Fallen Flowers and Swimming Fish

Oriental design has always been an amazingly simplistic form of life. The arts, the culture, and the lifestyle. The art that came out of the Ming Dynasty proved itself to be simplistic and whole without any distractions in color or abstraction. One thing that really draws me into chinese art such as this one, is the illusion of no boundaries. When I look at the design I don’t see any sort of bounds between gravity or nature. Everything seems to coexist in… harmony.

The simplistic values that correlate nature and the simplicity of life really come out in this ink on paper drawing done by Yun Shouping, Qing Dynasty, who painted aquatic scenes according to the moral. In the picture there is a school of fish who seem to be very attracted to the playful leaves of the peach tree that have descended into their envrionment. The fact that the fish are so simple in design and there is not much detail, a method Shouping used called mogu (boneless), really shows the free form real life movements of the fish. They are free, they move free. Shouping also was not afraid of using bold colors such as red, which were deemed offensive by chinese painters.

The moral of this drawing:

People find enjoyment in things that others may not. Simply said, simply displayed. Something that I think the American culture cannot provide through art and has a hard time finding a sense of comfort in.

“You are not fish, how would you know the happiness of the fish?” ~Chuang Tsu (369-286 BC)

Source:

http://arts.cultural-china.com/en/63Arts1119.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yun_Shouping

This piece is by an African painter named Hama Goro, who uses a style of painting called the Bogolian technique, which uses natural products such as clay and leaves. This technique creates such a crave-like drawing scene when viewing the painting. All of the natural colors and shapes tend to pop more.

What we do now?

What we do now ? – acrylic on textile, 1995

Source:

http://www.africaserver.nl/virtual/exhibitions/hama/

Mariko Mori was a Japanese contemporary female artist was born in 1967 that used video and photography as her medium. Growing up, she was a fashion model in the 1980’s which influenced her works toward photography and eventually digital imaging. She currently works out of New York, but has studied in London. Much of her work fuses together Buddhist traditions with modern technology. Thus, throwing light on the fact that as modern and abstract as her artwork is, she still remains true to her heritage sticking very strong to Buddhists traditions, such as bowing to guests and performing tea ceremonies.

Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 and gained her fame through her amazing ability to photograph herself, not as self-portraits, but as a way of getting across her thoughts on issues of the time. One of the main themes in Sherman’s works was the role that women played in society at the time. As far as her access to the arts growing up, she didn’t gain a sense of art until she was in college. Like Mori, Sherman spent a majority of her life in New York, especially throughout her career of the arts.

Now, let’s get to some of their works. I’ll start with Mariko Mori:

Entropy of Love, 1998

“Entropy of Love” symbolizes the world that two lovers can create when they are trapped inside their own “spacious bubble”. Everything in this picture is so modernized and desolate, but the sexuality between the two remains within their
own bubble of love.

Mirror of Water, 1998

This image takes place in the Massif Cave, and shows very eerie looking females. However, this is a classic piece for Mori due to the fact that it contains pop images, especially the girls who are fashion icons, and the fusion with one of the elements, earth. This shows her confliction with the fashion world and her naturalistic Buddhist traditions. Kind of seems like a play on opposites. As displaced everything may seem in this image, it all seems to tie together well with Mori’s perception of women and the elements.

Birth of Star, 1995

This image is very significant to Mori’s decent into using pop culture icons in the fashion world of Japan, and the epitome of her breakthrough into the world of classic commercialism. But it also shows that she is all about being true to herself, as the artist. I find this picture very enticing in the fact that withing Japanese commercialism, they use women to gain and hold the attention of the audience.

Now for the works of Cindy Sherman:

Untitled 93, Still frame

This photograph is very appealing to me: 1) because of the expression of Sherman, which comes off as if she is surprised or frightened, 2) As a viewer, I am curious as to what she is looking at and what is captivating her attention, and 3) the use of light and shadows to create an amazing image that speaks for itself. Sherman used herself as a model to show that women are the center of the audience eye.

**was not able to obtain date.

Untitled Film Still 6

This image plays of both of the themes women and sexuality. Sherman uses herself as a female to create the sexual drive of this photo. Such a mind trick this picture, because as a viewer I was not pulled in by the female herself (because Sherman never used her photographs are self-portaits but as a definition of women in general) but I was drawn into the position of her body as if she is carefee and almost… barbie-like. I can see how contraversial Sherman’s works may have been a few eras ago.

