Welcome to The Jungle

For the longest time I could not find something that really appealed to me as an individual. It took some time, but eventually I stumbled upon Cuban, Wifredo Lam, and his artwork. Not only does his art seem abstract but it also gives off a sense of culture as well. I selected this piece because it had a sense of transcendence and cultural mystical-ness. This painting is very unconventional in the sense that it is image is not in a traditional perspective.

The Jungle. 1943.

This piece created by Wifredo Lam in 1943, titled The Jungle, was a very revolutionary piece of art in Cuban culture and history. Lam aimed to make known to everyone with The Jungle how Cuba had sort of sold out its cultural roots in favor of Americanism and to support things like tourism. Lam gained a lot of recognition for being so bold to suggest that Afro-Cuban people had lost their way culturally.

Overall, this is a very revolutionary piece of art, culturally and socially, and in my opinion, should be regarded as such. The world needs more people who can speak out, so to speak, in abstract ways via mediums such as art and music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wifredo_Lam

http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Lam.html

Buddha

I was drawn to look at a different kind of art for this assignment. Beyond just painting or pictures on walls, I felt looking at the more tangible art would be interesting. From this I came upon statue from Buddhist art, a Seated Buddha Akshobhya, or the Imperturbable Buddhe of the East.

This statue came from 9th-10th century Tibet. It is said that this Tibetan Buddha looks as though it derived from the art of the North Indian post-Gupta period (7th to 8th century). The Metropolitan Museum of Art says that few works from the 10th century Tibet have survived the ages and this piece seems to include elements from traditional Central Asia, India, Nepal, and China.

What i found most interesting when reading about this piece was the symbolism behind the positioning of just the hands and the fingers alone. Apparently, the way the right hand is held is looked upon as an “earth-touching gesture” that is most associated with Shakyamuni, the Historic Buddha and Akshobya, one of the five great cosmic Buddhas central to the iconography of early Tibetan Buddhism. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says that the way the left hand sits, with the thumb and middle finger pressed together, it an “unusual gesture” and is not associated with the Historic Buddha which leads them to believe it is more relative to Akshobhya.

What makes this kind of art stand out to me is that it goes beyond just a picture to look at. This statue has great importance and meaning to thousands of people as a symbol of religion. It is a belief and a faith that somebody (or somebodies) spent time to form and build to perfection as a way of showing their undying devotion and conviction too.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1995.106

Street Art – Blowing Your Mind

Street Art is an unconventional type of art. When one typically thinks of “art” they think of canvas paintings, portraits, framed landscapes; very stereotypical, at least that is what comes to My mind. Street Art however, is about being as unconventional as possible when you think about it. Street Art can come in any form; sculptures, video projection, stenciling, and more notably and widely known, graffiti.

Graffiti is most known for being a form of rebellion more than anything. It was used to create political or social power for movements of a wide and varying degree. Traditionally cans of spray paint are used to create the colorful pieces of work that are most commonly displayed in public places for everyone to see. Some are done to have a perceived third dimension or to be seen as integral to its surroundings

Inti Castro is a graffiti artist from Chile. He started doing graffiti street art at the age of 14 in his hometown of Valparaíso and since then has done massive works of graffiti art on the sides of buildings and walls all over the world. One of  his paintings, The Treasure Hunter (Oslo, Norway. 2012), is a graffiti piece that extends the entire side of an apartment building in the suburbs of Oslo. The detail to the work as well as Inti’s use of color is extraordinary. Additionally, one must consider how much paint he went through to create this work.

The Treasure Hunter. Oslo, Norway. 2012.

X-E-N-Z, is a UK born graffiti artist that does landscape, cityscape, and fauna art. His art is very peaceful and calming to look at. One of his works that jumped out at me was one titled Skate Bowl, done at a skate park in Peg Hill, Yate, UK in 2006. I like this work because not only is it intricate and beautiful, but the way it was done on the bowl of the skate park it creates a sort of portal into his art. It feels like the art is almost coming alive out of the wall, just from the perspective.

