Force of Change by Alexis Rockman created in 2017 depicts the junction of the Niagara River, the Erie Canal, and Lake Erie particularly near Buffalo, New York. The painting displays the utter beauty of the Great Lakes, all the while exploring the dangerous forces that threaten them. The piece is one of a series done by Alexis Rockman called “Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle” currently displayed in the Grand Rapids Art Museum from January 27 to April 29. Through the use of several different art techniques, Rockman successfully portrays the exquisiteness and despair of the Great Lakes to not only entertain his audience, but also to provoke thought and possibly change in the way we treat and care for the water. The subject of the work of
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Nearly the entire painting is made up of positive space, even the parts that could possibly be considered negative space like the spaces in-between the overlapped animals are part of the water which is at some level positive space as well. The foreground of the painting is definitely the focal point of the piece with the water and all its inhabitants being the most important part of the piece. The middle ground contains the man-made objects in the painting. The background is made up the rest of the parts of the landscape like the waterfall and the sky. There are many perspectives used in this work of art. One of the perspectives used is atmospheric perspective because the further away objects, like the buildings in the upper right corner, appear fuzzier and bluer the further away they get. Another perspective used is intuitive perspective because objects near the bottom of the painting are closer and objects near the top are further away, in addition objects are overlapped to show what is closer to the viewer and what is further away. Yet another perspective being used is two-point linear perspective, particularly with the St. Mary’s Cement building because the viewpoint of it has the parallel lines on the right all converging to one vantage point and the parallel lines on the left all converging to a different vantage point. One-point linear perspective is used with the buildings far off in …show more content…
Alexis Rockman used many different hues on this painting, including, but not limited to, red on the crane, yellow in the sky, blue in the water, and many other hues elsewhere. Most of the painting is painted using different tints or shades of colors because the colors used are different hues with added white to make them brighter, like the sky to the right of the painting, or added black to make them darker, like where the sun does not reach on the long side of the St. Mary’s Cement building. The use of primary, secondary, tertiary, and complementary colors brings the separate parts of the painting into a cohesive landscape. An example of a primary color being used is the blue water and an example of a secondary color being used is the orange water, these two are also complementary colors because they are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Then finally, an instance where tertiary color is used is the yellowish-orange sky because it is a mix of a primary and a secondary color. The work of art portrays its message quite effectively through the use of cool colors on the left side of the painting and warm colors to the right because the cool colors are where the healthy and calm fish swim around and the warm colors contain no sea life living, only the
Nearly the entire painting is made up of positive space, even the parts that could possibly be considered negative space like the spaces in-between the overlapped animals are part of the water which is at some level positive space as well. The foreground of the painting is definitely the focal point of the piece with the water and all its inhabitants being the most important part of the piece. The middle ground contains the man-made objects in the painting. The background is made up the rest of the parts of the landscape like the waterfall and the sky. There are many perspectives used in this work of art. One of the perspectives used is atmospheric perspective because the further away objects, like the buildings in the upper right corner, appear fuzzier and bluer the further away they get. Another perspective used is intuitive perspective because objects near the bottom of the painting are closer and objects near the top are further away, in addition objects are overlapped to show what is closer to the viewer and what is further away. Yet another perspective being used is two-point linear perspective, particularly with the St. Mary’s Cement building because the viewpoint of it has the parallel lines on the right all converging to one vantage point and the parallel lines on the left all converging to a different vantage point. One-point linear perspective is used with the buildings far off in …show more content…
Alexis Rockman used many different hues on this painting, including, but not limited to, red on the crane, yellow in the sky, blue in the water, and many other hues elsewhere. Most of the painting is painted using different tints or shades of colors because the colors used are different hues with added white to make them brighter, like the sky to the right of the painting, or added black to make them darker, like where the sun does not reach on the long side of the St. Mary’s Cement building. The use of primary, secondary, tertiary, and complementary colors brings the separate parts of the painting into a cohesive landscape. An example of a primary color being used is the blue water and an example of a secondary color being used is the orange water, these two are also complementary colors because they are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Then finally, an instance where tertiary color is used is the yellowish-orange sky because it is a mix of a primary and a secondary color. The work of art portrays its message quite effectively through the use of cool colors on the left side of the painting and warm colors to the right because the cool colors are where the healthy and calm fish swim around and the warm colors contain no sea life living, only the