Art Review Blog Post # 9

Art Review Blog Post

“From The House of The Dead”


Looking through the New York Times, I came across an art piece called “From The House of The Dead.” In the painting, I see a display of a man doing pyrotechnics, and a huge audience of people crowding around him. There seems to be a universal voice that is displayed in this art work. The fire that the man uses in his expression plays the role of a voice, in a very inspirational way to the audience. Almost as if he is trying to send a message to these people who are crowding around him. The author makes an attempt on creating his work to look like the time of the Industrial Revolution. In the art work you can find run down apartments along the sides, with ladders connecting one floor to another. The group of people outside crowding around the fire man must be the hard workers of those industrial factories, who barely receive money to get by. The fire that the man expresses to the workers shows almost a symbol of a revolution. I think it has to do with an attempt on strengthening morale within the working class, to revolt against the unfair government regulations.

The author in the passage talks about the works of opera director, Mr. Chereau. Mr. Chereau’s works are viewed as pieces of art that contributes to the success of opera directing as a whole. The critics used research that including his old works such as “Queen Margot” and “Intimacy”. One being about blood and brocade, while the other discusses highly erotic performances. Nonetheless the works of Cheraeu are valued highly in the opera world, without a single negative feedback from the critics.

Soheil Tayebi

The article on sugar skulls was very interesting to read. I noticed that it was a very differnet format from say the art review we had to write for our third essays. There were alot more quotes throughout the review. I would say almost 80 percent of the article was quotes. I also noticed that this particular article wasn't so much as say a typical review where the author talks about how good or bad some art work is. This article revolved around letting people in the city know about the family that visits chicago once a year to make sugar skulls for the day of the dead at the chicago museum of art. I noticed that the say voice of the author was not really present but rather the voice of a viewer was more involved. As a reviewer i think they get a bigger say than an average consumer or viewer. But these piece seemed to be from the stand point if a normal person. I did notice that alot of say research was done to right the article. There was a load of facts all throughout the article revealing things to the reader about the art, artist, and other key points. I would say that this article was very different from the type of review we have to do. As the review really had no input on there opinion, we do not have acsess to interview the artists, and all around it was more of an informative summary than a review.

Edible Art

Edible Art. Sugar skulls or calaveras are a sweet treat that is a custom of the holiday, Day of the Dead. Yolanda Perdomo’s article “Sugar Skulls,” reveals the history of the Mondragon family who have been coming to Chicago since 1995. Each year the family comes the National Museum of Mexican Art to show how they continue to use the same traditions of making sugar skulls which has been past down from their ancestors. Throughout her entire article, Yolanda creates a visual image. It is as if you weren’t reading an article but watching a short documentary of celebrating life and accepting death, instead. The article is full of quotes of the Mondragon family and visitors who come to the museum to view their art. By researching and interviewing with a bunch of people, Yolanda is able to give a more personal information to the reader versus what you would get from a textbook. I think what would help make this article stronger is if the author would have incorporated her own voice more. For example, she could describe the sugar skulls in more detail or continue to add more detail of the Mondragon working on the sugar skulls in the museum. Even though there is plenty of history describing the sweet treats, it would have been nice to hear more of the history of the Day of the Dead holiday to understand what it is about and how the skulls play in to it. The author only begins to skim the surface of everything.

River North

The River North Dance company is one of the most popular and innovative dance companies in Chicago. Recently they performed at the Harris Theater as a part of their 20th anniversary program. The company, formed in 1989, has survived despite Chicago's failed support. In the review, the author, Sid Smith, uses some really cool and interesting description words to relate to the dancers and the performance. He doesn't use the normal words that most people would use to describe a dance piece such as beautiful , flowing, and graceful. Smith uses words such as, wriggle, turgid, tense, and expressive. In using terms like these it gives the reader's idea of the company a whole different feeling. He describes some of the movements of the first piece in the show. His descriptions were definitely vivid. He relates the dancing to some things we have usually seen such as, tug of war, cages, and acrobatics. At the end of that paragraph he goes on to describe the costumes. This I think, could have been left out for something else. He could have described the show as a whole and the feeling that it game him and the audience. I would have also liked it if he had described more of their repertory and how the different pieces related and didn't relate to each other. Overall I thought the article had a lot of good, interesting descriptions.

