APAH Unit 10
The Two Fridas Artist: Frida Kahlo Date: 1939 CE Medium: Oil on Canvas
Content: Juxtaposition of two self-portraits left: a Spanish lady in white lace right: a Mexican peasant stiffness and provincial quality of Mexican folk art served as direct inspiration FORM her two hearts are intertwined by veins, which are cut by scissors at one end they lead to a portrait of her husband, artist Rivera painted at the time of their divorce CONTEXT infertile land in the background, figures against a lively sky vein = umbilical cord associating husband as a husband and a son blood on lap suggests many abortions and miscarriages and surgeries bc of polio Context: Surrealism- sought to represent an unseen world of dreams, subconscious thoughts, and unspoken communication. It went in two directions the abstract tradition of biomorphic forms the veristic tradition of using reality-based subjects put together in unusual ways Surrealism - meant to puzzle, challenge, and fascinate. NOT didactic or clearly understood Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City
Pure Land Artist: Mariko Mori Date: 1998 C.E. Medium:Color photograph on glass
FORM: Abstract expressionist Lotus in blossom with six alien musicians whirling by on clouds FUNCTION: To create meditative environment that provides the audience with a sense of tranquility and transcendence Content:; A still from her 30 installation titled "Nirvana from the Esoterica Cosmos." Digitally generated Contemporary Aesthetics Allows viewers to transport to Nirvana, personal journey Land =Dead Sea Lotus = Purity and rebirth in Paradise COntext: Counterpart of Mari's 3-D video installation Viewed with 3-D Glasses Reference 11th century Japanese culture
Pisupo Lua Afe (corned Beef 2000) A: Michel Tuffery D: 1994 CE M: Flattened cans of corned beef
FORM: Primary colors, symbolic, realistic/stylized, smooth texture, hard edged. FUNCTION: To challenge the disposal of all the can waste in New Zealand and to promote upcycling Content: Corned beef is one of the favorite canned foods in New Zealand CB is high in sodium/fat leads to a high risk of diabetes/heart disease. shows how the introduction of cattle has affected the traditional food production. The hard edges and use of tin cans is to symbolize the harm of the introduction of cattle and its ecosystem. Food sovereignty is important to the piece. Tuffery has also added to the bull by allowing it to breathe out smoke and having the head move. Context: Michel Tuffery's first language was art, so it's hard to interpret his work sometimes (couldn't read till 6.) New Zealand receives a lot of canned foods, however they're usually the scraps left over. Tuffery created other artworks talking about food sovereignty and are featured in Auckland War Memorial Museum. He hopes to spark children's curiosity through his artwork.
Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park Artist: Diego Rivera Date: 1947 - 1948 CE Medium: Fresco
Form Horizontal View Crowded History Colorful Balanced fresco/mural Function a manifestation of one man's experience with his Mexican heritage and love-life with a fellow artist could be seen as one of the precursors to the feminist/postcolonial art that shared the stories/experiences of people in minorities/people who had been oppressed and had not had their experiences ever shared in popular art before Content: depicts over 400 characters from Mexican history all joined together for a stroll in the gardens from all times of history include Hernan Cortes, Porfirio Diaz, and Sor Juana some elements are lighthearted and playful, like the colorful balloons and bright foliage; other elements are much darker, like a conflict between a policeman and an indigenous family and a skeleton smiling brightly at the viewer Rivera never officially joined the Surrealists, but the painting is nonetheless demonstrative of the Surrealist movement, which tried to depict subjects that came from dreams or the subconscious, in that this is titled as depicting a dream the fresco reads like a chronology from left to right: on the left is the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, then the fight for independence and Mexican revolution in the center, and modern achievements on the right the middle highlights the lifestyle of the Mexican elite in the middle--the kind of people whose lavish lives, so in contrast to the majority of the impoverished country, lead to the revolution and overthrow of the dictator Porfirio Diaz Context: the image of the Catrina woman was popularly known in Mexican culture at the time; around 1900 Posada had depicted a Catrina as a skeleton as a critique on the Mexican upper-class and the image became famous; Rivera appropriates this image in his fresco Rivera and Kahlo were married then divorced "Mexican muralism" was the the promotion of mural painting starting in the 1920s, generally with social and political messages as parts of an effort to reunify the country under the post-revolution government
En la Barberia no se Llora (No crying allowed in the Barbershop) Artist: Pepon Osorio Date: 1994 CE Medium: Mixed-media installation
