The Razor's Edge

Last week we watched a large portion of the movie The Razor's Edge and I feel simply inspired. I have been wanting to take a journey of self discovery and say F&$# the "blue print" of the typical American dream. I loved what party of the movie we watched and made a netflix account just so I could watch the entire thing. Performance art really intrigues me and Marina Abramovic took my breath away. Her mental and spiritual freedom is something that I admire and wish I could acquire. I was fascinated by her interactive performance with the weapons and forms of pleasure/pain as well as the level she was willing to go to to test real people. I find week by week I am relating more and more to the art we are learning about and it is exciting to be in a class I feel so connected to. I am looking forward to the next lesson, and watching the Razor's Edge in full!

Missing the Potluck

Unfortunately I was sick for class last week. I so wish I could have been there for the potluck but even more so for the video blogging. It looks like a fun way to get your ideas out there and connect with people in a more personal way than always writing. Reading through Chapter 3 has opened a whole new interest for me in art. I love reading about the different ways to create detail in art besides just drawing on paper or painting on canvas. There is so much art that fascinates me, it's overwhelming to keep track of all the favorites. I love the work of Jacob Lawrence and Kathe Kollwitz because of their stories and motivation for expressing their struggles through beautiful art. To me that is what art is all about. I am excited to watch all the videos from last week and hopefully get some tips on how to do one on my own!

The Styles and Beauty of Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is my favorite so far. Learning about all the styles of art is truly fascinating. I have realized what an interest I have in paper drawings and etch work. To get more involved with specific examples I analyzed the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Durer. 

Leonardo with a genius mind, and brilliant imagination was an introverted artist. There was not a whole lot of finished work done by Leonardo. The Last Supper being the most famous done for King Louis of France, he focused primarily on drawings. He sketched often of natural science, and used a lot of movement. While Chapter 3 discusses different forms of drawing he drew on paper. He sketched free hand and wrote a Treatise on Painting. He took hundreds of notes on things he saw in the natural world, simply walking around. In his treatise he suggests approaching art with a scientific mind,“... there is such an infinite number of forms and actions of things that the memory is incapable of preserving them...”. 

Being from almost the exact same time period, Albrecht Durer, had the same upbringing and scientific mind of Leonardo, however was a print artist and less of a drawer. Durer was not as introverted as da Vinci, and was prideful in himself as an artist. Albrecht emphasized in wood engravings and etching. His detail, and fascination with perfection and ideal beauty makes the prints exquisite. Like his fellow artist he ended up teaching art in a scientific way.

Both artists living during the same time and having very different personalities enjoyed the perfect and beauty of natural art in the same way. Their genius minds made art especially interesting. They both found a way to take their complex minds and put all their thoughts and ideas into very different art. “For from many beautiful things something good may be gathered”.

Two very different artists in Chapter 3, are primarily oil painters. Their styles are much more contemporary than the previous two painters. Living much more recently than both Durer and Leonardo, Jacob Lawrence and Kathe Kollwitz have many more differences than just their eras. 

Jacob Lawrence in a Harlem Renaissance artist that blossomed just as that period had reached its peak. Coming from a very poverty stricken family, Lawrence’s paintings had very deep themes. He painted in more series than single paintings using tempera which is a mixture of oil paint and water color. He surrounded his paintings with his personal experiences growing up in Harlem and his hardships being African American. They typically had very lengthy titles and a lot of narrative content, with very powerful violent images. He was a pioneer in the social protesting or reporting as fans would call it. Rather than a normal sketch or perfected drawing he had a contemporary spin to his figures.

Kathe Kollwitz, a female artist, was a pioneer of her own in the art world. She was less of a color artist and loved black and white. Like Lawrence, Kollwitz focused on specialized struggle between mothers and their children, cruelties of war, death and hardships for women during the civil war period. Unlike Lawrence, she was much more of a draftsman and focused on etching and woodcuts. She had much more of a political reason to do art. “I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate”. She spoke out for women during a male dominated time, just as Jacob Lawrence spoke out for impoverished African Americans during the same time. 

