Journal Entry #5: INSPIRATIONAL ARTISTS

1. How has this artist contributed to the field of study, which you plan to enter?
Man Ray who was an artist in the early 1900’s achieved much throughout his lifetime. He gave much to the dada and Surrealist movements but he was most known for his avant-garde photography. Like his photograph Dada Portrait (1921).
2. What achievements or developments make this person stand out in that field?
Some of his achievements are his helping the creation of the Rotary Glass Plate, which is an example of kinetic art. He also created a technique he called rayographs. He also helped collect art, which helped found the first museum of modern art in the U.S. He was also an extraordinary photographer who broke ground on many discoveries in the photographic field. For example reintroducing the photographic use of solarization.
3. What impressed you most about this artist?
I was really impressed by his photographs. I enjoyed seeing how much time and effort he put into capturing the human body. He really seemed to appreciate the human form. I was surprised though that I did not see many paintings of humans as I did photographs. I was also surprised at how much Man Ray enjoyed photographing a female nude, like in the photograph Le Violon d’Ingres (1924). Or even Kiki in Odalisque (1925).
4. How have they used dominance to organize or structure their work?
How he addressed dominance in his paintings was by putting most of the figures in the foreground like in Departure of Summer (1914). Also in his image of Apples (1948), the red apple is the largest piece of fruit in the painting. Or in the photographs the woman are usually in the very center of the piece commanding all the attention. Like in Kiki de Montfarnessa (1922). In all of his works he uses some kind of dominant structure.
5. How do they address the human form?
In many Man Ray’s photographs he mainly addresses woman in the nude and men fully clothed. The same also seems to be for his paintings. He seems to appreciate the human form so much that it is all he wants to capture.
6. In what ways have you been influenced after seeing their work?
I do appreciate his work. He has a unique gift that I have never seen in anyone else. But for me personally I do not really enjoy his work, and I don’t really feel that I have been influenced by it.
7. How does this artist use color? What color schemes or other mechanisms, such as emphasis or temperature, do they employ?
Man Ray does not use color in his photographs but in his paintings he seems to use more dull colors. He definitely uses a variety but none seem to be vibrant. He mainly uses complimentary color schemes with blue and red but occasionally he’ll add a green or yellow.

Image Essay 15: Symmetry

Las Dos Fridas by Frida Kahlo do0es an excellent job at symmetry. When looking at this picture if one was to divide it straight down the center, each side would jest be a mirror image of each other. Their hands coming together signifies the center of the piece. The background story behind this piece is really an interesting one. The piece pertains to Frida’s divorce to her husband and on the left portrays the divorced Frida in her modern dress and on the right is Frida in her native garments. The only thing that connects the two is the heart and in one woman it is empty and broken and the other if full and colorful just like the dress. It can almost be interpreted that her modern life style sucked the color and life out of her and her clothes. But also in neither woman’s face does either look happy, not even the one on the right, which is Frida in her native garments. Both faces look calm or even shocked at what has happened. Also with the woman on the left she cut the vein so it almost seems as if she wants to cut off all ties to her modern life and go back to the life she always knew.

Image Essay 14: Analogous color

An analogous color scheme pertains to colors that are adjacent on the color system. The painting done by Paul Cézanne “House in Provence (vicinity of L’Estaque) uses the colors blue, green, and yellow. The painting by Cézanne is classified in the impressionist period of art. Cézanne has a distinct way of painting. He outlines most of his images in a black outline compared to Claude Monet another impressionist artist who just lets all of the colors mesh together to create his images. With Cézanne using an analogous color scheme it makes all of the images look alike and unified. But if he had used more of a variety of colors the piece would contain more diversity. But with the use of the analogous colors in this piece the objects complement each other. I think that by using only a variation of the 3 colors adds more depth to the piece than if he had used a variety of colors. The perspective of this piece also helps the analogous color scheme. Cézanne seemed to use a darker variation of the colors in the foreground of the piece and then lighter colors in the background to help further the perspective of a full landscape painting.

Image Essay 13: Texture

Texture can be made in all different ways. First if the objects have their own texture. Second if a bunch of objects are put together to create a texture or lastly if the artist creates a texture on a surface. The piece by Douglas Smith “No turning” does an excellent job at portraying different textures. The first thing that I noticed when I looked at this piece was the detail of the bricks. The bricks actually look real. They have the lines in between them they are all spaced the same and as the picture goes back in space the bricks merge together to give it that three-dimensional look. The second texture that I notice is the wood on the truck. When looking at it one can even see the detail of the wood grain on the truck. The other thing that stands out is the texture of the granite on the ground. It actually has that grainy look to make it look real. There are also other minor details like the lines on the trashcans or reflections from the windows. All of these textures put together help make the piece look so real that it almost looks like an actual photograph instead of a painting.

Image Essay 12: color

For week 12 we were studying the use of color. With the use of color in a composition one can create a dominant structure just be utilizing a color’s symbolic meaning. In Jan Van Eyck’s the Ghent Altarpiece (closed) he mainly uses earth tones and reds for his main colors. The earth tones that are present in this piece are light browns, white, black, gold/yellow and a little bit of green. I find this odd for a religious painting because for me earth tones seem more humble than other colors. Unlike how most “kings” are portrayed in purple for the representation of a holy figure. And around the time the painting was made people of the cloth were not seen as humble but more as godly and powerful. Although, that may be the reason why Van Eyck clothed the two people in the bottom corners in red. It is not said who exactly those two people are but with the use of the color red they take on the connotation of power because of the colors meaning. They however are not seen as all powerful because they are still seen knelling with their hands together representing prayer. But just with the use of a little red it shows that these two people possible had more power than the rest in just plain earth toned clothes.

Image Essay 11: Narrative

Narratives tell a story. Some are more self-explanatory while others need background information to be understood. During week 11 we were working on our narrative paintings. Some were simple and needed little explanation while others needed to be explained. A piece that needs no explanation is Jerome Witkin’s “Division Street” [A story told in 3 panels]. He does a n excellent job at showing how the woman feels in the painting by her actions and the expressions on her face. In the first panel the woman is scowling as her husband puts on his hat and heads for the door. With the use of color in this first image it can also be construed that the woman is jealous because of her entirely green face. Then in the second panel we see the plates with food hit the wall that were intended for the man. In the first panel one sees that she is just holding the plates and her anger, then in the second panel it show how she let her anger go. Then in the third panel again her skin tone is back to normal and she seems calm and is just cleaning up the mess alone. This piece does an excellent job telling the story of the woman. It needs little explanation and little interpretation. One is able to see the action and consequences all at once.

Image Essay 10: Perspective

During week 10 we were doing a narrative piece that dealt with perspective. There are three different types of perspective. One-point, two point, and three point. One-point perspective is when the lines going back in space appear to meet at one point. Two-point perspective is when two lines go back in space appearing to meet at two different points. Three-point perspective is when the lines going back in space seem to meet at two different pints plus a third line that is above or under the eye level. Comic book artists as in the piece by Ely Itara Jr. “Pen and Ink” mostly use three-point perspective. Three-point perspective happens when one is looking at the side of an object instead of just straight on. In this piece three-point perspective allows the viewer to see from two sides at the same time what is happening to the building. This artist also decides to use a perspective as if the viewer was above the buildings looking down. This allows the artist to express more and the viewer to get a better idea of what is happening in the piece. Three-point perspective makes this piece very dynamic with the use of diagonal lines. Perspective allows the artist to express more and the viewer to see things from a different angle.