Final Project - Artist Visualization

For my final project i created a pieced based on the technique used by Roberto Matta. He focused on surrealism and automatism though his depiction of "inscapes," complex cosmic scenes. his technique required oil paints blending to create depth, but without access to oil paint and failing with the use of acrylic paint, i decided to used colored pencils to show the that artist blended the subjects in the image. The image i created using the artists style is created with colored, and ebony pencil that focuses on warm hues. The use of shading and the color scheme creates depth, indicating that a landscape is depicted. When i first look at the piece, my eye starts at the round figure at the top. From there i travel down the black the dark piece stemming from the round object, and to the colorful crescent object at the bottom. From there i go up the left border and across to the right side.

Roberto Matta is an incredible artist who focused on surrealism and automatism. He would depict the impossible with the use of multi-dimensional landscapes, often with no meaning. His later work had political and social aspects, but his more popular inscapes did not so i tried to incorporate my own meaning. It is very difficult to catch on but i tried to vaguely show the destruction of forest fires. On the ground of the piece, i tried to depict ash and the random figures on the foreground appear to have a form of fire. Since Matta's inscapes represented foreign lands and dimensions, i altered the real objects i was depicting. The light source of the image is supposed to resemble an eye with a tear, this represents how everyone sees what is burning but many people aren't phased by the importance and destruction of fire.

Post Modernism Analysis

For this assignment I have chosen the quote “There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world “and I chose the images of Halloween decorations and a child in a Halloween costume. Altering these images by cutting the clock and constructing a demonic face brings an eerie feel to this piece. The intention of this representation was to reflect the maturity and flaws of transitioning to adulthood. The child lays in a coffin to show the ’death’ of his childhood. He is surrounded by mysterious and daunting faces that represent the stress and responsibilities along with becoming an adult. This child in theoretically in ‘Hell’ because of the dramatic change between a responsibility-free childhood to a taxing, stressful adulthood. Even though the child is growing up, he still has his imagination from his childhood. This is represented by the analogous colors stemming from the lollipop sprouting from the child’s immaturity.
This piece uses many forms of artistic techniques. Ink was used to represent the colorless, dark, and unsaturated feeling of Hell in the bottom half of the composition. Mixed paint in an analogous sequence of colors shows harmony, tranquility and a sense of safety for the child and even the viewer. This portrays the happiness and innocence if the child in his younger years. The cut paper from the top and bottom developed the two opposing mindsets between childhood and adulthood.

The Art of Data Visualization Video

     This video was extremely interesting to watch and i enjoyed the aspects of visual art they described . I love how they explained how when people visualize something, they interpret it in their subconscious or conscious and make decisions based on that. They gave the example of how when people see grass rustling it could either be the wind or something like a tiger. Based on that initial interpretation, humans make decisions. Also how Galileo observed the sun for 40 days, but he stayed objective. He came to a conclusion about the sun spots and he made a scientific assumption. Overall, this video displayed the properties of data visualization and how humans use this concept in their daily lives.

Postmodernism vs. Hyperreal and Imagery

     I found these two articles very interesting but the article emphasizing on postmodernism confused me. I understood the point about how Van Gogh painted his version of the Peasant Shoes and Andy Warhol depicted his views on the Diamond Shoes. During their lives these shoes seemed to depict the time period and it is different depending on when they lived.
     For the second article on Hyperreal and Imagery, i found it interesting how adults go to Disney Land to escape reality by visiting a mythical land (that is physical) even though the magic of Disney Land isn't real. It is more realistic and productive to venture to Los Angeles or New York since they are real places. America is not represented by Disney Land, it revolves around the physical places of reality that contribute to ideological reality.

Ways of Seeing

     I thought it was very interesting how Berger explained the idea that we perceive what the artist is depicting in a very different way than the artist. The is painting what he is imagining, and we don't know what he is picturing but we can see what he painted and assume that is what he was imagining. The artist may have even experienced what he was depicting, and we look at the work of art and absorb this experience even though it is not an actual experience.
     It is very interesting how Berger described how words change the meaning of art. The example he gave was a painting of birds flying over corn fields. After looking at that it didn't seem special in any way, but he then told us to turn the page to reveal text. Under the painting, the text read "This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself" and that was extremely powerful since Van Gogh was one of the most talented and well known artists in history. It allowed me to appreciate the art more.

Baltimore Museum of Art

Henri Matisse, The Pierced Rock (1920)

Henri Matisse, Painter in the Olive Grove (1922)

Roberto Matta, Rocks (1940)

After exploring the BMA, there were specific pieces of art that captured my eye. Two works of Henri Matisse appealed to me because i like the soft, yet colorful nature of his art. He uses lights and darks to highlight his paintings, causing depth and a more 3-dimensional approach. As for the Roberto Matta piece, i thought this was really interesting how he created this art. Did he purposely paint it to be choppy? or did he smear paint, paint over that, then peel away the cover layer? 

Visibility

     This chapter on Visibility was very interesting when it explained how we perceive reality and imagination. We all think about one thing and depending on how we imagine it affects how we interpret reality. This actually reminded me of the Netflix show "Stranger Things", its about a supernatural girl who can communicate between reality and an upside down world. They intersect at some points of the movie and it was al about how people saw these events. The children had a wild imagination so their interpretations were different than the adults and more mature indivisuals. This idea relates to the chapter on Visibility because reality and imagination can be closely related depending on what people see. Who knows what other people see when we close our eyes?