Looking at Contemporary Art

What is contemporary art? 

Contemporary Art is art produced at the present point in time. Some art museums and collections define contemporary art as including all art since the end of World War II more specifically since 1945.

Look at the painting below and answer the following questions. **Remember: You must use complete sentences with correct punctuation! **

Ling Jian, Suspension in Melancholy

 1. Does the portrait display an attitude: calm, arrogance,      intelligence, humor? Why?

2.  Do you think the artist has tried to flatter the model, or would you consider the portriat not-so flattering, yet perhaps more revealing of the person's inner personality? Why? 


 

Compare Two Photographs:

February 4, 2013

Point our similarities and differences within the two images below. Look at edges, value differences, use of space, subject, and mood.

Yousuf Karsh, Early Landscape, 1927

Ansel Adams, Oak Tree, Snow Storm, 1948

Welcome to 2nd Semester Art!

Blog Assignment # 1:

1. Write your Definition of what art is. 
       (do not give the dictionary definition!)

2. Based on your definition, decide whether the following items are "art":

    - a shell
    - a printed coffee mug
    - a photograph
   - a ragged pair of treasured jeans
   - a printed T-shirt
   - a film poster
   - a magazine advertisement
  
  State your reasons why or why not those items are considered "art."

*** Post your responses in the comment box below ***

Quote of the Week:

What do you think Miro' was trying to say with the following quote?   

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music."

Joan Miro', 1893-1983, Spanish Surrealist

Invent a history with James Rosenquist

Happy Birthday, James Rosenquist! 

 (November 29, 1933)

- Look at the image below, then invent a history for it and type it as your comment.  

- Create a story of how you think the artist was feeling when it was painted, or write about the subject. 

Untitled, James Rosenquist, 1978

 

Idle Hands from Dana Harel

Idle Hands from Dana Harel 
Original Article published on Monday November 12, 2012 
http://www.juxtapoz.com 


Israeli-born and San Francisco-based illustrator Dana Harel's large scale graphite illustrations explore humans' places in the natural world. Using the repeated motifs of hands and wings, Harel's illustrations fuse the human body with plant and animal structures, provoking viewers to re-consider the human "hubris" as a dominant species.

Compare and Contrast the image above 

to MC Escher's Drawing of Hands Below:

Quote of the Week:

What do you think Schopenhauer was trying to say with the following quote?  

" We should comport ourselves with the masterpieces of art as with exalted personages -- stand quietly before them and wait till they speak to us." 

- Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German Philosopher
(click on the link above to find out more information on Arthur Schopenhauer)