Form The bright colors and realistically elaborate composition add to the installation's visually theatrical dynamic; as such, style has been called "Nuyorican Baroque," an explicit nod to a previous age of art in which opulence was key. The installation also has a grimy texture that lends it a more natural feel. unction The installation serves to challenge viewers, particularly those belonging to the Nuyorican community, to reevaluate the current standards of masculinity and cultural attitudes towards machismo. Content: Installation of a Barbershop and is over the top Realistic Red and white = Puerto Rico This is to show a faux barbershop based off the artist childhood memories = Masculinity Decorated with barber's chairs, video images of grown men crying, and free haircuts for visitors off the street. Artist calls upon childhood memories. Artist is from Puerto Rico and lived in both Puerto Rico and Nuyorican This references Nuyorican Baroque Style (17th century style) Context: Born in Puerto Rico but living in the South Bronx, the artist Pepón Osorio combines the cultures he has experienced in No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop. His work is inspired by Nuyorican communities, or communities of Puerto Ricans living in New York. The inspiration behind this installation stems from one of Osorio's childhood experiences; his first hair trim at the barbershop when he was five years old. The busy and noisy environment of the barbershop induced tears, as it would for many young children, but the men around him told him that men don't cry, unknowingly perpetuating machismo. Machismo is the predominant theme of No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop, which is just one of his many works that address and explore identity, the Puerto Rican diaspora, racism, and other social and political issues by Nuyorican communities.
Spiral Jetty Culture: Great Salt Lake Utah US Artist: Robert Smithson Date: 1970 CE Medium: Earthwork: mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, and water coil
Form mud, salt crystals, rocks, water coil on the Great Salt Lake in Utah this was a very abandoned place, extremely remote used a tractor with native stone to create the jetty 1970 Function jetties are supposed to be piers, but here it is in the middle of nowhere Content: Manipulating natural environment to make art Representing the landscape/real thing in the form of what it looks like minimal sculpture Surrounding landscape looks like industrial wasteland because of mining equipment abandoned Time Time artist, get out of the studio Statement to Warhol and others that art is a community Creating something that cannot be sold (for public) Myths about whirlpool = where fairies come from The level of the lake rose and it was underwater, now it has reemerged In the middle of NOWHERE, Great Salt Lake the artist was very interested in the blood red color of the water due to the presence of the bacteria that live in the high salt content Context: this is an example of Site Art sometimes referred to as Earth art- is dependent on its location he original environment must be fully intact to understand the work fully time = 1970s-present day
Narcissus Garden Artist: Yayoi Kusama Date: Original installation and performance 1966. Medium: Mirror balls
Form: 1500 Mirrored balls Reflective fields Performance Installation and Interactive Function: Served as a commentary from the self obsession of commercialism. To bring attention the uncomfortable realities of commodification of art. Content: 1500 Balls were on displayed outside an italian Pavilion with yard sale sign saying :" Your Narcissism for Sale." Each ball sold for $2 Only see own image References the tale of Narcissus Narcissism = Known for having egotistical obsession with herself (Kusama) Once the police realized what Kusama was doing, they removed her and she placed her Balls in water. Because of the current, the reflect the flow would change viewers and perspective Context: Born 1929 in Japan, Moved to New York in 1958 During this time art was now changing and moving towards minimalism. Her art infused change and infused other artist like Andy Warhol Self- Taught artist who lived (my choice) in an mental asylum She was interested in avant-garde style painting compared to traditional silk painting. Her art was rejected by traditional Japanese painters. Obsessed with dots and infinity repetition Kusama self-promotion and protest of commercialization of Art
The Bay Artist: Helen Frankenthaler Date: 1963 CE Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Form: Abstract Colorful/Earth Modern Soak stain technique Bold Function: Physical representation of Frankenthaler ideas -Expressionism -Color Field Content: Embodies flatness, thinned down colors, calls attention to the texture of th canvas Blending shades of blue Context: Abstract Expressionism movement Analysing and producing natural forms One of the few women in the movement Inspired by the drip method of jackson Pollock.
