Saturday, February 19, 2011

Your turn #4

Robert Longo, Untitled, from the series Men in the Cities (1979)

Good class. At some point I'd like to come back to the social idea of decadence, i.e., how this aesthetic pursuit of the 1880's can be compared to the so-called "me decade" of the 1970's; that unstable balance between refined gratification and raw glut. In this regard, I recommend Social Disease by Paul Rudnick, a novel which restores the luster to decadent style by offering no apologies for the unabashed hedonism of its cast of totally self-indulgent characters. As Thomas Reed Whissen writes in his The Devil's Advocate: Decadence in Modern Literature,
They  devote every moment of the day and night, sleeping and waking, to the pursuit of sensory gratification. The only thing that gives them a moment's pause is the fear that they may not be burning brightly enough, not maintaining a maximum level of ecstasy.
Pick any theme you'd like from the series. Next Thursday we'll go at it. Go ahead!

(This post closes Friday, February 25@ 11pm).
_______________
By the way, click here for some of Beardsley's erotica!

31 comments:

Michelle Roy said...

I really enjoyed Jean Delville’s Portrait of Madame Stuart Merrill. According to Wikipedia her heavy book covered in a triangle “represents Delville’s idea of perfect human knowledge, achieved through magic, the Kabbala and Hermeticism. Her low eyebrows show that she is deep in concentration. Her receding hairline makes her look wise. Each red hair follicle seems infused with electricity. Yet her eyes are only partially rolled back and this makes her look completely human versus a connected medium. What I find most interesting is that she wears a slight smirk. She is the ultimate form of entertainment and I believe Delville wanted the viewer to consider their own beliefs regarding the super-natural. What exist besides mortal life on Earth? If there is something, can we really communicate? If no one really knows, and each religion has their own idea, then why not create our own theories?

- Michelle Roy

Daniela Suarez said...

I really like Jan Toorop's art work. His Psyche reminds me alot of Durer's etchings. The way he renders his lines shows how he is into patterns and into very clean and cut lines. I also liked his very simple drawing of a girl, I like that he reduces the complex shapes into simple shapes and works very well with the negative space to obtain a clean and orderly feeling. I also noticed how he like to play with curves to emphasize certain points in his drawings.His used of lines is even present in his impressionistic drawings and paintings, his pointalism, symbolism, and his catholic symbolism drawings and paintings.
As I looked through his catholic symbolic drawings I did feel alot of his drawings seemed a little edgy, such as his "Jezus wordt van het kruis genomen" done in crayon on board. I found this drawing to be a little disturbing, the lines are very jagged and straight, it leaves a feeling of uneasiness which was his initial attempt, which he succeded in doing very well. The color pallete also helps to leave a dark mood, since there are no real bright colors.

Anonymous said...

I feel that among the 20th century painters/drawers there can be no denial that Norman Rockwell was a modern master. His sensitive and understanding of line, form and light is truly remarkable. His work throughout his carrier is a time capsule of American history. Rockwell is truly a machine, producing over an estimated 4,000 original pieces in his lifetime. I personally cannot fathom doing that much work in my own lifetime, that’s not including unfinished work as well. Rockwell’s paintings have been criticized as ” idealistic” and” Kitschy”. I do consider his work to be idealistic during the late 50’s throughout the 60’s(due to the social revolutionary changes in America). Though his racism series for Look magazine is very telling of the time. Rockwell’s paintings made WW1-post WW2 are reflective and epitomize what I imagine that expansion of time to be like in America. (I’ll expand more on this is class). As for the notion of them being kitschy, I think not. Rockwell is a master of his time and is as important to painting as any of the masters we look up to in art history.
+ Thomas Engleman +

Nicole Ann Collazo said...

One of the topics that I was interested in after last week was the use of a new method of colored printing known as chromolithography. I thought it was interesting to see how images were able to be given more depth, realism and even made more appealing and interesting now that a multiple number of colors were able to be used. After reading more about it, I was impressed by the fact that when it first began, it was done using a different stone for each color. I had no clue that a print with a large variety of colors could take months to create! This led me to wonder, how many prints could an chromolithographer be working on at a time? I also was interested in learning more about the actual process that was employed. Looking at even a simple image, it must have taken a long time even to get the stones in place. They had to make sure that each stone lined up with a registered mark to be able to have a color show up in the proper spot. After looking at some chromolithographs by Louis Prang and William Sharp I can only imagine the amount of time spent on everything from the preparation to the actual printing of colors. This picture done by Sharp, was one of the images that I liked the most and was impressed by the detail and amount of color used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roadside-inn-American-scenery.jpeg

Nicole Collazo

Unknown said...

