects is beautiful. There’s something so nostalgic about using found objects and he really emphasizes a feeling of warmth with his work. I’m proud of him for making a living creating art that also has other practical use. I’m excited to live in his city next year and see where else I can find his work.
"Real art doesn't require explanation," says Russian artist Ananyev. This quote sums up the idea of socialist realism art in the Soviet Union. It was declared that art must be created to look like an idealized version of life in the Soviet Union. The style was specifically realistic and actually served as a sort of propaganda. This false portrayal of life in the Soviet Union made people think that's what life was actually like and helped create a sense of nationalism, similar to what the United States did with their propaganda during the World Wars. I found this to be particularly interesting because these works were typically large scale paintings rather than mass-produced or spread posters. Everyone was creating these false realities in their painting which in turn made it seem like what they were depicting was real. The clearer the art was, the better. Abstract artists were not respected because their art was more difficult to interpret. Part of good propaganda is making people believe what you are telling them and Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union successfully did that.
In modern times, artists like Brian McCarty are creating these more abstract pieces of propaganda that make people stop and think about the state of the world. McCarty uses photography as his means of portraying his ideas and uses small objects as the subjects. Something I've never thought about is someone stealing propaganda and changing it to fit their own agenda. That is exactly what ISIS did with McCarty's photograph which I almost find amusing. With just a little bit of editing, ISIS changed the entire meaning of the piece to support them instead. This is probably one of the things that realism artists such as Ananyev disliked about abstract works. The meaning is not always clear so the viewer may interpret it incorrectly, or the meaning can be manipulated into meaning something else. Realistic propaganda typically paints an idealized picture of what people want to believe is the truth and more abstract propaganda typically brings attention to a fault that is sometimes overlooked or forgotten about. This quarter, my British Literature class went on a field trip to the VMFA to look at English art. I frequent the VMFA a lot, however I have never focused too much on the British or British-influenced art. This trip forced me to take my time appreciating art I don’t get to appreciate a lot. As a part of our assignment, we had to find pieces that somehow related to the different works we read in class. While I was looking for a piece that represented Shakespeare's Othello, I found a beautiful portrait of a woman in the American gallery. The edges of the painting are unfinished which gives the painting a strange feeling. It's typically expected that portraits are incredibly finished pieces without any mistakes. It's interesting to see a painting that I feel should be finished when it's not hanging in a gallery. Another piece that I was drawn to is a painting of Mary and baby Jesus from the Baroque gallery. I think the intricate paintings of fruit and flowers surrounding the scene is what interested me the most. I also love the bright repeating patches of blue and red cloth throughout the scene. I'm typically more interested in the art I can relate more to my own work, however on this trip I focused more on the beauty of very classic-looking pieces.
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AuthorGrace Barron Archives
June 2018
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