Woman, I Artist: Willem de Kooning Date: 1950 - 1952 CE Medium: Oil on Canvas
Form: Abstract Figurative Imagery Contermorary Riotent Distorted female Energized Dynamism Function: To sow female archetypes of beauty and fetity in Kooning's abstract and unique view Content: Wide Eyes, threatening stare, ferocious grin. Reflects age, old culture ambrialen between reverence and fear of the power of the feminine. Range of emotion: vengeful power of the goddess to hollow seduction of the calendar. Shows power and intimidation of woman. Context: Influenced by images ranging from paleolithic fertility to American billboard and pin up dolls. Kooning's work is controversial. Many have declared his painting as too abstract.
Androgyn III Artist: Magdalena Abakanowicz Date: 1985 C.E. Medium: Burlap, resin, wood, nails, string.
Form: Androgynous Sculpture Negative Space Function: Natural metaphor for the hollowness both physical and spiritual that racked post war europe Content: No body parts = convey message that any human is identical with one another when considered from a universal perspective. composition (of mankind) is expressed both physical/spiritual "They are about existence in the general" - Abakanowicz Fiber rough texture = earth's rough surface or cellular composition of human skin Context: Abakanowicz was a Polish sculptor and fiber artist. Notable for her use of textiles Widely regarded as one of Poland's most internationally acclaimed artists.
Rebellious Silence, from the Women of Allah Series Artist: Shirin Neshat (artist) Photo by Cynthia Preston Date: 1994 CE Medium: Ink on Photography
Form: Black and White Eyes left untouched Collaboration Symmetrical Pattern Contrast Emphasis Realistic FUnction: Describe the social issues ranging from stereotypes to war in a woman's point of view Content: Artist decorates the face in writing Image shows a veiled women with barrel of gun pointed up divided her face Gazing at viewer with unwavering confidence Expresses the abstract thoughts of "female warrior during Iranin Islamic Revolution" Inscribed with calligraphy of faris Text. Poetry of Contemporary Iranian women poets who wrote on subject of Martyrdom and the roles of women in the revolution. Context: Iranians Islamic Revolution in 1979 Women of war and their stance Shirin Neshat created a series of these with "gaze" and "Shoot" in mind Farsi: Western Iranian Languages with in the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European Language family.
House in New Castle County Culture: Delaware, U.S. Artist: Robert Venturi, John Rauch, and Denise Scott Brown (architects) Date: 1978-1983 C.E. Medium: Wood frame and stucco
Form: Cardboard Cutout Appearance Asymmetrical Muti floors Kitschy Colors Mostly White Function: Home for a professor and a music teacher, who were both bird watchers Content: Post Modern Venturi borrowed from distinct periods and places Juxtaposing Collaging Reinterpreting ideas Context: Venturi wrote "complexity and contradiction and architecture," when criticized inconsistencies in architectural history, venturi studied architecture in rome and was especially influenced by post-renaissance architecture, particularly mannerist and baroque italy.
Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People) Artist: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Date: 1992 C.E. Medium: Oil and mixed media on canvas
Form: Colorful Abstract Decorative Canoe object 152.4 x 431.8 cm Asymmetrical figure White wall String Oil paint Triptych Function: The painting is an expression of the Native American artist's feelings about historical and contemporary inequalities between natives and the US. Addresses issues of racism, the environment, and Native identity Stems into an anti-colonist issue Context: Inspired by native/non-native sources such as petroglyphs, plains ledger art, Dine saddle blankets, Charles Russell prints, etc. Juane is Native American herself and her culture was very influential and important in her artwork Red refers to her native heritage, blood, warfare, sacrifice. The canoe was used by Natives and Non-Natives (Explorers/traders) which suggested possibility of trade. 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival to North America. Illustrates the historical and contemporary inequalities between Native Americans and United States gpv.
Stadia II Artist: Julie Mehretu Date: 2004 CE Medium: Ink and Acrylic on Canvas
Form: Colorful Chaotic Bright and loud confusing Function: To portray a large stadium, A sports arena. Country flags, confetti, and the eruption of the crowd are prevalent. Content: Mehretu connects her art to the ever expanding world. dynamism has references to traffic patterns, popular culture, and disorder. Used geometric forms to display the triumphancy displayed by countries at stadiums, having that triumph being contrasted by how these places are hotspots for acts of terror. Context: Mehretu's working process begins with the projection of maps and diagrams onto the work's blank surface. techniques of layers in opaque and transparent mediums. Mehretu long explored the world and use of abstraction.
