Final Project Visual Analysis

In response to Amedeo Modigliani's artwork, I wanted to paint similarly to his portraits using the blacking out of the eye technique. To modernize this idea, however, I wanted to portray the subjects staring at their phones, as a way to comment on our society and how relied we have become to technology. I used dark, gloomy, muddy colors to reinforce the grim topic and this is also the same color pallet that Modigliani used in almost all of his paintings. I wanted my paintings to be very symmetrical and simple which is why I used straight black lines in the background of the subjects. I think that this project turned out really well and I enjoyed doing it after learning so much about my artist. I now have so much more appreciation for Modigliani because this project took way more time, patience and attention to detail than I had anticipated.

Postmodern Project

Acting as if I have never seen my postmodern project before, my eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the piece, in which there is a windy road split into two separate paths. The rest of the piece is a mirrored painted continuation of the printed picture, and in between the mirrored sides, there is a bunch of multicolored dots. Above the road, there are two faces made from trees, with leaves flowing out of the head, leading into another printed image- one of splattered paint, and another of specks floating out of a small object. This lead my eyes to the background, which was a continuation of this splatter and floating specks in all different colors.

Overall, the color scheme is very cool, with analogous shades of blues and greens, also complimented by a triad speckled throughout the painting. The cool colors creates a very relaxed and tranquil feel, and the colored dots create an organized chaos feeling. 

The Art of Data Visualization Video Response

I love how this video explains that art can make something complicated easier to explain. For example, data visualization can take statistics that are hard to picture and turn it into something visually stimulating and interesting. I enjoyed how they gave examples of Galileo marking spots of the sun. I believe that humans can more easily process visual information than statistics. This applies to me because I am a visual learner and truly benefit from visualizations like this.

Frederic Jameson - Postmodernism

 After a few reads, I finally (think) I understand what Jameson is saying about Postmodernism. It's style is a combination of all different time periods, which I think is very cool. With the comparison between Van Gogh's painting and Warhol's picture/print of shoes, I can see how the styles differ and get across emotion. Warhol's to me was not effective, I only saw shoes lined up in black and white. However, in Van Gogh's it is so much more- we can see his brushstrokes and details give the shoes more character and meaning. 

Baudrillard - Hyperreal and Imaginary

Disneyland is an odd place now that I think about it in this context. It is truly and alternate world that has been created for fantasy and fun. The shops are all built to look like little houses and overall it is like a world within itself. I find it weird when adults go to Disney without their kids, because it's so childish and centered around magic and stuff that we normally are supposed to grow out of. I like hoe Baudrillard phrased that it is a place for adults to go to get their childishness out, and it is essential to maintaining order in society, such as a nervous system.
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Subvertisement

I chose this McDonald's ad because I wanted to criticize how they underpay workers who pick their fruit and vegetables. The original ad just stated "New Fresh Smoothies Picked Daily", so I added "by underpaid workers" and added the silhouettes of workers down at the bottom tilling the fields.

Ways of Seeing

I was intrigued by Berger's ideas of how art can transform when viewed on different platforms. For example, a picture of artwork on someone's phone can completely change how it is portrayed. The emotion can be taken out of it, the brushstrokes, an a lot of intimate details disappear once on this secondary form. I immediately thought of the artwork we viewed as a class in the art gallery in Loyola. It was all large paintings of colors, with slight changes in shades to show the flow of light. If a picture was taken, all the different shade changes would be lost, and thus the meaning of this artist's work. It is interesting how dramatic the change can be, and how prevalent this is in our society with the ride of technology at our fingertips.

Baltimore Museum of Art

"Still Life, Bouquet of Dahlias & White Book" by Henri Matisse
I was drawn to this painting because of how tranquil and relaxing it is. I'm a huge fan of flowers so I immediatley had a connection with it because of the vase on the table and the floral wallpaper. This painting is very realistic, and is similar to art I would make myself. It also reminds me of my house because this is often times how my kitchen table looks, minus the wallpaper in the back. 

"Portrait of Pierre Reverse" by Amedeo Modigliani

This portrait confused me, which is why I was drawn to it. The facial features of this man are so small in proportion to his face, and his eyes creep me out. I do like how simplistic it is however, and makes it easier for people to relate with him.

"Physiological Diagram" by Andy Warhol

I loved this artwork because of the vibrant orange and greens Warhol used. The diagram is super simplistic but also interesting, and I like how he left part of the canvas blank intentionally to make us focus on the images he created. 

Visibility

Italo Calvino's Visibility led me to think about the creative process. Calvino writes and distinguishes between two major types of imagination: the type that starts with an image and then transforms into words, and the type that starts with a word and then can be transformed into something visual. 

 I never really thought of categorizing imagination like this, however, I do agree with his distinguishing. I always thought of imagination as one's ability to create scenarios, unique art, or expressing oneself in ways without any influence.

Now that Calvino writes about the two ways imagination are influenced, I realize that all imagination is inspired by something, whether it be something we read, see, or hear, and I find it bizarre that I never thought of it in this way. So many factors contribute to our creative thoughts, whether it be when we were born, how we were raised, where we grew up, and it's strange to think about how our thoughts and imagination are all rooted from things we have observed rather than what we create in our minds.

http://d4nations.com/webpubl/images/dreamstime_mind%20communication%20kopiera.JPG

Response to "The Whole Ball of Wax" by Jerry Saltz

In this article, Saltz writes about how art can change the world. At first, this sounds unreasonable, but with further explanation, we learn that art can have a major impact in less measurable ways than curing diseases or solving world hunger, although that would be nice. Art, however can
"change the world incrementally and by osmosis" (Saltz) because it is a part of the universal force. I also like how he brought in Eric Fischl's ideas into the article about how art is like a cat in the way that it is hard to understand cats, and in order to, you must "be able to grasp this nonlinear, indirect, holistic, circuitous communication" (Saltz).

Salty, Jerry. "The Whole Ball of Wax", The Village Voice, 2006.

"Cat Portraits by Art Paw: Prints on Canvas." Cat Portraits by Art Paw: Prints on Canvas. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.