The installation leads me to the next story where the exhibitions are on display. I follow the rope to the second floor which exhibits Ida Applebroog’s series Catastrophe with its colors contrasting against blank plaster walls. Each individual piece is drawn on five by two-and-half feet mylar sheets. These have a cream color and are translucent with a matte finish. Applebroog’s consistent style involves simple, curvilinear figures that resemble the abstraction often seen in children sketches.…
JAY DEFEO: THE ROSE Jay DeFeo’s The Rose is remarkable. Its dimensions of 10.7’ x 7.7’ x 11” and its weight of 1,850 pounds are unbelievable. The time--eight years--spent on creating this work is extraordinary. In my opinion, this alone merits The Rose’s inclusion in this and all other art history classes.…
Ai Weiwei is a contemporary artists and activist in Beijing, China who influences people to express their dislike towards the Chinese government. In the documentary “Ai Weiwei Never Sorry,” that we saw in class we see how Weiwei expresses his art in different manners. For example, Weiwei is famously known for sticking out his middle finger to the camera and flicking of the Chinese government because the government undermines human rights and equality. Weiwei is constantly fighting for a better country and to end communism, he’s a strong democracy supporter and he criticized the chinese government for not taking action in the 2008 earthquake so he took matters into his own hands and visited the families of the deceased schoolchildren. He than…
Lamassu and the Colossal Statue of King Tutankhamun The University of Chicago Oriental Institute is an archeology museum and serves as the research center for ancient Near Eastern studies. The Oriental Institute has participated in major archaeological excavation in the Near East and as a result they feature incredible objects that are in their permanent collections. Two sculptures in particular from two different exhibits stood out amongst the rest for me upon my visit, they were so impressive that I felt compelled to discuss them further. The first one being, Lamassu, Assyrian Art, 800 B.C. and the other is called Colossal Statue of King Tutankhamun, Egypt, 1334 B.C.…
The Commission of Fine Arts rejected Albert Abraham’s design of the controversial Holocaust Museum, claiming the design was larger than it humble intentions. As ferverous as we may be to our cause, to impose it upon our monument’s visitors would be as harmful as the most careless design. In general, we must take heed to the design of our monument, considering every little…
"Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favor." My artistic talent, in comparison to past classmates and relatives, has always been overshadowed so subsequently I had little desire to develop whatever talents I did possess. Notwithstanding, I’ve always wanted to be able to sculpt, paint, and draw with the same ease and beauty those past friends and teachers had shown. Moreover, I’ve always enjoyed museums and art galleries or anything that enhances my overall knowledge in various cultures and their histories. Furthermore, I love to travel and I feel that an environmental submersion into a culture’s art and history can provide an increased appreciation for their diversity altogether.…
The images at the museum have a complete new form of communicating on socio-political issues that have taken before and relate them to our current world. Drawing and paintings make another form of imagery. We use art as a form of communication between humans, as a way to express our thoughts and reactions. The use of images of various shapes, shade to add meaning to something produce a lot of reasoning that humans have attributed in different situation based on pre-conceive knowledge about the subject…
The Art Museum as Ritual is an article written by Carol Duncan that questions the role and function of public museums. In this article, Duncan shows his dissatisfaction with the way museums use objects of art to come up with particular political meanings aimed at achieving a certain purpose. According to her, some nations came up with western style museums to be perceived as having desirable diplomatic or political allies. This essay summarizes the main ideas in the article by Carol Duncan, highlights my visit to a museum and analyzes two works of art stored in the museum.…
In her 2006 article “The Trouble with (the Term) Art”, Carolyn Dean argues that the using the word “art” for both past visual expressions (particularly nonwestern) does not quite capture the true definition of what these pieces are. This argument is valid, to consider these works as mere entertainment erases a culture’s true history and identity. Dean has a very strong argument for the analysis and retirement of the term “art”, however the ideas surrounding the concept of “art” explain the larger issue as a whole. Carolyn Dean argues that pinning the recent idea of “art” on nonwestern works does not inform one about the culture, but rather condenses that culture into easily defined novelties.…
The artwork of Ai Weiwei encompasses the artist’s relationship with his culture, government and self-identity. The artwork I have chosen is “Sunflower Seeds” 2010, which filled the huge Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern. The installation of 100,000 million sunflower seeds also included booths on each side of the exhibit housing video interactive video equipment allowing the viewers to ask questions to Ai that he answered via Tate website. The other installation is in “Evidence” series 2014, named “Stools”. The “Evidence” exhibit was unveiled first in Berlin’s Martin-Gropius Bau museum.…
Hitler's sculpture that was placed in one of the isolated alleys in Warsaw Ghetto can be a metaphoric representation of how Jews were isolated from their home and deported with no mode of escape from the ruler, Hitler. The sculptor of Hitler is a great revolution of what an image or art can do when brought in the presence of public eye. This image develops curiosity among viewers to ask themselves questions and to try interpret the hidden meaning behind the work of art. Ultimately, the artist ways of seeing shows that evil is present everywhere even without our…
It is well known that Western culture and the Western world has endeavored to assert itself over other cultures for many centuries. Beginning with the colonization of groups of people deemed lesser by the standards of white Europeans, who often forced their customs or religion on people they had colonized, Western civilizations continue to push their cultural standards on other parts of the world, especially when it pertains to art. In the essay, “The Trouble with the Term Art”, Carolyn Dean raises questions about the overwhelming western standard of art, and how different cultures have different views of aesthetic beauty. The central argument of Dean’s essay is that the normal definition of art has been skewed to only include the values of Western society.…
Title: The First Monday in May Film Origin The film was made during the creation of the 2015 Met Gala, as to get a behind the scenes look of the effort that goes into the event itself. Summary of the film…
The most fascinating thing about art is the difference and diversity between works of art. The drastic uniqueness of arts between periods is something that is interesting to look at because one gets to see how much changes can be made due to cultural influences and time. After visiting the Met and seeing the works of art in person, I have chosen the Statute of Dionysus Leaning On A Female Figure and the Standing Buddha Offering Protection to explore in depth. The Standing Buddha Offering Protection is an Indian sculpture made during the late 5th century. It is only 85.5cm tall and it is constructed out of red sandstone.…
Question #1 Part A: Anthropologists ask: How do different cultures define art, and what purposes does art serve? Use any type of art which you would like to explain the anthropological perspective on art. Be sure to refer to some key concepts discussed in the class lectures related to art. Part B: The anthropology of art does not treat such artifacts as “exotic objects,” but instead examines them for the roles they play in people’s lives.…