Mike Kelley

Monica Vazquez

HUA 101

Professor Harmon

December 3, 2013

MoMA PS1: Mike Kelley

     In Mike Kelley’s art we see a variety of pieces that are out of the ordinary, some are very confusing and some disturbing. The piece that I chose is simple yet I found it very interesting. When you view the actually glass bottle it is big and dark. Inside we view what is depicted as a small city or town that is made of wax or something resembling this.

On the side the same glass bottle is being viewed from a frame, except when you move part of the image disappears. If you’re standing in the middle you can see the complete image but if you move away on either side a part of the image disappears. When Mike Kelley constructed this piece, maybe he was representing a point of view from his life. As vulnerable humans sometimes we choose to see certain things and ignore what hurts us or what we don’t want to see as real. When I saw this I thought about the times we constantly live in a state of mind where we only see what we want and pretend that the rest isn’t really there. We try to hide it, and if we do it long enough eventually we begin to believe it is really gone.

Roy Lichtenstein and Vincent Van Gogh

Monica Vazquez

HUA 101

Professor Harmon

November 22, 2013

MoMA Artwork

     Roy Lichtenstein was an American artist who was an abstract expressionist. In his painting Girl with Ball Lichtenstein uses pop art. He begins by recreating a picture that was used as an advertisement for the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and remakes it into a painting that makes it look like it is from a comic book. The original image is in black and white, but Roy Lichtenstein recreates this image and as he does this he intensifies the colors. He creates brighter yellows; the ball becomes bright red with white stripes. The woman he is creating seems to be creating more sex appeal than the girl from the original Pocono’s advertisement. Lichtenstein is able to recreate a completely new version of the original photograph, and in 1961 he is not only creating art but he is challenging what are seen as the “norms” of art during that time period.

     Post-Impressionist artist painted with intellect and their eye yet the also gave their artwork a lot of emotion. In Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh he uses complementary colors to create similar repetitive circular and round-looking patterns to create what seems to be a beautiful scenery when seen from a far. Post impressionism is shaped by impressionist artist, but unlike them, post-impressionist artist including Van Gogh likes to go beyond what they see. In Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh few colors are used, yet the variations of a single color gives the painting a sense of emotion when looking at the sweeping brushstrokes created in this painting. The thick brushstrokes all come together to create the imagine for a small village early morning just before sunrise.  Even though this art piece was created in 1889, all the emotion we get from viewing this painting remains the same.

Artwork - Brooklyn Bridge

Hennessey Youngman

Monica Vazquez

HUA 101.1301

Professor Harmon

November 22, 2013

Hennessey Youngman Art Thoughtz on Institutional Critique

     The youtube vlogger Hennessey Youngman is a young man with a perspective that’s different than most artists. He appears to be a young thug who talks in slag yet his insights and critiques are presented in an interesting way. In his video institutional critique he uses slang and curse words to express his feelings on the subject. By using slang young adults who also talk with slang or are more "ghetto" understand what he’s saying from a point of view they can relate too. He uses irony, humor and exaggeration which make us more open to what he is saying while critiquing certain institutions. By using satire we focus on what he’s saying in a way that keeps us interested and his slang makes him seem truthful because we know this is how he really is, he isn't just painting a picture for us of what he wants us to believe.

Marina Abramovic

Monica Vazquez

HUA 101.1301

Professor Harmon

November 11, 2013

Postwar Modern Movements

Choose an artist from the Art 21 website- http://www.pbs.org/art21/. Watch the artist interview and write a summary about their work on your blog: discuss themes, process, etc. in their work.

Marina Abramovic is a Yugoslavian artist who is a both a painter and a performer. Abramovic began her artistic career as a painter when she was a child. When she was the age of  twelve she had her first art exhibition. As a painter she was very into the colors blue and green, and she was also fascinated by truck accidents. During a period of her career she would go to the scenes of different truck accidents and she’d pictures so she could later paint about them. After that she then started drawing about the sky especially clouds, she found a certain attraction in painting clouds. In her twenties she began performing, she believes performance is a tool. Through the early stages of her performance career she begins performing with scenes that were violent and tough. After doing this she then begins to focus her performance on mental peace and extended time. She focuses on time because she thinks, “art should become longer as life gets shorter”. She believes she has is a performer but she is also a teacher, she wants to teach other artist so she can transfer knowledge to the younger generation. She wants to remain a legend and in order to achieve this she has to focus on making her art last and making the art of others last as well.

Dada Artwork

Between World Wars

Monica Vazquez

HUA 101.1301

Professor Harmon

November 6, 2013

Dada Artwork

1. Describe a Dada Artwork. What world event influenced this style? How?

Dada artwork is art that was created by pieces cheap uncollectable material put together to create an art piece whose purpose is to be radical and to see things in a new perspective. The Mona Lisa with the mustache is unconventional. It breaks all the rules of art and has its viewers respond to a message of accepting what is out of place and looking at in from a different point of view. The dada artwork started in protest after world war one, it was used criticized society through its rebellious art. These pieces are out of the ordinary, they are not cohesive, and they ridiculed conventional rule. By making something that is out of the ordinary in a time where things are ruled by chaos, they begin to understand artwork that is outspoken and different.

2. Describe the work of Jacob Lawrence in the video. What were this artist's influences?

The work of Jacob Lawrence is an artist who talks about migration and labor of southern African Americans. Some of Jacob Lawrence’s influences are Goya, African American history, and the Harlem Renaissance. His paintings were also inspired by Matisse; he uses patterns and flat space similar to the work of French Modernists.