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.