I find the Aesthetic Movement, specifically in art from 1868 to 1901 to be fascinating. The Japanese influence, which is prominent in use of nature, especially flowers, birds and peacock feathers is most evident in Aubrey Beardsley’s work. His cover designs and illustrations for The Yellow Book magazine are extensive in detail, specifically The Peacock Skirt, 1894, which serves as my personal favorite. This influential piece of work demonstrates the current of Art Nouveaus and contributions to the poster movement while executing grostesque, decadent and erotics images all at the same time. Standing apart as “fresh and original” Beardsley’s work is startling yet powerful as it draws from Classical literature and history, as well as the Bible and his own social world. I find the extensive detail, specifically in his fine black lines and narrow strokes to be breathtaking especially with the contrast on such empty space. The decadence of this era was evident throughout all Beardsley’s work as well as his own character, which was viewed as eccentric and asexual. One can only wonder, what ideas and controversy he would have brought to this period had his career lasted longer.

- Ashley

Nessx007 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nessx007 said...

Seeing the Victorian façade of excess and mish mashing of styles makes me wonder: where in modern culture are we seeing this same phenomenon? In graphic design today, with the help of readily available tools, almost anyone can make a gaudy, messy, overly flashy poster that reeks of auto-generated text effects, filters, and lack of any real design sense. A poster like this is, in a sense, a creation produced by a machine with minimal human effort masquerading as what we would call a piece of graphic art. Here an example of excess, for sure, but looking at examples of mishmash today yield more pleasing results. Thanks to the internet (and perhaps the general globalization that has been occurring over the generations), more and more people are exposed to art of origins from east to west, from past to present, and this increased awareness of the worlds art would seem to me to foster a new breed of “mish mashing” artists, those that pick and choose from the various styles across time and use them as inspiration for new styles. This is a modern form of mishmash, but done with the good sense and subtlety of true artists. Perhaps an interesting example of this would be, once again, in film. The Matrix was a hugely successful sci-fi film that combined the best of both American-style “shoot-em-up“ action flicks with the gravity bending, otherworldly martial arts normally found in Japanese manga or anime. The creators of the film even openly expressed the influence such media had on their vision for The Matrix.

-Gabriel

Unknown said...

Art Nouveau: I am afraid to say it is one of my least favorite periods and styles of art! While I do find the work beautiful and the pieces attractive, I also find myself bored. It is not my least favorite because I dislike the way it looks; I simply feel that once you have seen one, you have seen them all. For example, when I studied abroad in Paris I became well acquainted with Hector Guimard’s beautiful metro entrances. These beautiful statues of function were different and interesting, but by the end of my time in Paris I could pick out a Hector Guimard piece from a mile away. His furniture and artwork and metro entrances, while beautiful were all the same design on different pieces. I got bored. This is not to say I don’t appreciate when you can recognize an artist’s style. For instance, keeping with the Parisian theme, I adored Monet! His style is instantly recognizable, and many of his works are similar. Yet, when I see a Monet I constantly find some new layer in his work that I never noticed before. So while artistry is all about style, and creating your own, Art Nouveau – to me – can be summarized as beautiful, but more of the same.
-Nicole Foss

Dan Arrojo said...

The technical and technological revolutions in graphic design which we have been discussing thus far I believe have been most evident in the Dudovich and Beggarstaffs works which we briefly discussed last class. Perhaps it is because they stylistically best resemble modern day graphic design work trying to resemble these masters of the past, but their treatment of color, typographic style, and simplicity all point to an appreciation toward simplicity and streamlined design (a very modern aesthetic). Not only do their aesthetics point to modern style, but also the impetus - capitalism.

Perhaps what struck me most about our lecture is the movement away from graphic design as a "pure" art form only reserved for the most sacred and valued of texts, to a mass quantity aesthetic to push products. Although it is evident in the present day (one only has to walk outside and see billboards, magazine ads, etc.) it is easy to look at the past through rose colored glasses and ignore the context in which these works were being produced. In essence, I found it most interesting that the advertisements of yesterday are the high art of today, which I believe not only speaks to our cultures value for material things, but also our culture's forgetfulness of the past.