Preying Mantra. Wangechi Mutu. 2006 C.E. Mixed media on Mylar.
Form: Contrasting Complex Expressionist Colorful Pattern Function: Question Gender sexuality Cultural Identity Content: Centers on female subjectivity and hybridity Mixing of cultures Can produce a third space for never understanding cultural identity. Context: Artist born in Kenya as a colonialism in Africa in 20th century Other social and political issues emerged such as heights of women being impeded.
The Jungle Artis: Wifredo Lam Date: 1943 CE Medium: Gouache on the paper mounted on a Canvas
Form: Cuban Surrealism Human and Animal Forms Flat (no perspective) Asymmetrical 10ft X8ft Function: To communicate a game of perception Anti-colonialist movement. Reclaim tradition An example of surrealism A game of perception Intended to communicate a psychic state Seeks to explain and shed light on Cuba's complex history Content: Goes against tradition, leads with heritage, Afro-Caribbean influenced, sense of unease and discomfort There are multiple forms of the same human being Somewhat of a cubist form Goes against tradition Creates uncomfortable feelings Symbolizes heritage and connection to ancestors Cubist form Different geometric shapes and interlocking figures Context: Influenced by war in Europe and Cuba's socioeconomic realities, artist had to readjust to his Cuban heritage after moving back from Europe, art helped him connect with his culture. Friends with Picasso and both took inspiration from each other No Cha-Cha-Cha Lam wanted to show the true the drama of what going on in his country Currently displayed in Museum of Modern art in New York In 1940s the sugarcane to big business that required thousands of labors.
The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49 Artist: Jacob Lawrence Date: 1940-1941 CE Medium: Casen Tempera on Handboard
Form: Divided, colorless, drab, stylized, political, hostile, emotionally charged. Function: Meant to depict and expose the oppression and lack of freedom forced upon African Americans during the time period, tells a story. Content: Shows a public dining space in the North, blacks and whites are divided with curvy barrier, made around the time of civil right movement and Jim Crow laws. Context: Part of 30 panels, known as a master storyteller, artwork has heavy political and emotional undertones, made amidst, colors of all panels match and have same color scheme, painted side by side.
Dancing at the Louvre, from the series The French Collection, Part I; #1 Artist: Faith Ringgold. Date: 1991 C.E. Medium: Acrylic on canvas, tie-dyed, pieced fabric border
Form: Geometric shapes Stylized Use of bold colors Acrylic on canvas with fabric borders American slave art Combination of traditional use of oil paint along with quilting technique Function: quilt has a narrative element and is not meant to be put on a bed quilts were meant to be both beautiful and useful acting out a history that may not have actually taken place Content: Famous art from Leonardo Da Vinci in the background Feminist issues dominant, quilting seen as women art quilting is usually seen as a woman's work Willia Marie Simone taker her Friend and 3 daughters dancing in front of the painting Context: Its is combining representational painting and african american quilting techniques with the written word, Dancing at the Louvre. It is the first of the "Story Quilts" in the french collection. This piece is about breaking the rules and having lots of fun while doing it. Part of modern Painting Acrylic Painting
Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower seed) Artist: Ai Weiwei Date: 2010-11CE Medium: Sculpted and painted porcelain
Form: Installation 100 million tiny, handmade porcelain sunflower seeds in enormous hall, industrial building black and white -- very little color each slightly different Function: Critiques communism and the modes of foreign production and economic consumption and how it affects people across the globe Content: Sunflower seeds evoke a warm feeling for the artist who would share sunflower seeds with his other poor friend and family. Porcelain is a symbol of Chinese culture. 1,600 artisan workers produced the millions of sunflower seeds. Ai Weiwei is known as a political and human rights activist. He was arrested and detained because of his activism for democracy and human rights.
