Cultural Event II: Art Gallery

I thoroughly enjoyed going to the gallery that displayed other students' works of the human body that they created throughout the semester. I also have never been inside that little white shed before, so it was neat to see the inside and what it is generally used for. Of course the food was a great addition, specifically the combination of cool ranch Doritos and salsa.

I especially admired the project idea that involved taking different aspects of the human body and portraying them through different elements. For instance, body was depicted as a machine, nature, spirit, and physically. Not only was the students' art skills amazing to look at, their ideas of how they illustrated each part was thought-provoking and creative. For one, I especially liked the rib cage in the first picture. I would guess that the artist intended to portray spirit here. The different colors flowing through array of bones create a mystical and deep-rooted feeling. And to the right, the body's right leg stood out to me the most, despite being small in size and arranged behind the artwork of the other leg. The intricacy of the machine and its wires above the knee cap was a good idea, and I like how to artist drew it, allowing the viewer to see into the hallow leg. I also found it interesting how most students chose to explore the machinery of the legs instead of another part of the body. If I did this project, I probably would have done the head/brain as a machine.

 

Cultural Event I: Jim Condron

The event regarding Jim Condron's artwork was honestly drawn out and dull. He did not seem enthused or eager to share his own work at all, which is not surprising considering that he kept saying how he isn't even a sculptor. In the beginning of his talk, he regarded himself as somewhat of a failure and noted how he even gave up on painting in general because he was not pleased with what he had been creating. I can understand where he was coming from in that I am similar in that sense, that if I felt I was not good at something anymore, I would not find joy in pursuing it. However, despite his brief lapse in artistry, Condron said he continued to work with smaller things, including small-scale sculptures that he constructed out of common items such as yarn and tape. Then, further into his talk, he went on to say how he stuck with only small objects because he was not experienced or skillful enough to create larger ones. From seeing his current artwork, I would probably agree.

However, my thoughts on the man changed after hearing of what inspired some of his work. While his mom was fighting her long battle with ALS, Condron designed much of his work, which brings much greater meaning and depth into the things he creates, at least for me. Knowing the artist even a little bit helps me sympathize and humanize them. After the artist is no longer just a name-tag next to their work, it allows me to see deeper into the piece, putting myself into the mindset of the artist while they were creating. It is this relationship between the viewer and the work which makes it more meaningful and significant to that particular viewer. When a woman in the audience asked why Baltimore is known for crime instead of its rich art culture, I feel like the answer is just that. People are disconnected from the artwork because it doesn't directly affect them. And even further, they cannot understand it or relate to it.

"You are born modern, you do not become so." -Jean Baudrillard

My title-less postmodernism project was constructed on a sheet on Bristol paper using paint, ink, and photoshopped images printed on pieces of printer paper which were then cut out and glued down. The piece is fairly asymmetrical, but that does not mean that it is not balanced. In fact, the paint, ink, and paper is distributed in such a way that no one part of the Bristol sheet is overpowering the others. However, the eye is drawn more towards the focal point which is the largest picture of the baby in the road, located in the bottom left. From the focal point, the eye follows the red and black path to the right-hand side of the piece where it loops around a silhouette of a baby and fades into a blue and black color scheme. From there, the viewer's eyes follow the lines that were extended from the crosswalk in the photoshopped images. While there is definitely an irregular and uncomfortable feeling to the painting, the shapes are geometrical for the most part and the color scheme is complementary with the orange and blue highlights.

Besides the white background, the swooping black stream of paint gives an eery and dark tone to the piece. Further, the extended crosswalk creates a three-dimensional feeling that keeps the viewer's eye moving. And although the painting creates a bit of uneasiness, it's color scheme is satisfying and therefore balances out some of the chaos. If I was not the creator of this painting and didn't already know what quote I was trying to portray, I would guess that the work is trying to express feelings of frustration which lead to rebellion of normal standards. The baby with the pipe and a wild hair cut makes that pretty clear, and then the chaos created by paint blotches and scattered lines emphasizes this feeling. Further, the silhouette of the baby seen on the right side of the canvas portrays the unknown while the black swooping paint provokes uncertainty and dissent.

The Art of Data Visualization

It is shocking to realize that even though we live in a three-dimensional world, many of the ways in which we operate are through two-dimensional mediums. Tufte's chapter titled "Escaping Flatland" outlines different design strategies that help communicate 3-D ideas on 2-D surfaces. Further, he works at explaining the amount of information per unit area, something he calls "data density." Tufte also warns not to commit the fallacy of making things overcomplicated and cluttered when trying to represent 3-D spaces. "Pridefully Obvious Presentation" can take away from the value of the data and instead draw too much attention toward the display.