Anonymous said...

I also really like Jean Delville's Madame Stuart work. Delville's brilliant portrait depicts the wife of the American-born Symbolist poet. Merrill was a contemporary version of Paul Verlaine and Charles Baudelaire who were both very famous french poets. We could suggest a virtual absence of perspective. The scene seems to grow well in a relatively closed space even on a sort of single plan. Warm colors surrounding Ms. Merrill's head seems to refer to the colors of earth as well as to the fire of passion and sensuality. This painting represents the idea of human knowledge as well as magic, the Kabbalah and Hermeticism. As numbers of authors have pointed out, the painting has its references to occultism and wisdom. Delville acquired well his goal of leading Belgium salons to an esthetic renaissance.

-Yasemin Koraltan

Leo Ramos said...

Plakatstil was a movement in which was far ahead of its time and whose influences can still be witnessed today. The idea of allowing the illustration to tell the story and providing words to act as subtitles for the "art impaired" is brilliant.
A beautiful marriage between art and the necesity of marketing.
Ludwig Hohlwein and Berliner Lucian Bernhard were served as great examples of this era.

Nicole Brener said...

I enjoyed Jan Toorop’s work, his own unique symbolist style and decorative technique. His work shows great use of light, beautiful illustrations, and stylized figures, but what I found most interesting is the use of lines to create depth, figures, and impeccable designs that most of us take for granted since technology has provided us the tools and software to create detailed designs such as Toorop’s work in a relatively faster and easier manner. I don’t mean to say that this technology is bad, quite the contrary, the software is a great tool to achieve great design, but sometimes the outcome is the work of a machine and not of an artist. In my opinion, Toorop’s work achieved a great sense of style, legibility, great use of light, and typography even without the help of today’s design software.

Nicole Brener

Anonymous said...

Some of the things that caught my attention the most are the illustrations by Howard Pyle and William Blake. Howard Pyle is most known for his story The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and his iconic depiction of pirates. He is also responsible for starting an illustration school, the Howard Pyle School for Illustration Art, and for having pupils that collectively were responsible for bringing about the golden age of American illustration. William Blake is known for his poetry and the prints he made to accompany them, such as the Songs of Innocence and Experience, the Book of Los, and the Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Both Pyle and Blake drew their inspirations from different sources. Pyle got his inspiration from Albrecht Durer’s prints while Blake drew his from Michelangelo and Rafael. The fact that they were influenced by artists before them, and that most artists for that matter look towards a past figure they try to emulate, shows that almost everything draws inspiration from previous source and that for something to be fabulous does not mean it has to be completely new. The artists can then use the inspiration to craft himself his own style.

-Eduardo Prieto

Unknown said...

The one image that really stuck out during last week’s class was Marcello Dudovich’s Bitter Campari. For one, the first time I had a sip of Campari, I thought it was the foulest alcoholic beverage I have had in quite some time. I guess it is an acquired taste. Second, the image of the male and female getting intimate with the red and black colors screams out passion instantly. His poster of Bugatti 1922 shows the driver flying and having a blast while driving, excellent advertising. These days, we are always looking for that commercial or the ad that shows an image of something. What if we rewind and let the posters do all the work? Having a painting of the next iPhone would be refreshing. Another artist that stood out is Jean Delville, his paintings remind me of the mystical gaming world, something out of final fantasy. I looked up some of his work and The Treasures of Satan really popped out, he emphasized the perils of materialism and sensuality, he rejected Darwinism, which leads me to believe he was religious. Sinners will end up with hell, while those who follow the other path are better off. I disagree with his message, but the paintings are beautiful.

Michael Dongo

Unknown said...

I found the works of Beardsley rather interesting. When doing a little more research on him, I found out that his drawings were heavily influenced by the Japanese woodcuts. His drawings were made to emphasize the erotic, decadent and grotesque. When I looked at some of the Japanese woodcuts, like Woman Bathing, I could definitely see some similarities between Beardsley’s erotic drawings and the Japanese woodcuts. I also found it quite interesting how some of Beardsley’s works were considered “erotic”, if he lived during this century and were to put them out I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be looked down upon or even be considered “erotic”. One of my favorite drawings that he’s done is Peacock skirt, it’s simple yet absolutely beautiful. It’s such a tragedy that he died at such a young age, it would’ve been great to see what more he could’ve come up with, if he would’ve continued with just black ink drawings or done something different.
-Carolina Fernandez

Laura Greenberg said...

