A Modern Instance

Describe: This portrait is an oil painting on canvas. It is located in the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. The subject in the foreground is an African American man mounted on a rearing horse in the style of Napoleon Bonaparte. The painting has a decorative, Baroque theme that looks very much like wallpaper in the painting’s background, reminiscent of luxurious French fabric. The background is also filled with tiny paintings of sperm which is Wiley’s way of parodying the style of art…

Piet Mondrian was born March 7, 1872, as Pieter Cornerlis Mondriaan. He is well known for his involvement in the Dutch art movement De Stijl which “advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and color” (Neo-Plasticism and De Stijl). This means simplified shapes, ideally composed of just vertical or horizontal directions, and only primary colors in addition to black and white. From this concept, Mondrian produce many famous abstract paintings made up of…

Throughout these many years, I am born during the year that claims me to be a millennial child; a millennial is someone who is approximately born around early 1980s to early 2000s. I have experienced the uprising of technology, diversity, and the exploration of art for the masses. As an art major I have been to various galleries and seen various arts through media and the affects it has on consumerism. However, this discussion draws my attention to The Great Wall of Los Angeles in relation to…

Park Hill was opened in 1961 and designed by architects Jack Lynn (1926- 2013) and Ivor Smith (born 1926). Their design was very ambitious for the era, 1,000 new homes were to be built. The homes were organised as three types of apartments to replace the poor quality terraces. It was said to be the first effective action to remove a community from the horrific and poor terraces. The unique shared walkways were tribute to Le Corbusier’s principle on residential housing design, Unité d'Habitation.…

Marcel Duchamp made a huge impact on twenty-century art. Duchamp shayed away from conventional methods of making art and developed a new type of art called “readymade”. According to the textbook, “His invention in 1913 of the “readymade,” defined by the Surrealist André Breton as “manufactured objects promoted to the dignity of art through the choice of the artist” (Arnason 220). Duchamp stated, “His selection of common “found” objects was guided by complete visual indifference, or “anaesthesia”…

characters or ideas, but with movements. I wanted significant movement. I did not want it to be beautiful or fluid. I wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning, with excitement and surge” (Martha Graham). Martha Graham is considered the inventor of modern dance, her impact on dance was staggering. Throughout her career, Graham choreographed 181 masterpiece dance compositions and many new age choreographers are challenged to be as great as Martha herself. At the time, her contributions…

The subject matter of Paul Strand’s Porch Shadows is abstracted by limitations of the artist’s preconceived techniques. Strand isolated the subject’s basic formal elements to make it an aesthetically pleasing photograph and nothing more. Anyone can photograph an object, yet it takes a trained eye and a defined strategy to reduce the object into an abstract form. Porch Shadows exemplifies the Modernist shift in photography by rejecting previous conventions of artistic expression and adopting a…

Henri Matisse was a revolutionary and influential artist of the early 20th century, best known for his expressive color and form of his Fauvist style. Henri Matisse was born December 31, 1869, in Le Cateau in northern France. During a 6 decade career, he worked in all media, from painting to sculpture to printmaking. Although his subjects were traditional—nudes, figures in landscapes, portraits, interior views—his revolutionary use of brilliant color and exaggerated form to express emotion made…

As part of Disability Awareness Week (December 3 to 9), The Spine and Limb Foundation will be hosting a Marketability event on Wednesday, December 6 from 10:00am to 3:00pm in front of the Paraquad Industries building. Marketability is an on-site event that will provide opportunities for people with disabilities to showcase their special achievements in various life roles including recreation and employment. This first-time event will consist of outdoor ‘market’ themed activities where artists…

20th Century Avant Garde is a period in which art was in an unexpected, experimental form that was abnormal compared to art before it’s time. Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter created Fan, Salt Box, Melon during this time period. Additionally, French painter Georges Braque created, Guitar and Bottle of Marc on a Table during the same time period. Although these two artworks possess numerous similar features because of the time period and style, they have extremely unique differences as well.…