Lying with the Wolf Artist: Kiki Smith Date: 2001 C.E. Medium: Ink and pencil on paper
Form: Large Woman & wolf Rough Negative space Contrasting Function: Featuring on act of bonding between human and animal Reverence from the natural world Religious narratives and mythology Inspired by Genevieve sitting with wolves and lambs Content: -Peaceful -Contemporary notions of feminine domanity though mythological and spiritual history -Spiritual yearning, Sexual identity -Reminding us of a bedsheet (domestic piece of fabric) -Woman and dangerous animal coexisting = powerful message? -Remind = biblical, Greek myth, eastern deities -Female strength -Contemporary description of ancient -Wolf symbol? Context: Feminist Art Very large (72 ½" x 88") Smith did not create Art two year prior to this drawing. Inspired by an artwork with animals and people.
Shibboleth Artist: Doris Salcedo Date: 2007-2008 C.E. Medium:Installation
Form: Large Installation Simple Contrast Held within a site specific building Function: Show light on racism Content: Shibboleth = excluding the less worthy from a specific group She uses the giant crack on the floor of ceremonial hall as a symbol of racism, discrimination, and colonialism that separated one being from another. Through this art piece she addresses that the modernity is a result of colonial exploitation of the "stronger" from the "weaker." Context: Instead of filling the hall with conventional sculpture of installation, created al large crack on the floor of the Turbine Hall at its installation.
Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan Artist: Lu Chunhua Date: 1969 CE Medium:Original oil painting, then color lithograph
Form: Mae (person) Man bigger than nature (society) Dramatic Change Soft/Airy Function: Propaganda to reunite China behind Mao after the failure of his industrial program Social Realism Content: Propaganda = glorifying Chairman Mao He is on his way to help Miners Revolt (peacefully and Successfully) Striding atop a mt. wearing a look of determination on his face, en route to Anyuan Shows a young Mao (chinese communist revolutionary) ready to weather any storm. Context: Important b/c it was more westernised art (forced upon China) During Cultural Revolution (1966-76) artist created "Mao Painting" represented Mao's efforts to regain his hold after bitter political struggles. Mao's wife become a leader caused criticism of Mao in drama, literature, and the Visual Arts.
The Swing (after Fragonard) Artist: Yinka Shonibare Date: 2001 CE Medium: Mixed-Media installation
Form: Mannequin (which is dressed in colors much brighter than the dark foliage) ropes =diagonals No mail onlookers (the viewer becomes the guilty onlooker) The mannequin = skin is dark, she is dressed in bright cotton instead of fine lace, and she is missing her head. Function: critique of wealthy Europeans during the colonial era as well as colonialism itself. Resembles The Swing it has dissonant, dark overtones Content: headless. The Swing was painted only decades before Robespierre's Reign of Terror, where members of the French aristocracy were notoriously beheaded by guillotine. Patterns = Dutch from Indonesia in colonial times, manufactured in Europe, then sold to colonies in West Africa, where they were assimilated into the local culture and came to be associated with Africa. Symbolizes the exploitative nature of imperialism, the prevalence of stereotypes in modern Western culture, and Shonibare's personal identity as a 'hybrid' of London and Nigeria. Context: Artist = a post-modernist who was born in London but moved to Nigeria at a young age. his works address issues of race, class, and colonial history. Shonibare questions Western views of the colonial era and the disturbing implications of rich Europeans during that time. His piece is rife with references to European imperialism and its repercussions.
Untitled (#228), from the History Portraits series Artist: Cindy Sherman Date: 1990 C.E. Medium: Photograph
Form: New medium = acrylic, Assemblages: sculptors made of objects, Installations: large assemblages; can take up a whole room, Photography, Contract = color and items Function: Draw attention to the stage and often mannered nature of historical portrait painting while playfully mocking the discipline of Art History Content: Power of Women? Drawing from a range of Art history styles (which ones?) Used costuming and settling to transform her into historical looking figures (male and female) Purposefully uses bad wigs and theatrical make up = artificial Appropriation of views of Art History Refers to Beheading of Holofernes by Judith Context: Sherman is the main subject and did everything Postmodernism = largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific or objective, efforts to explain reality. Sought to contradict some aspects of modernism. Rebel.