The images created by the Beggarstaffs stood out to me from last class. Their use of lines and solid colors is so simple, yet extremely elegant at the same time. Another thing that struck me about the Beggarstaffs was that their work has a lot of similarities to Toulouse-Lautrec, who we also talked about last week. Though many of Lautrec's works have more character (or just texture perhaps?), a lot of his poster work is Beggarstaff-esque. He and the Beggarstaffs worked around the same time in the late 19th century. Lautrec worked in France and the Beggarstaffs worked in England, but Lautrec traveled to England and worked there for a time so I don't see how it could be a coincidence that the work looks so similar. The yellow in the Beggarstaffs' Kassama Corn Flour advertisement is the same as Lautrec's Troupe de Mademoiselle Eglantine poster. The use of color to draw attention is also used by both parties, as can be seen in the Beggarstaffs' purple advertisement that simply says "A Handbag" and Lautrec's red scarf in Ambassadeurs. Lautrec is considerably more well-known, but I prefer the simplicity of the Beggarstaffs' posters. They are more modern and straightforward, and look like a precursor to the iPod silhouette commercials that are so popular today (some of which even use the same yellow as Lautrec and the Beggarstaffs).

Unknown said...

I think that psychedelic art was absolutely an extension of the Art Nouveau period. Art Nouveau took art to a new level where artists incorporated art into every aspect of everyday life. It’s look was incredibly distinctive, and in contrast to the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau artists embraced the use of new materials and surfaces to enhance their creative designs. The image that was most striking to me last class was the John Lennon Rolls-Royce image in particular. I believe it is a perfect example of psychedelic art playing the role as Neo-Nouveau art. It is the essence of abstract, detailed and stylized art, on a surface other than a simple canvas. While reading up on Art Nouveau, I stumbled upon this image and found it intriguing because I am a pianist myself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bechstein10.jpg

It is a beautiful canvas enhanced by articulate, detailed design.

- Alexandra Goldman

melisa_nicole said...

I really took to the illustrations created by Will H Bradley. I found the way he stylized his figures and managed to make them flow into unique patterns to be very interesting. Though it has been said that his images are far too similar to those of Aubrey Beardsley to be considered innovative, I actually disagree. Though his figures bare some similarity to those of Beardsley, the way he uses color distinguishes them. Bradley also used decorative borders on several of his works, as well as integrated text which I think gives his images more depth and interest than those of Beardsley. Of all of Bradley's illustrations, The Kiss is one of my favorites. I love the contrast of the dark peacock beside the while woman and the way their textures contrast as well (the soft flowy texture of her garment and pattern on the peacocks feathers). That combination against the red in the border and text makes this piece really stand out.

-Melisa Ramos

Lisa said...

What I found most captivating from last week’s lecture was Aubrey Beardsley’s work. The amount of detail in his illustrations seems unsurpassed up until that point. The beauty and unique aesthetic of his images brings a sense of worth to the art, as work with such detail and creativity was not seen as often in his time. Even in his erotic drawings, he brings the same artistic narrative to them. He has a way of telling a story through these still figures and patterns, and to me, that is a huge accomplishment. I also enjoy the way he distorts the people in his illustrations, almost giving them a funhouse mirror effect. This makes his work all the more interesting to look at. His erotic images were created as a form of satire, poking fun at the society he lived in, which is always a brave thing to do. He created his art so shamelessly, while maintaining his own striking aesthetic, which is something that should be deeply admired in an artist of his time.

-Lisa Trucchio

Unknown said...

In our previous class many people mentioned the use of photography and some mentioned that it was more truthful than illustrations. I do agree with this except that there were many photojournalists who still manipulated photos even in the beginning. There was a photographer I believe his name was Alexander Gardner who actually used to carry a dead body around to place in his pictures. However I still do understand the importance of photography. In this previous class something that really caught my attention is cubism. Cubism is something that I have always been drawn to due to the abstract yet completeness of the pieces. And also one of the video pieces that was shown was very reminiscent of steven spielberg and the idea of suspense.

Rissa said...