Skate Bowl. Peg Hill, Yate, UK. 2006.

Skate Bowl. Peg Hill, Yate, UK. 2006.

Miles “Mac” MacGregor, otherwise known as El Mac is an American born graffiti artist. His style is very much realist in the sense that he creates art that is very life-like. He has done graffiti paintings and murals all over the world. This painting of his I particularly like because he makes the woman’s face look so realistic, and to go along with that the use of all the different colors is amazing as well.

Hollywood & Western. Los Angeles, USA. 2007.

Another graffiti piece that really jumped out was this work by an artist called Smates in Brussels, Belgium. This piece of graffiti is particularly fun to look at because not only does it look life like, but it looks and feels like it is actually there. My guess is that this was painted on the column of a bridge. The way that this was painted it gives the perception of the shark looking like it is in a tank in the column, or that it is somehow coming out from its painting. The 3-D aspect that Smates managed to paint here for us is tremendous and obviously takes considerable time and talent and deserves a lot of respect.

Graffiti. Brussels, Belgium.

This next graffiti piece is by Kurt Wenner. Wenner is credited with being the inventor of pavement 3-D art. He was first a graphic designer for NASA but soon left to pursue graffiti art. One of his more widely known works Hell, was painted on the ground in London, UK in 2007. The detail that Wenner put into this graffiti piece is unparalleled. Additionally, the perspective he creates for his art is incredible as well. He gets all the pavement tile to go together seem-lessly to make the art seem more realistic.

Hell. London, UK. 2007

Another very influential artist in the realm of graffiti art is Banksy. According to sources, he was born in the UK in 1974. His style of art is very much dark and satirical, as such, his artworks have been very large and influential in both political and in the social realms. I did not find very much that I liked in the way of his political/social art, however, this graffiti work called On the Thekla, jumped out at me very much because of the way it is interacting with its surroundings. It is like it is a part of water and the wall, as if there really is a boat out in the water that is being rowed around by death.

On The Thekla. 2005. Bristol, England.

Overall, I think that graffiti artwork has the largest potential to come alive with its surroundings and some what mentally interact with its audience. It takes a tremendous amount of talent and imagination to create some of the 3-D graffiti artwork out there as well as the giant life like murals.

 

Romanticism VS Impressionism

Impressionistic art is generally characterized by small yet loose and distinctive brush strokes, very open composition, emphasis on the characteristics and details of light, and subject matter such as the everyday middle/upper class and common moments. Famous Impressionist artists would include Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Impression Sunrise. Claude Monet. 1872.

The Theater Box. Pierre-Auguste Renoir. 1874.

 

Post-Impressionistic art continued the main points of Impressionism but reject conventional use of traditional shapes and perception while instead played and twisted geometric shapes and forms for more emotional effect. Famous Post-Impressionist artists would include Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne.

The Starry Night. Vincent van Gogh. 1889.

Mont Sainte-Victoire. Paul Cezanne. 1887.

In general, with the exception of a few of van Gogh’s paintings, I do not feel that I like Impressionistic or Post-Impressionistic paintings. Not when compared to the Romanticism paintings. To me Romanticism paintings seem more subjective. The painting style is also more conventional. Impressionism paintings just seem to be to crowded with all the different colors clashing and literally mixing together. There is no clear definition from one object to the next. They style of Romanticism just seems more real and clear in general. One paintings that I have seen that I really like is Albert Bierstadt’s painting Looking Down Yosemite Valley, it is a very clear and concise painting. All the trees are defined, right down to littlest branches.

Looking Down Yosemite Valley. Albert Bierstadt. 1865. Birmingham, Alabama.

Overall, I think that Impressionistic paintings are lacking in concise and defined details. Romanticism paintings tend to lead the viewer on some kind of thoughtful adventure through the painting in all its minute detail. A good example of such a painting would be Caspar David Friedrich’s The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. 

The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. Caspar David Friedrich. 1818. Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

 

Sources:

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://robinurton.com/history/19th_century.htm