'Uneven presentation at Rhona Hoffman is still worth seeing'

Lori Waxman of the Chicago Tribune sends her regards to the work of the late Fred Sandback, in her review of his displayed work at Rhonda Hoffman Gallery. I have no personal input on what this piece looks like at all, but was intrigued by what was written as a representation of the space of a room covered entirely in yarn. In a generally positive write up, Waxman's overview of the work is personally described as difficult to put into words and that photographs would actually take away from the work. Essentially, the critic is saying there's a transcendence to Sandback's method. Other elements brought up in the review include her giving a brief background on the artist, describing him as a minimalist best known for his working with yarn, up until his death in 2003. In a quote towards the end of the review, 'There is more than one way to draw a line', something he had been doing for the 40 years of his career. From the amount of respect to comments of great originality shown in this piece, one could probably say she was a fan of his, but this isn't to say she is biased. The critic isn't without some negativity at the least; because she does point out that portion of the room in the art just doesn't work well in the position it's placed in. She pulls from comparisons as a method of writing also, using a passed work of Sandback's something of a hybrid between Sol Lewitt and Russian Constructivist as well as comparing it to a child's drawing brought to life.

fred sandback's magical lines in space

I used the Chicago tribune as my site to find an art review. The one I chose was called Art review: Fred Sandback's magical lines in space by Lori Waxman. The author of this article uses a lot of history about art how they are eluded. Specifically about the different techniques used to show how art can be more than one or two dimensional. She uses examples of different artist and their techniques. For example, she Italian artist Lucio Fontana took a razor blade to his canvas she was kind of comparing the different techniques of the two. Lori was very descriptive about the art. She talks about how there were so many lines, some even reaching from the floor to the ceiling. In addition to how hard it was for photographers to capture this art in its true form, which was three dimensional. Lori uses her imagery about the art and how it was hard to capture it on camera to describe the art piece. She describes colors of the yarn how they were placed in certain places even where the yarn came from to help describe it. She also talks about the placing of this piece of art. How just putting it anywhere would take away from the art and it would lose some of the essence of its beauty. So this in addition to the detail things about the artist Lucio Fontana, and Fred Sandback showed me that she did a lot of research about the art work and its history.

Atheist Damien Hirst

The art review that I read was from TimesOnline and was titled “Atheist Damien Hirst to display oil paintings in St Paul's.” This article began immediately in the opening line to tell the reader about the past work of artist Damien Hirst and then related that to the work he is currently creating. Before getting into the description of the oil paintings that are to be on display, the article gives a brief narration of the entire display that will put up in the church. This gives the reader a background before introducing the actual art. Finally the article gets to a description of the paintings, however it goes beyond just telling what the paintings look like. The reader is also informed of the inspiration and meanings of the paintings. Later the article goes into more detail about the history of Hirst’s artwork and his influences.

The methods used in this article help the reader visualize the art well. By having an image of what Hirst’s other work looks like, one can easily create a picture of the art being reviewed. Also the article talks about the other work in this display in the church, which assists in giving the reader the overall feeling of the display. At the end of the article the author talks about the process of how the church brings in art to display. I enjoyed reading about this because it gave me an idea of what kind of exhibit and church this was.

The author of this art review had to do a lot of background research about Damien Hirst, his artwork, the church, and the other art on display. This research helped a lot as it gave the review more depth and gave the reader more of an understanding of Hirst’s artwork and allowed for comparisons.

Art Review Review

Here are some newspapers and links to their Art sections. I want you to find a review of a gallery or piece of art in one of these papers. Then I would like for you to analyze the article looking once for clues to voice and audience. I would also like for you to look at methods the author uses in analyzing the work. Do they compare the work with older work by the artist or work by his or her peers? How much detail do they give of the work, of the venue? What kind of research did they need to do? 250 words.