The Gates Culture: New York, US Artist: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Date: 1979-2005 CE Medium: Mixed-media installation
Form: Rectilinear 3-sided rigid vinyl frame resting on 2 steel footing, supported saffron-colored fabric panels hung loosely from the top 7503 gates 23 Miles 16 feet high Content: Gates same color as fabric Artists complicate an environment that was entirely invented in the mid-19th century to express the victorian ideal of the pastoral and picturesque landscape. Inspired by paths Pathways of movement Context: Couple created idea 30 years before construction 6 weeks to make, 2 weeks to install Placed structor on Path b/c did not want to drill into roots and inspired by the way the city's pedestrians navigate its paths $21 million financed by couple "Temporary quality of the project is an aesthetic decision" = temporary feeling
The Crossing Artist: Bill Viola Date: 1996 C.E. Medium: Video/sound installation
Form: Room sized video installation on a large two sided screen Flames and water Male figure Stark black background Empty denouement Function: To invite a meditative and contemplative response, one that requires the viewer to concentrate longer while increasing awareness of detail. Content: The man is engulfed in flames. On the other screen the man is engulfed in water. Very slow and little movement from the man The man vanishes The videos are simultaneously projected Context: Might be interpreted through lens of mythology or religious thought. Viola is inspired by Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sufism. Compares to Shiva as Lord of Dance through ring of Flames Element forces "How we see, how we hear, and how we come to know the world."
Marilyn Diptych Artist: Andy Warhol Date: 1962 CE Medium: Oil, acrylic, and silkscreen enamel on canvas
Form: Screen Printing Patterns repeating Pop Art Graded Value Change of color Stencil of Portrait Function: Staple of Pop Art Movement Publicly displayed to represent Monroe's life how it was publicly displayed and not private. Content; Created after her death Title = Child and Virgin because people worshiped Marilyn Monroe Challenged the traditions of Fine Arts Imagery from Pop Culture Most famous image of Monroe. It was taken from the film Niagara Represented mortality, no one is perfect Possibly becoming desensitized to the image Context: Pop Art = 1960s both in American and Britain Monroe = actress, American icon, was also quite tragic due to the limitation in society Rebel against traditions Art became more relatable to the everyday person Warhol = worked as an illustrator and started this own company, created Pop Art but appropriating images from consumer culture. Used photographic silkscreen printing and his studio was called "The Factory".To rent the apartment (for The Factory) it was $100 for a year.
Old Man's Cloth. El Anatsui. 2003 C.E. Aluminum and copper wire.
Form: Texture Colorful Recycled Abstract Cloth like Function: To expend the definition of a new medium and eliminate the line between art and craft Highlight culturas past Content: Choice in liquor bottles labels/caps symbolized the trade between africa and Europe (eurple trading alcohol for African good and eventually slavery) Wave Like Blanket like What is art and craft? Context: Artist collected the caps in places near his house in Nigeria Also caused controversy because it is often debated if it should be considered Art and what category does it fall into.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Spain Artist: Frank Gehry (architect) Date: 1997 C.E. Medium: Titanium, glass, and limestone
Form: Titanium Glass Limestone Musical Majestic Function: To showcase great fine art exhibitions and further the redevelopment of the city of Bilbao. Content: Use computer to visualization produced by Digital Project software A museum to challenge assumptions about art museum of collecting and programming with its inventive design. Neoclassical Urban renewal Program Juxtapose elements that bends, ripple, and unful Context: In late 1980s the Basque authorities started on a redevelopment program for Bilbao. 1991 at the invitation of the Basque Government the director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation met repeatedly with the officials and signed a preliminary agreement to bring a new Guggenheim Museum to Bilbao 4 year Construction LA based Architect
Horn Player Artist: Jean- Michel Basquiat Date: 1983 CE Medium: Acrylic and Oil paint stick on three canvas panels
Form: flattened background with bold colors to contrast the black background as well as thick lines. The two musicians balance the outer panel of the work while a skullish head sits in the middle panel. Acrylic, a new art medium created in the 1950s to accentuate his work. thick lines and bold acrylic colors he uses brings a powerful message to his figures and words. triptych panel. Function: Basquiat was a jazz listener and musician and he is using his work to honor that by depicting two of the greatest jazz musicians. Art historians and scholars have attributed Basquiat's content of musicians as a way of celebration of African-Americans and their culture. Content: On the left panel of the piece, Basquiat depicts the famous saxophonist Charlie Parker with his saxophone. On the right panel he drew the famous trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. These two jazz musicians were very famous in the jazz era and Basquiat was a fan of them. This piece has a lot of symbolism and meaning behind the words that Basquiat writes on the canvas. The words "ORNITHOLOGY", "PREE", and "CHAN" all have meaning in the two musician's lives. In the middle panel, there is a pink head that is not an identifiable person. The figures head extends out, similar to the way Picasso distorts a figure's jaw in his piece Three Musicians. Context: Jean-Michel Basquiat first started his art career as a graffiti artist in New York City under the pseudonym SAMO. New York City was the hub of the contemporary art movement. Adapting the graffiti artist's ability to work on any medium, Basquiat began his professional work painting on anything he could find: refrigerators, furniture, and canvases. Most of his work was inspired by the book Grey's Anatomy that his mother bought him when he was a boy. Basquiat was only twenty years old when his art career took off, exhibiting his work in contemporary art exhibits all across Europe and NYC. Basquiat's work is categorized as a part of the Neo-expressionism movement because of its depiction of the human body and other identifiable objects in a rough and violently emotional way.
Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks Artist: Clase Oldenburg Date: 1969 - 1974 CE Medium: Cor-Ten steel, steel, aluminum, and cast resin, painted with polyurethane enamel
Form: ipstick portion=cylindrical shape with an angled top. Bullet upper part painted pinky-orange and lower a gold color. bottom portion = a black rectangular box with two ovular shapes on either side of the box with caterpillar tracks resembling a tank. Function: Platform for students of Yale University to stand on during protests against the Vietnam War. serves as a political statement expressing the dissatisfaction of the artist and those who commissioned it with U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Content: Large tube of lipstick on top of caterpillar tracks (continuous conveyor-belt tracks) that are made to look like a tank. Bold statement against U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War and Criticizing the obsession that many people had with beauty and consumerism at the same time when thousands were dying in the Vietnam War, a war that Oldenburg thought was pointless. This piece shows the evolution of the power of art. Previous eras = art was not served as a political statement, critiquing the government and calling for political change, but that's exactly what this piece does. This shows how art has transformed so that artists are able to express deeper intellectual thoughts than in previous eras of art. There is a big emphasis on the unity of male and female forms in this piece, as seen by the joining of the feminine product (lipstick) with masculine war machinery (tank) to make it look like a missile is hitting a tank. Context: Anti-war piece to criticize U.S. obsession with beauty/consumerism (distracting from Vietnam) Juxtaposed feminine with masculine machinery, making lipstick look harsh/violent(tank being hit by a missile) Artist clear message, something that he strived for as he believed that art shouldn't just "sit on its ass in a museum". Oldenburg Sweden, moved to the U.S., and studied at Yale University. Worked evolved into taking a more critical and humorous style to his artwork where he contributed to the Pop Art movement of celebrating commonplace objects. A group of architecture students from Yale University worked with Oldenburg to make this piece to commemorate the protests against the Vietnam War as what they called the "second American Revolution".
Darkytown Rebellion Artist: Kara Walker Date: 2001 C.E. Medium: Cut paper and projection on wall
Form: silhouetted figures wall, Walker projected colored light onto the ceiling, walls, and floor. human scale her installation implicates the viewer, and color, as opposed to black and white, links it to the present. Effectively incorporating paper and film into a single piece Colorful Installatio Function: multimedia art piece created by Kara Walker, attempts to make the viewer examine a part of history-antebellum South. Racial stereotypes embodied by the black silhouettes, but the gender and color remain ambiguous, enabling the viewer to decide for him/herself. According to the author herself, her work is intended to make the audience slightly uncomfortable and elicit emotion. Wants people to be forced to confront racism in its whole and not just view it as some abstract construct. Content: Include a description of what is portrayed. Explain any religious, mythological, historical information necessary for interpreting this work. A group of silhouettes are projected onto the wall, as the viewer is amidst the scene through their own shadow. Racial stereotypes are evidently portrayed by the exaggerated physical appearance of various groups of people. On the surface level, this work seems to show Southern society-with its aristocratic landowning class and slaves who toiled away on the plantations. There seems to be some cross-over between history and fiction: it is not a strict representation of one specific scene but rather shows what is happening on the aggregate. Context: This piece of art was created in 2001 by an American artist, Kara Walker. To understand her work, it is also necessary to examine the historical trend relating to the portrayed subject matter. The painting draws upon the antebellum South, when slavery was in full force. This story describes the systematic abuse and harsh conditions endured by African Americans in the South as slaves. For the United States, slavery began in the 7th century to work on tobacco and cotton plantations. Now, while the United States may no longer formally practice slavery, the unequal treatment of African Americans in the judicial system and by societal bias also needs to be considered.