One idea that came to my mind while reading the chapter was the art of mapmaking, and how we still do not have an exact translation of Earth from the 3-D globe to the 2-D map. With over fifty recognized map projections, not one of them successfully depicts our our spherical globe accurately. Each one can focus on making a specific characteristic to scale, but not without distorting some aspects of the overall map. This idea fascinated me ever since I learned about map projections in high school, and this reading made me question the best way to represent data, knowing that information can be skewed and misrepresented. I definitely found it interesting to learn more about representation of 3-D things on a flat surface, and how the same data can be represented and translated in so many different ways that may lead to a totally different understanding.

Postmodernism

I feel as if post-modernism is impossible to define because it is vague and has no definite boundaries. However, if I had to describe it in a sentence, I would say that it's a protest against typical artwork in that it ventures out to call upon and question traditional styles and notions. Further, postmodernism tends to remix art and combines elements that normally would not be displayed together. 

One thing that confused me was the idea of hyperreality and how postmodernism achieves something that is more real than reality. Although this makes me question hyperrealism and how it functions, it definitely interests me in that it creates a new perspective that is applied to artwork.

Radiolab's "Colors" Podcast

Radiolab's podcast discussing colors was eye-opening in the sense that it caused me to think about color in a way I had never thought about it before. Of course I knew the that a glass prism caused white light to create "a colored image of the sun," as Newton would put it. However, it was interesting to learn that it was originally thought that the prism simply "muddied" the white light, adding the colors to it. Until listening to the podcast, I had never considered the idea of light existing within itself or as a separate entity with constituent parts. In the age of the scientific revolution, Newton was the first to theorize that light is a physical existence that lives in the real world. Therefore, light can be studied from from a scientific and a philosophical perspective.

However, the idea that light and colors existing in the physical world made me wonder to what extent are they actually physical, considering that light is not matter nor is it definite. For instance, does the wavelengths that produce the color red in a human's eye create the same color red that would be perceived by a dog? The answer is no, which is why Newton had to explore the idea that colors begin in the real physical world, but are finished through the eye and the mind. So, just like emotions, color is uniquely felt as it is not an objective existence.

The eyes translate color from the physical world to the mind. It is within our eyes that cones limit the number of colors that humans are able to grasp and identify. It is for this reason that an interior designer from Pittsburgh was able to look up at a "blue" sky and see colors on red. Being a tetrachromat, she was able to use her addition cone that allowed her to translate additional colors that the rest of us wouldn't even be able to philosophize about. Since Newton's time, little about the science and philosophy of color has been understood to greater lengths. It makes me wonder what kind of discoveries could have been made if Newton had been a tetrachromat.

Whitescape

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1: Most interested

Andy Warhol's "Shadow" (1979)

-Synthetic polymer paint, diamond dust, and silkscreen ink on canvas.

I would say that Andy Warhol used the golden triangle because the positioning of the abstract contrasts form somewhat of a triangle throughout the work. This was my favorite piece because of the whole day because of the different and unique materials used, specifically the diamond dust. The way the light hits these particles is different at each angle, so wherever you stand and the position you look at it from, you are technically seeing a different image each time.

2: Interested

Andy Warhol's "Self Portrait" (1986)

-Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas.

Leading lines are the most obvious composition of the work although I believe several others could apply as well. The real and implied lines in his hair and face lead the viewer's eyes to the portrait's eyes. My favorite part of the piece is how it looks 3D-like with the use of negative space and colors. Also how the colors blend into each other, meaning no piece is fully pink or fully black. I also love how the eyes are duplicated, adding to the intensity of the portrait.

3: Interested, but not as interested as the others

Gustav Klimt's "Pine Forest II" (1901)

-Oil on canvas

Klimt utilized rule of thirds because the two darkest trees are present where the vertical lines in rule of thirds would be. In the room full of art, this piece immediately drew my attention because of the aura that it gives off. It reminded me of slender-man with its mystifying dark woodsy colors. But I especially liked how in the background there is a subtle amount of light permeating the trees.

Ways of Seeing

John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” was pretty insightful in the sense that it causes readers to think about things differently than they normally would. For instance, he draws upon two different way to look at the sunset. For one, there is the scientific knowledge that the earth is spinning, causing the sun to slowly go out of view. Then, there is the more surreal view that can be captured in paintings, highlighting the true beauty, simplicity, and yet complexity of a sunset. 

They way we interpret things are shaped by past experiences and personal beliefs; both the conscious and unconscious. Because of this, the same representation can mean so many things, each unique for each person. In the same sense, a painting can have different meanings for the same person over time. This is also as a result of the way we look at things are shaped by our lives. 