NY Times
Chicago Tribune
Seattle Times
Slate.com
Times Online

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" Research

There are a couple resources that would help me very much with researching the art I have chosen for this essay. Ivan Albright was actually commissioned to paint “The Picture of Dorian Gray” for the 1940s film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel. So renting the movie would probably be a great asset to my research into this artwork. Reading the novel would be very beneficial as well. The story is about Dorian Gray, a very vain man, who trades his soul for an ever-youthful appearance. As the still-handsome Gray leads an increasingly dissolute and evil life, a portrait of himself that he has in his home rots and decays, revealing his sin and corruption. The painting itself is filled with detail, and to fully understand and appreciate these detailed allusions, it would be important to be familiar with Wilde’s work. For each sin that Dorian Gray commits in the novel, is represented in the painting in some form of decay. There is a cat that appears next to Gray in the painting as well, and I can assume that this too is a literary reference and would have much more meaning if I had read the book. Of the research that I have done, it is very helpful to learn about why the artist made this piece. As I stated earlier, it was for a film version of the novel, and as I read more about the film I learn a lot about the artist and this specific work of art.

Research Ideas

What research can I do to improve my essay? I came up with ideas like researching about the history of thrifts stores, facts about the art institute and the artist himself. There were two ideas, however, that I felt would be best to improve my essay: incorporate my own experiences and researching other lost traditions in America. I have been to thrift stores many times. I really enjoy looking at the old items that have been preserved but I have always found myself asking why some items, such as old photos and wedding gowns, are in a thrift store. Why would people want to give these things away? Shouldn’t they be more precious to the families that they belong to? It was interesting to go through the different photos especially, because looking at those old photos was like going back in time and exploring what was really occurring during the time. The photos revealed what it was really like versus the history books from school that we use all the time that may sugar coat it. Those old photos are timeless.
Also, I found it would be extremely useful to compare the lost language the artist was describing, which is photography, with other lost traditions. The best example of a slowly dying out tradition is the newspaper. Newspapers, back in the day, were extremely popular and everyone always read one to find out what was going on in the world and locally at the time. But now, most people do not bother to get a newspaper because they can easily access the news through the Internet. It might be interesting to talk about the lost use of a landline telephones, computers and VCRs, too.

essay #3

I think what can really help me on my essay is research a typical lifestyle in Chinese culture. What are their jobs like? What is their home life like? What kind of effects does the government have on the people? How are their lives different to ours in the US? Although their economy is not the best, there is a gradual increase in employment rates. Most of these jobs are in the marketing field. There are also jobs available in the teaching lower grade levels, especially in teaching English. I want to explore the specific qualifications for jobs like these and see if it is easier or harder to get a job in China. I also want to explore what it is like to be a student in China and if the curriculum is easier or harder than the curriculum here. What is college life like for students? I also want to explore what their home life is like. I want to explore the differences between the roles of men and women. Also what traditions do they have? How important is family in the Chinese lifestyle and how does it compare to the American views on family? The typical American family seems to have many traditions that have been passed down through the years, some are shared by the country, and others are specific to a family. I also want to see if the government has as much of an effect of their culture as our government has on ours. These similarities and differences are the biggest thing that I want to research for my paper.

I went online and found two sources that are really gonna help me with my third essay. The first was a site on photography and the second was a another blog site for artist. I looked up some basic techniques of photography and some skills needed to accomplish art through photography. I learned some different styles of photography and techniques. I learned about a school in germany that is famous for its revolutionary styles and for the people that attend. There is a technique called the rule of thirds where pictures should line up according to imaginary lines that photographers use. I also learned about ISO setting and how a photograph can blend the background and foreground. Also how the background can be in some what focus while the subject is crystal clear. Another thing i learned from the second blog source was about the artist, and his background. He was originally from maine which gave me some insight on the berries. I also got to see some of his other artwork, so i can understand his style and what he was all about. I think that these two resources can help me with my next draft because i can add more detail to the essay. And also i can understand the art better so i can make more educated review of the artwork.

Blog Post 8 (Research)

Blog Post # 8

Research



I like to use information on the history of Shanghai as a resource for my artistic piece. My piece had to do with the transition of shanghai from a rural village to a city full of sky scrapers. The piece wanted to express how those “old small towns” started loosing its value due to the rise in the new generation.

I looked up information on the history of Shanghai, and I found out that it started out as a fishing village. Over time, it became a huge area for the growth of cotton, and it soon began to earn its name as one of the biggest cities in China during the 18th century. The amount of revenue that generated from Shanghai began to vastly expand, and many things came into play. Foreigners intruded on China’s soil to reap some of the benefits China was earning. Over a long period of time Shanghai was controlled by many countries particularly the Japanese. However, once China received its freedom, the Chinese National Government gained control of Shanghai. All of the businesses that were left behind from the other countries, were one by one taken over by the Chinese Government.