**Was not able to obtain date.

Untitled 1992, 1992

As the final image, I wanted to present one of Sherman’s more sexually appealing and almost appauling images. This represents very openly a lot about sexuality and the connection with women. Almost as if it is saying “Slap some boobs and a vagina on it and it will sell.” But refering back to the barbie-like image, Sherman uses the dehumanized versions of women to portray in her works. Visually it is a little irritating, however I can’t seem to stop staring.

Works Cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariko_Mori

http://www.cindysherman.com/biography.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman

** Some of the dates were very hard to find and some I was not able to come up with.

Pablo Picasso was the first of the two to create and develop cubism as a style. He was a Spanish artist,who started his career in cubism in 1907 and created the antecedent to cubism, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), a painting consisting of five naked prostitutes in a brothel, two of which are wearing african masks. The african masks are very representative of the influence of African American art that was incredibly expressive, on Picasso’s work. This piece however, was his abandonment of traditonal perspective. This painting was an incredible challenge for Picasso, with over 100 sketches and his fight to work with a three dimensional figure on a two dimensional plane, it took him a while to come up with nothing less than satisfaction. Even with all of his struggles and creations, Picasso seemed to offend the European art scene as a whole, some critics going as far as saying “It was the ugliness of the faces that froze with horror the half-converted” and “One day we shall find Pablo has hanged himself behind his great canvas“. Obviously there were some harsh feelings.

One of the most incredible things about the two artists working in the same studio at the same period in time, on the same style of art, was that they both created two completely different works of art, that were almost indistinguishable from the two artists if put side by side. George Braque was the second artist to create and develope cubism, and actually worked side by side with Picasso as they explored the new world of art.He reflected a lot of geometric shapes into his paintings as well as a play on light and direction. However, when World War 1 broke out in 1914, Braque enlisted in the army and this took him away from the studio.

Cubism really put a lot of things into perspective for me after I had learned that this was Picasso’s main style. I had never been able to put a name to his intriquet style of art, but ever since cubism came into my world, it makes a lot more sense. Here is a little peak at how cubism has effected the styles of today:

Bugs is a modern day cubist who uses this interesting style to incorporate into his tattoos. Cubism is the main style of Bugs and he uses it very well. Here is a look into his amazing style:

http://www.tattoo.tv/artists/interviews/320-bugs-tattoo-lounge-los-angeles.html

Works Cited

http://www.eyeconart.net/history/cubism.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/picasso_a.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Braque

Claude Monet, being the father of Impressionism, really brought about the creationism aspect of Impressionism with his piece Impression, Sunrise (1873, Paris). This piece took so much criticism when it came to the style of Impressionism because of how much it look like a simple impression, not a finished piece. But the beauty of Monet’s work is astounding! Every time I look at anything done by him I am taken away to such a beautiful place.

That is the greatest aspect about Impressionism is that they weren’t concerned with the politics and realistic aspects of society, but just the true beauty of the perception of life. With the use of surrealistic colors and shadows of light and dark to create sunergy, it is almost as though the painting creates a life of it’s own. Unlike Impressionism and the Romantic era, other eras before really tried to capture actions and stuck with one style of painting. But with the Romantic era there was such a surge in the visual arts and the explosion of photography created so much to look forward to that not many people were too impressed with Impressionism.

Monet started out using mainly dark colors on his palette marked by shadows and shades. But around 1860 he switch to only light pastel colors that completely lacked any black. One of the most interesting facts about Monet was that when he reached age 68, he began to develop cataracts that started to affect his vision. Talk about irony. But the fact that he lost his vision, but created such beautiful images for people to last decades, even a century, is the most amazing thing. Impressionism has really impressed me.

“As for the colors I use, what’s so interesting about that ? I don’t think one could paint better or more brightly with another palette. The most important thing is to know how to use the colors. Their choice is a matter of habit. In short, I use white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, madder, cobalt blue, chrome green. Tha t’s all.”  ~such simplicity can create so much beauty…

Works Cited:

http://www.eyeconart.net/history/impressionism.htm

http://www.eyeconart.net/history/impressionism2.htm

http://giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm

http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/monet.html

Oedipe (1718)

Bastille; Paris, France

Most people know him as Voltaire in society today, philosopher and witty playwright, but François Marie Arouet was more commonly known for his sass and rebellion against the strict government control. Jailed many times throughout his life, Arouet created Oedipe during an 11 month imprisonment, which due to his skepticism and rebellious acts toward not only officials, but also the government, and forced him to continue his writings while imprisoned. With Oedipe being his most famous of works after its first production, and once it did Voltaire became one of the top dramatists of the century. This is somewhat entertaining in itself considering Arouet was not very much of a dramatist since he lacked sympathy and understanding. But with his quick wit and stunning intellectual ability to create satirical playwrights put him at the top.

