Silenced

Die Waldaff by Niki de Saint Phalle 

            The French artist Niki de Saint Phalle, raised in New York, is best known for her Nana or women figures, which represents the “Archetype of an all-powerful woman. These huge sculptures of paper mache, painted with bright colors, and exaggerated body parts, depict a women with an emphasized bust, and minimized head. Though Niki may say that the sculptures represent “an all-powerful” woman, I want to look at this sculpture through Freud’s psychoanalysis Theory. The psychoanalysis theory will allow me to discover the hidden messages within the sculpture. In Saint-Phalle’s Die Waldaff sculpture, the small head and full curves, may symbolize how women’s bodies are objectified, and portions of the female physique are only of importance, versus to the individual’s intellectuality.

            Classic pieces of literature that invokes the same idea is “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Perkins Gilman. In the article, “Trapped and Silenced: Claustrophobic Fear in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Handmaid’s Tale” by Wang Fanghui focuses on both the main characters, Jane and Offred, who fear the position of being held captive and are silenced by patriarchal authority. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane who suffers from Post-partum depression is told by her husband (a physicians) to follow the famous “rest cure” treatment, where it involves her resting in isolation doing nothing. The only thing she actually does is secretly write in her diary, and often stares at the ugly yellow wallpaper that is in her room, which eventually drives her to insanity.

            In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is a sex slave to the Commander of the Gilead, who runs a misogynistic totalitarian government, and was confined to his living quarters. Due to the high percentage of infertile women in the society, those who were able to bear children were made to be handmaids, in other words, sex slaves. Similar to Jane, women in Gilead were not legally allowed to read or write; it was believed that men were the only ones with the right to access this knowledge. If caught doing these actions, women received severe punishment. Fanghui wanted to explore the fears which both women faced in a patriarchal society, where both women were pushed into a limited domestic space, keeping them under surveillance, and strict control.   

            There is all sorts of mediums where society prefers a woman’s body over mind. Women express themselves through poems, art, literature, etc describing the silencing of their ideas, opinions, and beliefs. A poem which describes a women being silenced by a patriarchal society is “Silence” by By Bella Akhmadulina.

Who was it that took away my voice?

The black wound he left in my throat

Can’t even cry.

March is at work under the snow

And the birds of my throat are dead,

Their gardens turning into dictionaries.

I beg my lips to sing.

I beg the lips of the snowfall,

Of the cliff and the bush to sing.

Between my lips, the round shape

Of the air in my mouth.

Because I can say nothing.

I’ll try anything

For the trees in the snow.

I breathe. I swing my arms. I lie.

From this sudden silence,

Like death, that loved

The names of all words,

You raise me now in song.

“Trapped and Silenced: Claustrophobic Fear in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Handmaid’s Tale” by Wang Fanghui

 “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Perkins Gilman

History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield

http://nikidesaintphalle.org/life_01

Rolling Around

Anthropometrie de L’epoque Bleue (1960) by Yves Klein

Yves Klein Klein was a huge part of Nouveau Realisme, and he was largely interested in the dramatization of ideas beyond the box. He actually patented this really awesome pigment of a monochrome blue, and named it IKB (International KleinBlue). The blue represented a serenity, unity, and abstract aspects of tangible and visible nature, kind of like the sky and sea. Unfortunately the color was never produced commercially, but in my eyes it’s an extremely beautiful shade of blue. http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/international_klein_blue.htm

With “Anthropometrie de L’epoque Bleue”, in the 1960's Klein created anthropometries in which he wanted to record the body's physical energy. So the way to do this is he got some naked girls, let them roll around in some blue paint, and drag each other all over the canvas (the wall and floor. The end product reminded the artist of the “imprints left on the judo mat after one participant had fallen in a contest. 

 It was interesting. It reminded me of this artist, Phil Hansen, who demonstrates the same thing in his Youtube channel, but with puppies. It was cute, it was awesome; I loved it. With a few puppies rolling in mud in a pre-lined canvas, then he removed the strips to create the figures he wanted, hung it up to transform it into a running dog and cat. It was beautiful. Watch it. 