The businesses led to a need for reconstructing a city that catered to the businesses’ needs. Thus this was the reason why small rural areas that thrived as a fishing capital, was slowly being taken over by bigger businesses. So I found out that one of the main reasons the small villages were demolished for the sake of tall buildings, was because it made more money for China itself.

Soheil Tayebi

Trip to Shanghai

I think a visit to Shanghai would be a better resource to writing my paper. Because in one of my pieces of art shows pictures of certain areas of Shanghai before and after. I think it would help me understand if the artist feelings towards the changes in Shanghai were positive or negative, which can relate to all of my pieces I am writing about. Some of the artist that I am researching are difficult to understand because I do not know if they really like or dislike the changes that are going on in Shanghai. I think the development of Shanghai is great, but losing its heritage and the style of the old Shanghai neighborhoods is a bit sad. Another good reason for me to visit would help me with with my piece "Build your own home" I would probably understand how hard it was to make the homes in the old Shanghai neighborhoods and I would probably be able to feel the emotions that the people, specifically the elders of the Shanghai neighborhoods felt. I would also be able to relate to the younger people of the neighborhood and how the new Shanghai city would be better and helping the city of Shanghai become a better city.
A trip to Shanghai would be awesome because I would get to learn more about the traditions and a lot of cool cultural things about the city. I think it would get a better perspective of what development and destruction of Shanghai really means to the people who live work and play there.

Mother Knows Best

The inspiration for looking into Edward Hopper, as I talked about in my essay, comes from my momma, since she is a very big fan of his. She likes to paint herself and I can see alot of influence from him in her pictures. During parent's weekend, my mom even had me critique some of her latest work and said she would paint me one of the pictures for my apartment here. What make the work my mom and Mr. Hopper look so alike to me, is that she draws lots of scenery around her and really emphasizes on the still beauty of it, such as looking out the window of our home during a snow storm and recreating the view from the inside viewpoint. Very like Mr. Hopper, my mom likes to use oil based paints. They're very rich in their colors and really bring out the liveliness that would be most easily found when in motion, At least, that's how I see it. She works as a teacher in a school as well, and in her home room, she painted a giant version of a painting she had seen once. I'm not sure what the name of the artist who painted the original was (it may have actually been a picture), but there is such a similarity between it and Mr. Hopper's work that can make almost see like a homage.

I patiently look for my name on the package wall in the lobby to see my name, so I can get her next painting and bring a little bit of Maryland to my West Coast residence. :)

Merce Cunningham

I am comparing my art pieces to the work of choreographer Merce Cunningham. This fall I had the opportunity to see his company live at the dance center. His choreography is unlike any other dance I’ve ever seen. It’s extremely abstract; it contains no underlying meaning. He creates dance about dance. Cunningham focuses purely on the movement itself as he reveals the dancer’s incredible strength and control. Many choreographers, especially those in ballet, concentrate their choreography around a central point, directing the eye of the audience. Cunningham, however, creates multiple centers in his work, allowing the audience to choose what it looks at.

By looking more into Cunningham’s choreography, I will be able to more effectively analyze the art of Ellsworth Kelley. Merce Cunningham’s approach to his art is very similar to that of Ellsworth Kelley. Kelley’s paintings are incredibly abstract. He paints realism in the most conceptual ways. The legs of a chair become white streaks across the canvas, obscuring all hope of depicting the object. His paintings also contain no focal points just as Cunningham’s dances. Both leave the observer the choice of what to look at, and even to determine the meaning. This kind of art looks beyond the artists’ initial vision.

The style that Kelley and Cunningham share can clearly be applied to various types of art. Today composers, photographers, visual artists, and even writers explore this new approach. Art no longer follows the traditional means of creation and significance. Cunningham, Kelley, and a variety of other artists were the first to begin this innovative method.

Blog Post #8 Research

For this post I want you to find one resource that you believe will help you in writing essay #3. Then write at least 250 words on what it is and how it will help. Be specific!