Statue of Milefo in Emei, Hsinchu, Taiwan
I chose to do a statue of Buddha because I am very interested in Buddhist traditions and culture. On my last visit to Korea, my wife’s cousin took us to a remote Buddhist temple in the mountains of Korea. We watched monks conduct daily operations and pray. As we were leaving we were instructed to rub a Buddha statues big round belly. They said it will bring good luck and your first born will be a son. 11 months later we had a baby boy!
Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist paintings. Basquiat died of a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27.
Untitled acrylic, oilstick and spray paint on canvas painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1981
This piece is beyond words for me. It is definitely a blend of Neo-expressionism and graffiti because of the use of spray paint and the expression goes without saying.
Untitled acrylic and mixed media on canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1984
Definetly graffiti or urban art influenced along with Neo-expressionism. There is so much going on this this head. I like that there seems to be different corridors and 3 dimensional space. I am starting to love Basquiat art!
Painted in 1982, Palm Springs Jump is one of the great exuberant paintings exalting this spirit of improvised adventure and achievement that Basquiat made in a surge of drug and music-fuelled creativity during the heady days when he had just broken through to star status. This is my favorite Basquiat, although I may have said that about the previous two images. The characters in this work are showing so much emotion. I wonder what he was thinking or what kind of drugs he was on when he created this work. Definitely influential.
The second artist I have chosen is Kurt Wenner. Though his work is very different from Basquiat, they both portrait visual street art. Basquiat’s roots were in graffiti and Wenner is a street art master. Wenner began street painting in Rome in 1982, and by 1984 he was recognized as a Master Street Painter. His newly formed art known as “3-D street painting”. It is truly awesome in my opinion. Anytime a piece of art makes you feel like you are moving, or looking extremely deep into it, you know that it is special.
Persus is the title of this painting and was created in 2007, this is also considered to be one of Kurt Wenner’s pieces of Sacred Art. This piece is of Perseus, which was one of the Greek Gods, killing Medusa, which is one of the things he is known for in mythology. I enjoyed this piece because of how deep it takes you underground. I really feel like I could fall in and never stop.
Dies Irae is the title of this street art piece from 2007. To me this appears to be the gates of hell and the people shown suffering on their way to the hot place. This scares the sin right out of me! Again the depth of the “hell hole” is undefined and there fore I feel like I could fall forever if I leaned in too far for a peak.
Pablo Picasso, Old Guitarist, completed in 1904 in Barcelona, Spain. This painting is my favorite Picasso work and it was completed during Picasso’s blue period. To me it is an image of a blind man worn and torn following the industrial revolution. There is a deep sadness in this painting. The man is wielding the guitar as though he plays with skill or as if he has been playing a long time. He is really putting himself into the tune he is playing. I see him as a man who is in the last days of his life. He is soon leaving a newly industrialized world, one that he does not understand. Picasso felt a connection with the poor and wretched, for he lived among them for a period.
sources:
The first movement of modern art is impressionism. I like it more than the previous styles we have studied. Impressionism is the capture of a moment with loose strokes of the brush and blending colors. Hard lines and direct contrasts are difficult to find. I think that the name impressionism, though originally named as an attempt to dampen this style, is a great title for this style. It is almost as if at a short glance one can get an impression of the mood and tone of what the artist was trying to depict and what is happening in the painting.
I really like Monet’s Impressionism works. When I see one of his paintings for the first time, my first impression usually does not change much after studying the image. Also, he has a way of depicting places using color to give a mood and also to give the audience an impression of what the artist is seeing in a moment. I like to look at the Monet paintings San Giorgio and Thames Below Westminster side by side. One of the paintings depicts a warm, clean, and romantic setting while the other gives the sensation of a cool, damp, and coal dust dirty city. Can you guess which painting goes with my descriptions? San Giorgio was painted in 1908 depicting an island at sunset off the coast of Venice, Italy. Thames Below Westminister was painted by Monet in 1871 and depicts the London skyline at the end of the 1800s. Both paintings are beautiful impressionist works. If you follow the link below you can see these two works side by side. See if you get the same first impressions from these works that I did.
Source
This is one of those classical pieces that starts off slow and low which makes you turn up the volume and then BOOM, it hits you extra loud with the surprise. I was streaming this symphony on pandora this morning and one of the loud surprise interjections not only spooked me but also my labrador. I enjoy the rush of a good surprise and Haydn’s “Surprise symphony” delivers. Haydn wrote the symphony in 1791 in London.
Franz Joseph Haydn is a major player and composer of the classical period of music, art, and theatre. He came at a time when the influence of the church on musical development was diminishing. The influence was moving towards the nobility who employed composers to provide entertainment for their guests and the rise of the middle class for they too wanted to enjoy beautiful music.
Haydn’s employment under one family was a happy and rewarding one. It gave him much freedom and the ability to explore many different aspects of music. This experimentation and the experience gained allowed Haydn to play a crucial role in establishing many of the key classical forms such as the Symphony, the String Quartet, the Sonata and the Concerto. Versions of these forms previously existed, Haydn was the main composer to establish and promote them. Haydn’s key role in classical music, his reputation across Europe, and the wealth of music he created over the years is why he is a major player in the history of all music and especially that of the classical period and classical music.