History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield

http://www.lmgallery.com/artists/yves-klein/ http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/international_klein_blue.htm 

https://www.youtube.com/user/Philinthecircle 

http://philinthecircle.com/

Campbell's soup and Graffiti

Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol 

Everyone knows the Campbell’s soup cans, and I'm pretty sure most have tried it! Best remembered for his paintings of Campbell's soup cans, Andy Warhol was one of the most important artists of pop art, which became extremely popular in the second half of the twentieth century.

As a child, Andy was almost always sick and was often mocked by his peers. As a result, he becomes very attached to his mother. This bond lasts well into his life, and Warhol missed a lot of school during several month-long periods of bed-rest. Plus, “large, pink blotches” on Warhol's skin, also from St. Vitus' dance, didn't help his self-esteem or acceptance by other students. He eventually lost his “angelic” look, and gained a “great bulbous cherry” nose, according to his mother; but the only thing that would help him get through this phase was with a can of “tomato soup” (Bockris 1989).

After his phase with the blotted-line technique, Warhol decided to use paint and canvas to express himself, but at first he had some trouble deciding what to paint. Warhol began with Coke bottles, comic strips, magazine ads, but his work wasn't getting the attention he wanted. In December 1961, Warhol gave $50 to a friend of his who had told him she had a good idea. Her idea was for him to paint what he liked most in the world, perhaps something like money and a can of soup. Warhol painted both, and the Campbell’s soup was a hit! Now he’s famous for it.

A contemporary pop artist, Mr. Brainwash, who directed and was featured in “Exit Through the Gift Shop” actually did a huge size Campbell’s Soup spray paint can, and I fell in love. That movie is honestly the best, so I recommend watching it, IMMEDIATELY. As a fan of graffiti and Warhol, I was a happy little schoolgirl when this movie was put in Netflix, and available in Youtube. You're welcome.

http://www.banksyfilm.com/

http://www.mrbrainwash.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIiOgj3uc0w (film)

“The Life and Death of Andy Warhol” by Victor Bockris

Bloody War

Painting(1946) by Francis Bacon

Similar to Rembrandt’s “Butchered Ox,” Francis Bacon’s “Painting” (1946), depicts a bloody animal “sprung up like a crucifixion.” Though Bacon did not intend to reflect the war battles of the period, critics have been associating the paintings with World War 2. With its use of bloody flesh, gore, and the depiction of this butchered animal, I can see how critics may see a reflection upon humanity with this painting.

Representative of WW2 (from outside the artist’s perspective), the blood and flesh is used to symbolized what society has become. With the millions of people killed during WW2, the mass slaughter of Jewish people, and Hitler’s dictatorship, it seemed like all faith in humanity had been lost. The figure under the umbrella resembles the prime minister of the United Kingdom, Neville Chamberlain, also known as the umbrella resembles the prime minister of the United Kingdom, Neville Chamberlain, also known as the umbrella man. He is represented as the butcher or murderer of the animal, mainly because he is best known for the appeasement foreign policy toward Nazi Germany. The appeasement was used to avoid war with the Hitler’s dictatorship, trying to avoid the events that happened during WW1. Though he thought it was a good idea at first, many critics said that he let Hitler’s Germany grow too strong. Though he had no direct say to kill all the Jews, he is still looked as a murderer.

            To accompany this painting, I have included a poem that is from the perspective of those being “slaughtered”. It is really intense, and there is so much emotion that you capture when you read this.

On The Slaughter by Hayyim Nahman Bialik

Heaven, beg mercy for me!  If there is

a God in you, a pathway through

you to this God - which I have not

discovered - then pray for me!  For my

heart is dead, no longer is there prayer

on my lips; all strength is gone, and

hope is no more.  Until when, how

much longer, until when?

You, executioner!  Here's my neck - go

to it, slaughter me!  Behead me like a

dog, yours is the almighty arm and the

axe, and the whole earth is my scaffold

- and we, we are the few! My blood is

fair game - strike the skull, and

murder's blood, the blood of nurslings

and old men, will spurt onto your

clothes and will never, never be wiped

off.

And if there is justice - let it show

itself at once!  But if justice show itself

after I have been blotted out from

beneath the skies - let its throne be

hurled down forever!  Let heaven rot

with eternal evil!  And you, the arrogant,

go in this violence of yours, live by

your bloodshed and be cleansed by it.