In our previous class many people mentioned the use of photography and some mentioned that it was more truthful than illustrations. I do agree with this except that there were many photojournalists who still manipulated photos even in the beginning. There was a photographer I believe his name was Alexander Gardner who actually used to carry a dead body around to place in his pictures. However I still do understand the importance of photography. In this previous class something that really caught my attention is cubism. Cubism is something that I have always been drawn to due to the abstract yet completeness of the pieces. And also one of the video pieces that was shown was very reminiscent of steven spielberg and the idea of suspense.

Arfman101 said...

I agree that Norman Rockwell was not only a 20th century painter/artist, his work also acted as a means of staying abreast of what was occurring in our country. At the age of 14, he already knew that he wanted to become an artist. After art school, he did work for Boy's Life prepping him for his first cover of The Saturday Evening Post at the age of 22. For the next 47 years he depicted our status of events through the 321 covers of the Saturday Evening Post. In fact, President FDR hired Rockwell to paint the Four Freedoms painting which helped raise $130 million dollars in war bonds. Looking at the cover on this blog of the women in red and white stripe pants and blue and white star shirt symbolized the patriotism during World War I. This also symbolized the important role women played during that war, including filling the job roles of men along with their traditional roles at home. His covers for the Saturday Evening Post his a visual history book of the events that occurred during much of the 20th century.

-Derek Arfman

Micole said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Micole said...

I was mostly impressed with Jules Cheret's posters and his ability to create beautiful and colorful designs. Even though he had a very limited education, I was really amazed on how he became so succesful in creating vivid poster ads for several important clients. He was also a great influencer, if we see some of the work of Henri de Tolouse-Lautrec, especially his Moulin Rouge poster, we can see the influence of Cheret in his designs and paintings. I also liked the way he portrayed women in his designs, and how he took a risk of doing something new and portray these women as free-spirited women in a time where they weren't recognized in those ways. Its amazing how his advertisements were so popular and so effective that portraying the women in these way made these women engage in different activities and do things they wouldn't have done. I want to draw a comparison between his ads and the way he portrayed women and how it made them change and start living more free spirited with the Dove real beauty campaign and how they also portray very different women in their advertisements. They portrays plus-size women in underwear, which was also very effective in making these plus size women feel more comfortable in their bodies without being a perfect size 0 which is what we normally see. Both ads portraying women in different ways really made en effect on these women behaviors.
Micole Alkabes

Nataly G said...

I was captivated by the bright red color of “Trois femmes et trois loups” (3 women and 3 wolves) by Eugene Grasset. Even though it’s a bit eerie, I think it’s also somewhat playful because of the way the wolves are panting and peeking out. Just by looking at several of his pieces I already have a great appreciation for his work. His art is filled with rich colors, which I’m attracted to. I also like that his work is detailed, “flowy”, and with a hint of art nouveau. In fact, he is considered a pioneer of art nouveau, yet I think his work is softer than later art nouveau pieces; I think later pieces are more comparable to psychedelic art than Grasset’s work. I like the organic feel that a lot of his art has. I also noticed when he depicted hair, whether the long, luscious hair of a woman, or the mane of a horse, he made it seem as if it were gently floating in the air. I also admire him for his diverse areas of work (tapestry, jewelry, ceramics, and posters).

This link shows examples of his rich colors and Egyptian and Japanese influence:

http://www.stylemoderne.com/eugene-grasset/eugene-grasset-1845–1917/

-Nataly Guevara

Amanda Zacharkiewicz said...

I was particularly interested in the segment about Victorian design. The term Victorian tends to be used as a broad-range descriptor for anything originating from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. In actuality, the Victorian era simply refers to the reign of Queen Victoria and is made up of a number of distinct periods of design. The early Victorian era saw a medieval or gothic trend, and it is actually the mid to late Victorian era that housed the lavish design most people think of when they use the term “Victorian.” Following this was a movement against this High Victorian style, with styles such as Art Nouveau, Japonisme, Celtic Revival, and Art Deco. I find the George Stevens quote used to title this section quite funny. Just as he says that “almost everything” is wrong with Victorian design, I think that much of the time when Victorian styles are used today it is in an ironic way. Victorian design is now applied with an emphasis on the gaudiness of its excessive use of ornamentation.

Erin Evon said...