Pink Panther Artist: Jeff Koons Date: 1988 C.E. Medium: Glazed porcelain
Function: Koons rendered these saccharine and sentimental little figural groupings—cartoonish emblems of childhood innocence—at a life-size scale as an assault upon sincerity but also as an assault upon taste, and it is here that even the most daring of postmodern advocates drew a line in the sand. Content: The figure is based on a 60s B-list Jayne Mansfield, clutching a limp pink panther in her left hand, while her right hand covers an exposed breast. Pink Panther expression = hapless weariness female figure = posed in a state of deshabille (carelessly and partially undressed) Colors = 60s era Feminist? Nothing serious about "Banality" exhibition Kitsch = refers to mass-produced imagery designed to please the broadest audience with objects of questionable taste Context: Koons would become one of the first artists of this period to achieve a level of success that depended more on the art market than on art criticism and is still reviled. thereby challenging the whole critical enterprise of postmodernism itself Artists—postmodern artists—were supposed to counter the banality of evil that lurked behind public and popular culture, not giddily revel in it as Koons seemed to do.
MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts Culture: Rome, Italy Artist: Zaha Hadid (architect) Date: 2009 C.E. Medium: Glass, steel, and cement
Function: To show Contemporary Art in a museum Content: The building is repretitine in the architecture is supposed to mimic movement to depict the progressiveness of future of architecture and building. Context: New Architecture, modern architecture. Innovative art style and it derived from the international style
A Book from the Sky Artist: Xu Bing Date: 2004 CE Medium: Mixed- Media installation
Function: Work causes us to focus on placement and structure of things not details, reflects on past as propaganda artist Content: made up chinese-esque characters (not a real language wood block print on paper used to remove meaning so people can focus on the form and understand reference to communism (propaganda meant nothing--> look at this but not too close or you'll see it means nothing". Books laid out on the floor, huge scroll hanging from ceiling Context: Artist was used for communist propaganda artist under Mao Zedong for many years after talent discovered in school Almost political statement and created as communist era fell apart
Electronic Superhighway Artist: Nam June Paik Date: 1995 CE Medium: Mixed Media installation (49-channel closed circuit video installation, neon, steel, and electronic components)
This piece of art functions as a display piece. It has no practical use as it fills an entire room. It shows the viewer a representation of each state in the US and what the artist associated with that state. All of the flashing images and neon lights also serve to confuse and overwhelm the viewer, which is representative of the way that modern life floods everyone with so much information that it becomes hard to take any of it in.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Culture: Washington, DC. US Artist: Maya Lin Date: 1982 CE
orm Medium utilized is black granite. The granite is intentionally reflective so as to encourage contemplation from the user. The artist, Maya Lin, intentionally chose granite that was not from Canada nor Sweden because of the political implications, countries had been safe havens for draft dodgers during the war. Typography is utilized as the art form, since the names are etched into the stone slab. Function intended to memorialize all the veterans who had lost their lives fighting in the US army in Vietnam. The reflective nature = viewer reflects on the meaning of their sacrifice. Over fifty thousand veterans by etching their name into stone and supposed to be used by everyone. Moreover, the memorial serves to mark a turning point in US history. It subtly conveyed that the United States had come to terms with the Vietnam War, good and bad. Content: Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial is located in Washington DC, between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It seeks to link the past and the present. Thin cut walls that are cut into the earth display the names of all the veterans that died in the Vietnam War in chronological order. The names are the subject of the piece, devoid of any and all excess. Later on, two statues were added next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial walls, which include naturalistic depictions of soldiers in Vietnam. Context: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was a project started by Jan C. Scruggs, a Vietnam War veteran who wanted a memorial to aid in the healing process in the United States. After starting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, politicians in Congress began to offer their support, and set aside land for its construction. The Vietnam War had been deeply controversial in the United States, with some expressing support and others standing vehemently against it. However, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund intended this building to stand for the lost lives of the veterans in Vietnam, devoid of politicization.