And cursed be the man who says:

Avenge!  No such revenge - revenge for

the blood of a little child - has yet been

devised by Satan.  Let the blood pierce

through the abyss!  Let the blood seep

down into the depths of darkness, and

eat away there, in the dark, and breach

all the rotting foundations of the earth.

History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield

http://www.historyguide.org/europe/munich.html 

http://fineartamerica.com/blogs/analysis-of-frances-bacons-painting-entitled-painting-1946.html

http://allpoetry.com/poem/8490307-On_The_Slaughter-by-Hayyim_Nahman_Bialik

The Three C's: Consumerism, Communism, and Culture

Just what is it that make today’s homes so different, so appealing? by Richard Hamilton

   Pop art defined by Richard Hamilton is described as “popular, transient, expendable, low cost, mass produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, and big business.” One amazing work of his, Just what is it that make today’s homes so different, so appealing?, reflect on the materialistic culture that society was transforming into.

   It presents a modern apartment with a big muscle man holding a Tootsie Pop, and a half dressed pin up girl. The analogy between the man and the woman inhabiting the apartment is compared to Adam and Eve, where they are surrounded in the “consumer’s paradise.” Materialistic goods produced from pop culture are incorporated into the collage, such as a television, a nice vacuum, a Ford Emblem, a huge comic book cover, a tape recorder, and other nice goodies.

   This was made during the time in which people everywhere became mall shoppers, TV watchers, car drivers, etc. People were dropping dollars to live a pretty awesome life. Another subject matter to be discussed about this painting is that there is that moon hovering over the materialist Adam and Eve. This is used to represent the fear of Communism during the 1950s.  This reference to outer space brings attention to the informal “Space Race” between Russia and America, a rivalry that would declare the more accomplished country to be the symbolic leader of the world. The morale-boosting societal benefits and potential propitious military advancements a space-related victory allowed for such a proposition.

    An important thing to point out with Hamilton, as well as other Pop artists, is that they did not approach popular culture in an ironic way pointing out the “ugliness” of urban life, or something along that category.  The” looked at the world in which they lived and examined the objects and images around them with intensity and penetration, frequently making the viewer conscious of that omnipresence for the first time.”

           

History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield

http://www.graphitejournal.com/richard-hamiltons-just-what-is-it-that-makes-todays-homes-so-different-so-appealing/

Split in Two

"The Two Fridas" by Frida Kahlo

    Mexican artist Frida Kahlo most defining moment came in 1925, when her spine, pelvis, and foot were crushed in a bus accident. For a year, she had to endure painful and gradual recovery, so she decided to take up painting, which led her to be known for her amazing self portraits.
   One of her most famous and largest paintings that she had created is “The Two Fridas.” “The two Fridas” explore Frida Kahlo’s emotions regarding her divorce with Diego Rivera. The painting depicts two contrasting Frida’s side by side. One Frida that sits on the left, which was rejected (cheated) by Rivera, which shows her blouse ripped open exposing her torn, broken, and bleeding heart. The Frida towards the right shows a stronger Frida, whose heart is still whole, which may be taking care of the weaker Frida.

   In “Frida” the movie starting Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo, reenacts the painting it such a beautiful way, having the live action actors transitioning to the actual painting. Accompanied by the song Llorona by Chavela Vargas, it brings the audience to tears. It is as if we feel her pain, suffering, and heart break. The song, “La Llorona,” is such an amazing song that is featured along with the painting. At times you could feel that she is almost crying, and sadness is all over the vocals with the guitar mimicking her trembling voice, it's unbelievable.
   Little fun fact about Chavela Vargas, who was featured in the movie, was that she was friends with Frida, and even confessed to being in love with her. Crazy right? Yea, I know it is! A poem that reminds me so much of what Frida was going through, as well, was “The Two Fridas” by tonyp729, Tinley Park, IL. It captures the scene perfectly.

One person
Split in two by confusion,
Regret,
And the purity I once had

My heart aches.
Aches for his love in return
They way he touched
Made my body flutter.