I also find the phenomena of photography and it’s truthfulness; however, the photographer can manipulate the scene before the camera. For example, Roger Fenton was known for his photography of the Crimean War and in 1855, he was sent as the first official war photographer and produced 350 large format negatives. Although his images were to depict the war, they were propaganda exercises to show the “well-being” of the troops because images that were horrible and realistic did not sell at the time. Fenton’s photo, “Valley of the Shadow of Death” 1855 was considered a work of art of war photography, but the image is one of two photographs of the scene. One photograph shows the cannonballs on the road, and the other shows the cannonballs in the ditch. The question is: which picture came first? Did Fenton stage the photos and use the cannon balls in the scene to dramatize the photograph? This is one of the first examples of manipulating the “truth” in a photo and can be credited to manipulating photography that does not convey the reality.

Kenny G said...

This lecture was quite interesting for me because we saw the development of art as a means of expressions to a medium to produce a message and sell. It has opened my eyes more to the reasoning behind visuals and their importance. The reality is that pieces during the era of art nouveau and there after have challenged the mind and idea of what a concept can be broken down to. As we advance in history, the deterioration of the power of breaking the riddle is put to rest for the much simpler task of serving your audience with something that is more straight-forward and easy to digest.

I must say though that the tactic to produce a minimalist design such as in Marcello Dudovich's "Bitter Campari" piece is such great work. It examplifies that the simple can work from the creative perspective as well as be efficient in bringing to the audience's attention the purpose of the piece.

Unknown said...

The SPY Magazine covers caught my attention the instant I saw them in class. I had never heard of this short-lived magazine before but I can see why the public would like it. It seems strange that it went out of business because it’s in our human nature to want to see a “dark” side of celebrities and political figures, even if they’re impossible occurrences such as Bruce Willis being pregnant. Satire’s objective is to ridicule society, and honestly, looking at the society we live in, we deserve to be ridiculed (this is an extremely broad generalization; remember I said our society as a whole). E! Entertainment channel provides us with The Soup, a show targeted more towards ridiculing reality tv i.e. Jersey Shore, The Hills, etc. The Onion is another program that focuses on political satire, and “although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon” (Wikipedia). However, I don’t believe that today’s shows’ aim is that of “shaming society into improvement” rather to shame society period.

On a different note, perhaps the reason that I was interested in this subject was that I recently stumbled upon an ad campaign from Berlin, in which “real-life” images are pasted to the side of various convenience machines i.e ATMs, phone booths, washing machines, etc. They show what “really” happens inside these machines, and I believe they did an amazing job because even though it’s targeted towards adults in search of jobs, it’s clever enough to offer kids an image of what they probably already think is what happens within.

Here is the link to the ad campaign:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/8cNyFv/www.dailydawdle.com/2010/09/10-best-lifes-too-short-for-wrong-job.html

-Andrea Matute

Irelis Milhet said...

I had wanted to comment in reference to someone’s post about the delegating that Brito and other artists do once they have a name for themselves and a style that is well known. Although I also get so tired of the over saturation of his works (I work in JMH, which is full of Brito), there are so many artists that do this once they become accomplished.

I remember studying some of the artists during Dadaism and to a lot of them the concept of the piece was much more important than the end product, even all encompassing. I think that notion relates to several themes as well as this one.

One of Lewitt’s works was featured in the movie of the art collectors, Herb & Dorothy (the Voguls), where the artist created a concept and wrote it out instead of producing it. The viewer or buyer of the art would then produce their own art piece based on what was written by the artist.

I retrieved the quote below, referencing this, from an article at the following site: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/4029848/The-Vogel-Collection-thoroughly-modest-Medicis.html

“LeWitt's Wall Drawing £65 (1971), a mural completed by Dorothy according to the artist's instructions: 'Lines not short, not straight, crossing and touching, drawn at random using colours, uniformly dispersed with maximum density, covering the entire surface of the wall.'

Irelis Milhet

Anonymous said...

Elizabeth Brasch-

One thing I found most interesting from last class is the concept of 'art for the people'. I found myself asking- shouldn't art always be for the people? After all, art is an expression of human nature and expression of life. By creating art that was directed towards the general public, the art industry was changed forever. Art was no longer thought of as merely a wealthy privilege, but as something that is valuable to all kinds of people. I simply cannot imagine life without art. Yet, interestingly enough, humans are the only animals that make art. Why is it and what is it about human nature that drives people to desire aesthetic beautiful expression? Mediums such as writing, film, art, and music, non of which are necessary to life, are the very things that make us feel most alive and connected to other people. In life, we experience so much fragmentation of thought and feeling. For me, creating art brings things back together.

Elizabeth Brasch