Sources:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2843
http://classical-music-opera.com/josef-haydn/surprise-symphony-94.html
I really enjoy this painting. It shows the simple joy of youth and an innocence. I have a young son and I love to see him smile and show his emotions. They are so true and genuine. That is what I see in the children s expressions. Judith Leyster has captured the image of joyous children, and many people, parents especially, can appreciate that. But is there more to this painting than that? Read on for more insight!
This oil on oak painting was completed in 1635 in the Netherlands.
Judith Leyster was one of the few women painters in a century predominantly interested in male artists. She was born in Haarlem, Netherlands. She came under the influence of Terbrugghen, a painter of religious pictures and one of the most important Dutch followers of Caravaggio. Her dramatic lighting style is unique and dramatic. In 1628, Leyster began to be known as a painter, and in 1633 she became a member of the Haarlem Guild. Judith Leyster’s style closely resembled that of Hals (a Dutch Golden Age painter), and her choice of subjects was very similar to his in many of her works. She painted still life and genre portraits of entertainers and tavern habitués in a quite masculine style. A teacher of other artists, Judith Leyster was highly esteemed by her contemporaries and enjoyed a successful career.
The influence I see to fit “A boy and a girl with a cat and an eel” the most would be the rise of the merchant class during the post Thirty Year War time period. The children are not peasants nor royalty as to be guessed by their clothing. They are somewhere in the upper middle class close to the merchant class. This and other works by Leyster feature this merchant class and their everyday activities. As a result of The Thirty Year War, the Netherlands gained freedom and became a sovereign nation. This newly found independence allowed for the dutch to join in the world of politics and world trade. A new merhcant class arised and with it the desire to own art and paintings.
It has recently been suggested that this painting serves as a warning against foolish and mischievous behaviour. The boy has used the small eel to entice the cat into his grasp. He then withholds the bait, while the girl teases the cat further by pulling its tail. Judging by its extended claws the cat is about to scratch the boy. The picture thus seems to allude to the Dutch saying: ‘He who plays with cats gets scratched’, meaning he who looks for trouble will get it. It was common in Dutch 17th-century painting to use children in order to point out the foolish behaviour of adults.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Leyster
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/leysterinfo.shtm
http://www.nndb.com/people/332/000040212/
http://emn.sharonhoward.org/2006/03/woman-of-the-day-judith-leyster/
I have chosen to write about Pieter Brueghal and his Netherlandish Proverbs painting. Completed in Berlin in 1559, this oil-on-oak-panel painting really stands out to me. There is so much going on. Apparently just about every person or action taking place in this painting has a reference to a Flemish proverb from this time period. There are 100 references in this single painting. His intention was to depict the stupidity of humans. I enjoy checking out what each person is doing and how I would feel if I was standing near by. There is a sense of humanism in this painting. The artist has studied people and depicted their nature or behavior in this work.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a Flemish Painter and he received support from the royalties of Spain; Charles V and the Hapsburgs. His paintings more often reflect the peasants of the time rather than the church or the royalties. Bruegel’s paintings, including Netherlandish Proverbs, are influenced by Humanism and Hieronymous Bosch. The influence of humanism is why he painted human nature often as it is, and that it is not always beautiful.
The proverb reference that I enjoy the most is the man who cannot stretch between 2 loaves of bread. This is meant to mean he is no good with money. It reminds me of myself in a way, and makes me happy that I have a wife that is good with money (so I give all that I earn to her). Another that I find interesting is the woman carrying fire in one hand and water in another. This means that she is deceitful. This reminds me of an ex supervisor who would tell the crew one thing and the boss another; he would work both sides for his benefit. I guess that is why I like this painting so much, I can understand the proverbs, with help from my sources, and relate them to my life.
Sources:
Wisse, Jacob. “Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525/30–1569)”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/brue/hd_brue.htm (October 2002)
Trying to get some posts up on here. I am using the mobile app for my iphone and my laptop simultaneously. I’m not sure which post will show up first. The post from my phone is titled “post one son!” It may be my second post, we shall see. The picture in this post is from 2008. I worked on the Nenana River in Denali as a raft guide from 2004-2009. If anyone rafted with Nenana Raft Adventures there is a chance that I was your guide or at least on the water with you. Holler at me if you think I was. Enjoy!
Jolly green giant aka the incredible hulk raft guide
What’s up! This is my first blog and first entry. If you UAE an iphone there is a word press app. That’s how I plan on blogging and accessing others blogs while on the go!
This piece is titled Echo & Narcissus. This is another awesome painting on a flat ground surface that offers depth into the pool. Very cool how the mans reflection is identical to his figure above the water. There is something else going on in this painting. Several other images of people or spirits can be seen under the water, not a reflection, but as if drawing him deeper into the water and possible their spirit world or to seduce him into sin and possible death.
dannerak 