Warhol

Andy Warhol started off as a regular guy who had dreams of one day being famous. He created a type of art named Pop Art, also known as popular art. This is the type of art in which you take everyday items and draw them in bright, attractive, and familiar ways. This is what made his dream come true. People enjoy seeing everyday items in fresh, new ways. He soon went on to different kinds of art but he will always be known for the impact he has made on Pop Art.

The pattern of this picture is very obvious. It has an equal balance, it is completely symmetrical, there is no dominant figure or special emphasis on any one point, there is no focal point, the is no specific lighting techniques or negative space, no overlapping or variety. This picture at first is exciting, and then slowly becomes dull. There is a specific pattern of repeating soup cans with an easy continuity between all elements. This picture does not need glitz and glam to get attention from viewers it got everyone’s attention because it made them see the important, everyday things in their lives.

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The Swing

When first looking at this painting, you may feel a sense of pristine happiness. This painting shows a woman being pushed on a swing by her husband while a young man watches sneakily in the bushes. Everything looks about right until discovering about the true scandal that lies within. A dynamic that is displayed in this painting is that her husband seems to be hidden in the shadows and the young man in the bushes has a substantial amount of lighting. This use of lighting represents the suggestion that there is a secret affair lurking behind the shadows. By having this amount of lighting on one singular subject, being the young man, this makes him one of the main focal points of the painting which suggests that he is the main focal point in our temptress’ life. Another factor to notice in this piece is that while the lady goes high on the swing, she lets the young man take an interesting peep under her dress. She also has seemed to have lost her shoe, which is suddenly being hurled in the direction of a Cupid and turning her back to two angelic cherubs that lay next to her clueless husband. These are all significant factors that lay behind our most dominant figure, the lady, and form this scandal of a story.

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Rad

I believe that an art that may be looked down on by many is
the art of tattooing. When I was a young girl, my dream was to always become a
tattoo artist. This was a dream that was not very supported while I was growing
up. When we would all sit around in second and third grade, I always found it
shocking that my teacher would tell my fellow classmates that dreams of
becoming the United States president was more believable than my dream of
becoming a tattoo artist. I believe that my drive came from spite to prove all
of my non-believer wrong. They saw me, a young, innocent, girl has having a
wild hair that I would eventually grow out of, BUT NO! I knew that one day I
would have a sleeve of the solar system on my arm, and a heard of camels on my
toe, and a wistful dragon up my back. I knew that it would one day be my
destiny.

Sadly, their predictions did eventually come true. I did grow
that wild hair out. It was only a fantasy of mine. Although being a tattoo
artist would completely be rad, I had to think about the current economy and
what served better for my future. I am currently a math education major. Yea, I
know.

Boring.

This was a tough decision I made when I was graduating high
school. I decided it would be a more mature decision and it would better
benefit me in terms of security and such.

The artwork that I choose to write about today is my first tattoo. It is a picture of a cherry blossom tree (although my mother would really describe it as Satan’s hand resting on back— not saying that I don’t
equally think that idea is bad ass). I got this my sophomore year of college. Some techniques I used while designing it is by using different dimensions. I wanted to make it look 3-dimensional. Some branches are shaded with a lighter color to give the illusion of being farther back compared to the darker ones up front. I also tried to use texturing in this piece as well. This technique was important while shading the contours of the tree crevasses. And finally, I wanted the
overall piece to have an assymetrical balance. I wanted the tree to start on the left side of my upper back and then to eventually branch out to the right.

This will always be my favorite art piece. It was the first thing I did to finally step into my own as an adult and I will never regret getting it.

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Time Explosion

I was inspired by this particular piece because this
represents the change of season in a beautiful and different way. I realized
how soon the end of summer is coming and how close fall is, which depresses me.
By no means am I saying that I want time to stand still, I just can’t believe
how fast everything is moving. It feels like only yesterday I was getting my
acceptance letter to Bowling Green and my biggest problem was finding a
matching bed comforter with my random roommate that we could both agree on. Now
I have moved onto issues of whether I want to immediately join the work force
out of college or take a few years off, maybe join the peace corps. or just completely
blow off responsibility and do one last spontaneous thing before adulthood. I’m
sure every college student has a moment just like this at least once in their
collegiate career, so I will end this little life rant and get onto the art…

Leonid Afremov is this artist of this piece. Afremov studied
a special technique to oil painting when you use a tool called a mastihin,
which is a knife that is made out of a thin piece of steel. This tool is usually
used to scrape off paint but he uses it as a paint brush. He uses such a complicated
technique to create his paintings.

A common premise you can see throughout his artwork is a
theme of nature. Whether it be leaves on a tree in a forest or puddles on the
streets of New York. With his specific way of creating this art, he is able to achieve
certain qualities that bring a lot to a picture. For instance, with this
particular painting, you can see with the use of lighter yellows and oranges, a
beam of sunlight is able to burst through the leaves and off the canvas. This
gives the picture dimension and makes it organic and realistic. He does another
painting that has a man walking down a street. In this painting, there are
three dominant focal points. The sky is a rich, dark blue and is accompanied by
dark red, greens, and browns. The picture altogether has a very warm feel and
then, lining the street, you can’t help but look immediately at the bright orbs
of yellow that represent the street lights. Afremov has such a talent with
using color in his pictures. He seems to use every color known to man, and yet,
you can’t help but indulge in every tone on the page. If you look at the picture
up close and all you really see is a sea of deep and vibrant colors, and then
when you take a better look, you can see the picture come to life and tell a
story. He is definitely an artist that I enjoyed researching!