Arouet began using his pen name Voltaire after he wrote Oedipe. This play is based on the story of Oedipus, but made no real contributions to it and actually followed more of a love story to do with Philoctetes love for Jocasta, two Greek mythology characters in which Jocasta was actually Oedipus’ mother and wife. Talk about drama! This first play was acted at Theatre- Francais the year it came out and set Voltaire’s reputation for good.

Around this time in the Classical era there was a lot of government censorship that was taking place and theaters were ordered to have a license by the Licensing Act of 1737 to cut back on political satire. This is exactly what Voltaire thrived off of and his witty remarks and satirical nature might have been what got him exiled and arrested so many times, but it is also the exact reason why he is and was so famous. Not only did he go after the king and crown ship, but he also went after religion and churches. This got him in big trouble but never stopped his writings from being popular. In fact, the more his work was banned, the more popular it became. The middle class was one of the main audiences to his works, so they were the most frequent buyers.  With the rise of the middle class, also came the rise of Voltaire!

The main thing that really attracted me to Voltaire was his intellectual common sense. I like him for the sake of his (for a lack of a better term) ballsiness. So many people during this time were so concerned with breaking the law and being caught under censorship laws, Voltaire wasn’t concerned with any of this, he got out what he wanted to say and didn’t think twice, except for maybe when he was in jail. My favorite quote from him:

“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ‘O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.” — Voltaire , letter (1767)

Works Cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire

http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/voltaire001.html

http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/V/VOL/voltaire.html

Assumption of the Virgin

During the Baroque era, one of the most influential style of paintings was in fact the Illusionistic Ceilings. Assumption of the Virgin, created by Antonio Da Correggio in Italy, was an influential piece to other Illusionists to the dramatic style of the Baroque era. Created in Italy, Correggio used the Italian style of sotto in su, which meant to be seen from below, which allowed the viewer to feel as though there was no ceiling at all. Painted on the ceiling of the Cathedral of Parma, which was located in one of the Catholic Churches, shows that there was a connection between the Council of Trent as well as the influence of the Academies at the time.

The Council of Trent was known as the Counter reformation that brough art back into the churches through a council of people who thought that art should depict the different aspects of religiosity. Correggio’s piece has to do with the assumption of Mary into heaven, an obvious religious theme that is so heavenly in this illusionistic piece due to the amazing styles that he used. The Academies at this time had a very influential and profound effect on the artists at this time, especially on Correggio, whose style was sought out by the Carracci family because he portrayed the truth in his religious subject matter, which was exactly what the counter reformation was all about.

Despite the obvious effects that this style of painting has, it fits it’s title of illusionistic for a reason. The fact that Correggio was able to use foreshortening in a way that it appears to just go up into the heavens. The ring of people surrounded in the clouds is such an amazing aspect of the painting due to the joyous expressions and happiness. One of the things that really captures me about this painting is that it takes away from the veiwer and brings them into the cieling and shows what people have to look forward to if they stay on the right path due to how dramatic it really is.

Adam and Eve (1504)

Created under Italian theory and influence in Germany

This engraving really struck me because of its simplicity amongst intense detail. It is appealing because of its black and white nature, along with the natural beauty of it. The body language of Adam and Eve both in this engraving is so romantic, yet he uses real proportions when it comes to their bodies, not surrealism. The immense amount of detail that is in the animals, tree bark, and even the sculpting of the human body really show that Dürer was very talented in what he did. Even though there are many different interpretations of Adam and Eve through visual art, Dürer made an effort to relate the two creatures to real times and have the beauty and innocence of human emanating from the two forms. This also goes to show how much religion was on his mind at the time his works were created. The way that he portrays their bodies in such a light white in front of the grays and blacks of the painting, it almost appears they are angelic, even as Eve reaches for the apple from the serpent’s mouth. During this time, Europe was going through the religious reformation, but Dürer was going through a religious reformation as well. It was constantly on his mind, and it showed frequently through his artwork. One thing that also shows through the detail in his work is realism, which was very much influenced and made popular in the Northern Renaissance by Dürer.

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