While having different motivations both artists had similar looking works of art with the same messages. With less precision and more meaning these two artists took more of my interest than both Leonardo and Durer

~Art History~

Last week we spent the class period discussing art that dated back to 3 million years ago. Art that was made by creatures that aren’t even considered humans. The lecture broke boundaries for me, however, it was so much information in such a short amount of time. It is hard to really soak up the details of a period of time and all the incredible art and people from that era. I was first fascinated by the Egyptian art and their beautiful abilities to carve such detail. It was interesting to think about the fact that most of the graceful statues and wall art was most likely covered in paint. It creates such a different aesthetic to add color. It is amazing to also think about their awareness of the form of the body being so long ago. The next art that really grabbed by attention was done by Hildegard. I related most to her designs and can appreciate it so much because I suffer from migraines and the aura, while not seeing the kinds of creatures she seems to have witnessed. I am hoping to learn more about her, even if it is just on my own time. I am not as into classic European art. While it is beautiful and skilled I like art that is more unconventional, and more absurd than that of portraits. The lecture from last Tuesday just went to fast for me to really retain much of the detail that was being expressed and hopefully we spend more one on one time with certain types of arts and artists. I appreciate the overview to demonstrate the vast differences in art and culture over such a long period of time, however crave way more detail!

Bourgeois/Rauschenberg

Following my instant interest of both Hokusai and Van Gogh, Louise Bourgeois and Robert Rauschenberg made me do a double take. They both have much more contemporary style of art and are in no way conventional or traditional. While I love the beauty of the first two artists I discussed, I can relate more to the work done by Rauschenberg and Bourgeouis. 

Born the daughter of two tapestry restorers in Paris, Louise Bourgeouis began with art as a teenager. She helped her parents at their business by drawing the missing portions of antique tapestry so they could be rewoven. She had a very prestigious art education after getting a degree in philosophy. She studied at the Louvre, in a school behind the world famous museum. This however did not satisfy her style and fire for art. Not until Bourgeouis moved to the United States, New York to be exact, did she find herself and her own expression as an artist. She is most known for being a painter and sculptor. She created art based off of memories and feelings from her childhood and adolescence. She really bloomed as an artist later in her years as she matured and was the first female to have an exhibit devoted to her in the Museum of Modern Art.

Much like Bourgeouis, Robert Rauschenberg was a very expressive, almost rebellious artist that had a formal art education. Likewise he was exposed to art and took interest in it during his teen years. Even though he started out trying to get a degree, his true passion was art. He began by designing the layout for store displays at exquisite places like Bonwit Teller and Tiffany’s. He differs from most in his variety of art he created. He not only painted and made prints and graphic design, but alsot did costume and performance art. He was an honest, and unconventional artist. In a way he was a sculptor, but not in the typical sense. Rauschenberg assembled art and paintings with real objects like animals, bathtubs, etc. He blurred the line of what was and was not art. He was quoted saying “the strongest thing about my work is the fact that I chose to ennoble the ordinary”. 

Being classically trained is obviously not was creates a traditional styled artist. In both cases, school is what pushed these artists toward breaking boundaries of art. Their contemporary styles let them express honesty whether it be many different emotions or even dark, angry feelings from the past. Art is what we make it and cannot be clearly defined, and both artists show how beautiful that is. 

Hokusai/Van Gogh

In Chapter 1 of Living With Art there are many incredible artists, and countless pieces of art to discuss. The stories and art of Vincent Van Gogh and Katsushika Hokusai were the first two that sparked my interest the most. Their skill being so advanced is impressive considering being artists in the 1800's. Van Gogh and Hokusai have completely different backgrounds and style of painting but are both self taught. 

Katsushika Hokusai lived from 1760 to 1849, almost reaching 90 years old, even though he wished to live past 100. He not only painted, Japanese style, but also carved wood as a designer. He was a disheveled artist and had to move frequently because he would not clean after himself. He created so many paintings that he never threw away; and instead scattered about the houses until they were unlivable. His paintings were most often scenery throughout Tokyo which was Edo when he was alive. Even though he was a very accomplished artist he did not see wealth in money. His fame led to live public demonstrations for different groups of people and fans where he would make different kinds of art for everyone. He had a sense of humor and faked being modest. He knew he had incredible talent.

Vincent Van Gogh appeared just years after Hokusai’s death. Van Gogh is easily described as a world famous oil painter that was a tormented soul and had an extremely short career. Dying at the young age of 37 he had only taken an interest in art when he was 27. Like Hokusai he was self taught and had a very particular style of painting. Unlike Hokusai, Van Gogh used a lot of light and color in his oil paintings. His most well known work was done in his last two to three years of life which were spent in an insane asylum where he continued to paint feverishly. He was devoted to art in the same obsessed way Hokusai was. He was quoted saying “...but rich because I have found in my work something to which i can devote my heart and soul, and which gives inspiration and significance to life”. 

Artists this devoted and passionate about creating art are much more likely to be estranged from real life. The love expressed through their paintings was worth moving moving once sometimes twice a year, or even prolonging a miserable existence because what was made was inspiring and beautiful. Hokusai and Van Gogh may not have been understood by most but are famously respected.