No longer do I feel again.
Cutting myself off from what was
Leaving my stupidity
And immaturity behind

The blood of his infidelity drips
Now staining my pure faith in him
The previous me may have loved...

p://www.ebsqart.com/Education/Articles/Art-History-and-Criticism/2/Frida-Kahlo-and-Duality/5/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19141242

http://www.teenink.com/poetry/free_verse/article/316817/The-Two-Fridas/

Dali's Unconscious

"The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali

       Before we begin with the post, I want you to get the feel of the Surrealist art form.  It is a 3 minute interpretive sound composition that will allow you to understand the “essence of Surrealism”, which contains sound effects that will get you feeling funny.

     

    Spaniard Salvador Dali (1904-89) is a great example to characterize surrealism. Surrealism is a “common noun in all languages, denoting an art that is irrational, erotic, mad, and even fashionable.” It is weird, bizarre, and just plain amazing. One of Dali’s most famous work, “The Persistence of Memory”(1931) would have to be one of my favorites from the artist. This trippy painting—where random pocket watches melting on top of rocks and a tree branch—is characterized by the artist’ obsession with the morphology of hard and soft.

     The melting watches represent the time being flowing and eternal, whereas the hard rocks are the reality of life and the ocean represents the vastness of the earth. There is an orange clock covered with ants, symbolizing the decay of time or death. The melting strange human figure with big eyelashes in the center could be interpreted, as a formless person we would imagine, while we are in a dreamlike trance.

"The soft watches are an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time, a Surrealist meditation on the collapse of our notions of a fixed cosmic order"

     Dali, like most surrealist artist, seems to be under the influence of Freud’s psychoanalysis theory involving the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind. The unconscious mind contains all different types of significant and disturbing material which we aren't aware of it because they are “too threatening to acknowledge fully.”

History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDSJ9611Ae4

http://totallyhistory.com/the-persistence-of-memory/

http://www.simplypsychology.org/unconscious-mind.html#sthash.5iSp5nfK.dpbs

Hudson River Landscape

“Is Hudson River Landscape the Hudson River, or is it the travel, the vision; or does it matter? The sculpture exists on its own, it is an entity… I want you to travel, by perception, the path I traveled in creating it.”

-David Smith

David Smith was an American abstract expressionist sculptor and painter best known for his large steel, abstract sculptures; he was also the first to work with welded medal. Originally trained as a draftsman and painter, Smith's works during the 1960's blurred the distinction between painting and sculpture and were often described as "drawings in space." These works, such as Hudson River Landscape, make use of delicate tracery as opposed to solid form, with a two dimensional appearance that contradicts the traditional idea of sculpture in the round. Deemed by many as the most important American sculptor of his generation, Smith synthesized influences from Cubism, Surrealism and Constructivism into highly personal art in a distinctively American style . He brought qualities of industrial manufacturing into the language of art and proved to be a decisive influence on later movements such as Minimalism. Hudson River Landscape was inspired by a 220 mile train ride from New York City to his home in Bolton Landing. The rust colored steel floats through space creating somewhat half-recognizable forms: railroad tracks, rounded clouds -- as if it were composed of multiple glimpses through a train compartment window. Although it may seem like a simple absracted landscape, it is revealed in his notebooks that Smith meant Hudson River Landscape to be much more:

"this sculpture will not be the mystical abode
of power of wealth of religion
Its existence will be its statement
It will not be a scorned ornament on a money changer’s temple
Or a house of fear
It will not be a tower of elevators and plumbing with every
Room rented, deductions, taxes, allowing for depreciation 
amortization yielding a percentage in dividends"

It is evident that Smith intended the sculpture to be a vision of a world free of capitalism and class society. Read more of Smith's notebook writings here.

Sources:
http://www.haberarts.com/dsmith.htm
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-smith-david.htm
http://www.aworldtowin.net/reviews/DavidSmith.html

Blam by Roy Lichtenstein

       I am 100% honest when I'm saying this: I love comic books. This post will focus on a brief introductory biography of  Roy Lichtenstein before discussing his featured work, Blam, which is an oil painting reminiscent of a comic book. In addition, I will discuss briefly the history of comic books which, like many styles of art, originated in Europe.
       Roy Lichtenstein's artistic career began after his three years of service in World War II, starting in Cubism before going on to Abstract Expressionism. His most famous works, however, were made in the period spanning 1961-1965. This was the period when Lichtenstein worked within the pop art movement. Pop art also boasted other artists like Andy Warhol and Robert Roschenberg. Regardless, Lichtenstein produced many works inspired by comic books during this period, which included Blam.