Aside from a single work of art evoking countless emotions and perspectives, I thought it to be very eye-opening how the camera has done so much to change the way we see and value different experiences. For example, the reading mentions how an image is simply a sight that has been reproduced and, as a result, is now detached from place and time. Further, the camera has the ability to make a moment in time stay still. And this allows people in different places and different times to have the opportunity to develop their own perspective of the pictures.

Visibility

In reference to Dante's Inferno, "Visibility" speaks of the imagination and how powerful it has the potential to be. When Dante was traveling through the layers of hell, he realized that "it is useless at every circle to invent a new form of metarepresentation, and that it is better to place the visions directly in the mind without making them pass through the senses. What I think he means by this, is that, the mind has the ability to represent representations, and to recreate thoughts and concepts based on self-experience and reflection. It is for this reason each person can uniquely interpret art and experiences. The author of "Visibility" goes on to connect how imagination has a similar power capable of "stealing us away from the outer world and carrying us off into an inner one, so that even if a thousand trumpets were to sound we would not hear them." Similarly, visions were presented to Dante in which he saw differently than the objective reality that was right in front of him.

"Visibility" also questions the role of the visual imagination in relation to the verbal imagination. For example, the first process, visual imagination, takes place when we read words then imagine it in our minds. As mentioned in the text, movies are examples of metarepresentations because the process of making a movie is in phases that require several interpretations. But then, even when we witness a movie, it once again goes through the imagination of the viewer. St. Ignatius of Loyola is then cited, making two points about the importance of imagination, representation, and how we must actively choose to see people. The first point he makes is that, in sum, we must see people from all perspectives and put ourselves in their shoes in order to have clarity. Further, the second point reminds readers to understand and have a relationship with the divine without having to physically see them or imagine them as something physical.

The entire concept of the profound imagination is one that is deep and multifaceted. It constantly shocks me how a single piece of artwork, abstract or straightforward, can have so many different meanings and evoke countless emotions for every single person who has the opportunity to gaze upon it. Or, in Dante's case, he thought it be better to place the images he viewed directly into his mind without allowing them to pass through the senses. Whether this would be possible or not, it definitely arises some new ideas about the power of the imagination and our own ability to control it. For instance, this entire reading caused me to think about the process of deep meditation in which people go into a state of being totally in control of all their senses. In the case of the burning monk, 1963, a man burned himself to death while remaining sitting still. This horrific example shows the extent to which the imagination can be controlled by some.

Pictured below: The Burning Monk, 1963.

"The Whole Ball of Wax" by Jerry Saltz

Jerry Saltz's piece comments on and discusses how art is part of a holistic system rather than just another field of study. Being adaptable and subjective, art "sees things in clusters and constellations rather than rigid systems." The title of the article, "The Whole Ball of Wax", refers to the idea that art is part of the whole, but without it, the whole wouldn't exist, or at least not in its current state. Art isn't just one system, but instead it is an idea that is intimately interconnected within society. This is where Saltz got into the argument that academics "demonize" and don't respect is as something that is crucial and can be learned from. In the article, Saltz notes how myopic individuals regard it purely as amusement rather than a tool.

Unlike more rigid topics such as science and politics, art does not demand that it be categorized and defined by objective dualisms. Actually, it would be inappropriate to constrict art to such limitations. For instance, moral philosopher Mary Midgley describes this phenomena by claiming, "It's like saying that shape and size are competing opposites when they're complementary aspects of a larger whole." Midgley goes on tho further emphasize the power of art by saying, "Imaginative systems don't suddenly perish and they don't go away until the things they were invented to deal with have been resolved." She adds this idea in contrast to what most scientists and Cartesians feel about art. Which is that authors, paintings, history, and artwork that is not comprehended is dead. However, Oscar Wilde disagrees in that "the moment you think you understand a work of art it's dead for you."

Upon reading and understanding Saltz's argument, I agree with him to a much further extent than I thought I would prior to reading. Overall, I think be did an effective job at calling upon the common criticisms of art and refuting the misconceptions with examples and farsighted thoughts. For example, one quote of his that stood out to me is that, "art tells you things you don't know you need to know until you know them." In this respect, art allows for individualistic interpretation and understanding rather than concrete definitions and theories. Futher, Peter Schjeldahl's describes how art has transportive powers in that it can be "a vacation from the self" or "a journey to it." With the idea that art is a vacation and a journey, the same piece of art takes everyone to a different place. Art is also unlike science in that you don't have to understand the meaning in order to understand its purpose and effect. Gerber calls on this idea by referencing the Vietnam Memorial and how it "channels a nation's remorse" even though it is based on abstraction.