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Christina’s World

If I had to describe this painting in one sentence, it would be: “woman lying on the ground in a treeless field, looking up at and crawling towards a gray house on the horizon.” When reading this, you probably can picture the painting easily… And then you look at the masterpiece in which Andrew Wyeth created. When first looking at this picture, I couldn’t look away. There was something deep to it. There was a meaning to it that I couldn’t just imagine for myself. Who is this girl? Where is this setting? What was at the top of this hill? What was she searching for? I then saw her aloneness. This painting, suddenly, became incredibly sad, unbearably heartbreaking. I saw her world was just there, 40 steps away, at the top of the hill. It’s a beautiful and tragic image. Eventually I decided to end my agony and do some research. I soon found out that the woman suffers from polio, a muscular deterioration that paralyzed the lower body. Wyeth wanted to show that one with a disability may be ‘limited physically but not spiritually’. I was greatly moved. It shows that our lives are a constant continuum of endless possibilities. Overall, this piece is visual stimulating in many ways. With its realistic composition, you can see that the most dominating figure would be the woman in which the painting emphasis’. The texture in the grass was a muted green, the house was a cool gray, and the sky a misty blue, it helped make the woman’s pink dress truly pop out in this sea of dim colors. The orientation of this painting makes the viewer travel from left to right, which is visually important for the story of this picture. Seeing her struggle up to the house is primary for the story and the painting.

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Summery fun

This painting has had a significant part of life. Monet is one of my mother’s favorite painters and she has his artworks all over our house. This painting in particular, hangs above the piano in the living room. It brings warmth and summery fun to the room. It has an unusual brush stroke to it which is made out of oil on a canvas. Even though the picture is of a stationary vase full of flowers, there is a certain kind of movement to it. The flowers are vibrant and alive and I almost feel as though there is a big ray of sunshine shooting from the center. Another quality of this piece that I enjoy is the texture that every inch of the artwork seems to have. From the leaves of the flowers, to the wall in the background, every piece has a different quality. Along with the texture, shading is another technique that Monet uses to make his painting look as realistic and organic as possible. This is definitely one of my favorite paintings. It brings happiness to any dark corner of a house.

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Angles

Taken For A Fool

One of my favorite bands of all time is The Strokes. Last week they came out with their new music video for their album, Angles. This video has a cool, hypnotic composition that keeps the audience visually delighted throughout the rock and roll tune. The main elements of this video are vibrant colors and a kaleidoscope kind of texture throughout.

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1000 Melting People

This photograph is a picture that represents the penalty that global warming has on
our Earth and our lives. Global warming is a massive phenomenon that is taking
our planet by storm and through this art piece Germany takes a stand to fight
against it. These sculptures were placed in Germany’s capital Berlin and this
piece is a fight against the inactivity of the government towards global
warming. The sculptures are all seating on an even plane. The people are
slouched over from the heat of the sun while they sit on their hands which are
meant to symbolize the indifference and laziness of the government as the sun
melts away their existence.

I think this piece is beautiful. The raw use of emotion not only makes this piece
politically ambitious, but it tugs at the heart strings too. The composition of
this piece is effortless. Showing elements like the melting ice to represent
the dangerous sun rays that will affect us if nothing is changed.

Something I have realized from this piece is how I take our Earth for granted. This planet has taken centuries of abuse and it is time for us to take a stand and make a
difference about it. It can be little things, like switching from aerosol hairspray
to the more eco-friendly spray bottle. To more extreme changes like organizing
garbage so that every recyclable can be re-used. This piece has an excellent dynamic
which is an all around win towards the prevention of global warming!

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Bird Fight

 

Earlier this summer, I went to the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage for their new exhibit, “The Right of Being Different: The Art of Diversity and Inclusion at Progressive.” This specific exhibit gave a raw understanding of different prejudices and biases that overwhelm our world on a daily basis. The artwork ranged from pieces that involved prejudice against race and sex to prejudice against lifestyle and health. Not only was this display insightful, but it opened the exhibitor’s mind to questioning one’s personal viewpoints.

The main reason I was drawn to this exhibit was with the picture that is attached. It is a sculpture of two peacocks fighting. The reason why I believe I was so attracted to this particular piece is because of the extraordinary dynamic that this artist used. The sculpture looks as though it was actually happening and the artist simply snapped a picture of the occurrence. This piece looks so organic and effortless when it probably took years to create.

From far away, it looks like a simple sculpture that is finely molded and painted. But when viewing the birds up close, one can see that it is built out of vanity materials. If you look closely at the body of one of the birds, you can see that the feathery texture is actually made of fake nails. Other materials that are used are nail polish, fake eyelashes, earrings, and barrettes. This piece is a view on the dimensions of what one might see as beautiful.

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Second Life thoughts

At first, I was very intimidated by using Second Life. I am not the best when it comes to using technology. My extent is emailing, facebook, and checking my grades online. I’m sure that there is a vast world that can be discovered online but I would never know.

I was shocked at first by how easy it was to set up my avatar. There were many options on editing avatars to look exactly how you would like them to look. Down to the exact arch you would like your eyebrow to be. I started off experimenting with different looks and options for face and body structure but my avatar ended up looking like an abstract piece made by Picasso, so I ended up undoing all changes.

During our second week of class, we visited the Sistine Chapel. I was amazed by how realistic the setting was. Although I have never been to this place, I was shocked by the extreme detail in lighting and shading that each piece of art displayed.

I am very happy about my experience on Second Life and I cannot wait to get back on and truely explore what it has to offer!

The Office

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