Fall 2012 Tu/Th Survey of Art

Les Demoiselles D’Avignon was controversial for its time, this painting was presented during one of the most significant changes in art when conventional western art was no longer used as a muse for artists. Instead, influences from other cultures became the focus of reference, like Japonisme, which transcended in Picasso’s painting by presenting the women in a very flat, two dimensional form. What also makes this painting controversial is that the time in which it was presented. Painting nudes of women has always been a delicate subject, even if documenting historical events. However, the ladies of Avignon were painted so provocatively that it must have definitely grabbed the attention of many while presented in an exhibit during the early 1900’s. What interests me most was being able to see the frequent adjustments that occurred in Picasso’s preparatory sketches. I noticed that the nudes took on different bodily shapes, some more geometric and others more round. One of the sketches would have included two figures of men, one holding a skull that instantly made me think of an iconic image of Shakespeare. It made me think what was the reference behind that sketch of the man figure– I questioned what was Picasso’s initial intent for that figure and why did he choose to remove it.

The digital reproduction of Caravaggio are impressive and realistic. Although, I can understand why it is not the same as an exhibit with the original art works. One can argue for the sake of it’s authenticity. There is a strong advantage to having all of the works by one artist in a single exhibition, and those who are not extremely adamant about the authenticity of the art works, would probably benefit the most from the exhibit. It is a great way for some to become more familiar with an artist and their work when all included in one venue. In contrast, it is also an honor to be able to see the real deal and be able to detect the details on the canvas like brush strokes or coloring and lighting that a digital reproduction may fail to keep. I personally would not be opposed to attending a viewing of an “Impossible exhibit”,  I would just hope it does not take away from the original work.

Being exposed in the culinary and pastry arts world, my concept of food art stems from a completely different background. So, of course food can be artistic! What artist Jennifer Rubell did with her exhibit brings a twist. I understand her intent of creating a dynamic exchange between the food and her audience. Creating the instillation in such a way, as a guest, you’re expected to leave your “comfort zone” of dining etiquette, being that the instillation was an informal dinner. By removing the rules of proper dinning, Rubell allowed for her audience to interact with the installations in any way; the physical act of serving yourself, cutting meat with your own hands, and just doing the work that is typically done for you prior to being served, can influence the energy in the room, most likely bringing feelings of closeness or engagement, to participants.

It came to most as a surprise that Sandy affected the city as detrimentally as it did. I was aware of the faked photographs being posted in the social media and I thought it was a completely unsubstantial addition to the shocking news. Those photographs may have been created as a reaction of the storm as seeming like “the end of time”– paradoxically, it could be that they were mean’t to uplift the intensity of the situation. I am sure there were many different motives behind them. But inescapably, they mocked the reality of the storm, and the reality was, and still is, that too many had lost so much during the hurricane, that I cannot understand how their purpose was to have been funny or important in any way. It was a matter of time that their legitimacy would be exposed which disputes my confusion of them further.

The virtual recreations of the Sistine chapel is the closest way for many to get a sense of what the chapel is really like, other than texts and photos; it brings the viewer into the space to see the series of paintings as they would be in actuality. The recreation of the “Creation of Adam” was also fascinating in its own way because of the accuracy in detail painted by the street artist. The artist really succeeded at replication the same naturalism produced by Michelangelo in his original painting, especially in regards to shadows, body form, and facial expressions. It is like the “canon” for naturalistic painting; it captures such a significant moment in the time, in history, and slowly reveals every detail of the moment– perhaps that is one of the reasons by it is still idolized today. Also, for those who study art or just know Michelangelo as a sculpture, really understand the magnitude of his talent as an artist when referring back to the circumstances that lead up to his position as the artist in charge of painting the chapel.

What strikes me the most is the way this was painted. It was painted in a very weird way. It was given weird shapes and colors. As you can see the two women on the right doesn’t eve have human faces. Maybe he was trying to portray them as no monsters? The women all the way on the left has a complete different skin color from her body and from her face. I think the picture was controversial for its time because the people of its time probably has never seen any art work like this. It’s very bizarre

I think it is a brilliant idea to make this impossible exhibition! With a collection of all the artist works of art in one place you can get a good sense of the artist’s growth, vision, and style.  It also gives the audience the opportunity to see works of art that may have not previously been able to experience.  A digital copy of the art work might even be a better replica than an actually repainted piece. Similar to how a person’s hand writing can tell you about a person’s personality, their brush strokes do the same; with a digital copy the authenticity of the artist is not compromised. In a sense it is an art within itself, a transformation/ rebirth of an art piece.  Especially for the Caravaggio exhibition I think the fact that light is used to project the images might even enhance the paintings. I would love to experience an impossible exhibition by Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Masaccio, Vincent van Gogh, and Rembrandt van Rijn.

Looking at Picasso painting and seeing the painting before his time and how 3D dimensional they were compared to Picasso’s painting I would highly believe that Picassos painting of Demoiselles was very controversial for his time. Picasso’s painting of the Les Demoiselles is a very geometrical painting of the usual prostitutes, but because of his two dimensional way that he paints into so primitive it leaves the views to think of what is actually happening at the purpose of why the prostitutes are doing what they are.

As a student of art history, going to a museum is the only way to fully experience a work of art. By looking at the work of art from the book or slides, you lose a lot of details and you can’t fully experience the artwork. For the exhibition review project, I went to the Museum of Modern Art. It was a great exhibition and I was able to look at the different types of artworks, sculptures and the photography by the real artists and not something that I always look at on the slides or the book. As I entered in the show there was a big panel that said “Tokyo 1955-1970”, which gave me a sense that the exhibition was about Japanese people. It’s pretty surprising how I didn’t see any Asian people there, it was filled with White people. It was one of the best exhibitions that I have ever been to and I would highly recommend people to attend this exhibition. Even for the ones that know their history, it could teach them about a few things that they may have missed.