Roy Lichtenstein, Blam, oil and magna on canvas. 68" x 80". 1962.

       The work is like a comic book panel, with bright colors and exaggerated gestures for the purpose of conveying character actions and movements throughout the comic. Featured in this work is the titular "Blam" and a pilot ejecting from an exploding plane. Other than the color, however, this work is almost a perfect copy of a panel from the comic All-American Men of War (Issue #89). Lichtenstein also borrowed another scene from the same comic, which he titled Whaam!

Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam! Oil and magna on canvas. 1963.

       The world's first comic book originated in Switzerland, written by German-born artist Roldphe Topffer  in 1833. It was titled Histoire de M. Vleuxbois. The comic was published in America in 1842, translated as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. It was 40 pages long, and featured pictures with a row of text at the bottom of each page. The first comic strip that used the now-familiar text balloons was Yellow Kid, written by Richard Outcault.

A snippet of Yellow Kid.

      The term "comic" was coined in America in the 1900s, when the strips of pictures that appeared in newspapers had a light, comical tone. Since then, the comic style has branched out in innumerable directions; I could spend pages of content going into detail about each style of comic. In conclusion, and for simplicity's sake, I will say that no two comics are identical, unless they are done by the same artist.

      For more on Lichtenstein's style, visit
http://www.awdsgn.com/classes/fall09/webI/student/trad_mw/burgan/final_project/index.html

      For more on the life of Richard Outcault, visit
http://www.lambiek.net/artists/o/outcault.htm

      To read more about the comics that Lichtenstein borrowed from, visit
http://comicsvault.blogspot.com/2012/04/most-important-comic-youve-never-heard_07.html

       To read more on the history of comics in America, visit
http://www.comic-art.com/history.htm

       Since comics fall into such a diverse category, feel free to do your own research on comics, such as manga.       

Monument for Vladimir Tatlin by Dan Flavin (1966-1969)

An extra conceptual artist that really lightens up through his art is present for us today. 

Among Flavin’s work, there is an extensive use of electric light as an artistic expression, especially with mass industrially produced colored neon tubes or as we call them today fluorescent lights. It is hard determined to just simplify the symbolic significance of his work, but it is in of a relation to space, so it is in relation very close to minimalism.

This kind of contemporary art reflects many different aspects for me. There are answers for this instillation which I will include, but also I will talk about how I see this art.

As seen in the title, his work was dedicated to a special somebody, and that special somebody is avant garde artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin. 

With some research, I found that Mr. Tatlin has constructed a tower, a tower that was supposed to be the communist head quarter around the 1920s. The tower was never constructed due to fact that it was not buildable project. SOURCE 3 is a very interesting link describing the depiction made for the propaganda of communism.

The Monument to the Third International (1919) MODEL

Furthermore, it was in to nullify the Eiffel tower in Paris by height, shape, modernity, structure, and anything that belongs.

Back to the work, our artist Flavin admired Tatlin’s work and wanted to empower it through his own as a memoir for the Tatlin. It is expressed with technology (lights) and it is like he is trying to move through the spectra of time to show a relative “robotic” view of it.

Sources:

1.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Flavin

2.      http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/flavin-monument-for-v-tatlin-t01323

3.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatlin's_Tower

4.      http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IMG=111377_k&IRN=111377&vID=4

Op Art & Victor Vasarely

"Every form is base for color, every color is the attribute of a form" -Victor Vasarely

Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French pioneer of the three dimensional, illusionary art movement known as Op Art.When growing up Vasarely was not necessarily interested in art, but more interested in science. I assume this played a huge factor in his ability to create a new form of art that is now used broadly in computer science. Op Art is short for Optical Art for it plays with the eyes and mind. If seeing is believing it makes the viewer question question their beliefs. For instance, in class I barely got the name of the artist in my notes cause I just did not want to look away from Vasarely's Vega 200. 

What is amazing about this painting is that... it is a painting done in 1968. Of course now you could easily input in a function into a computer program to come up with a similar three dimensional piece, but this is a painting from 1968! These paintings work by causing two plains in the viewers visual realm to become in an intense contradictory juxtaposition. Vasarely and other pop art icons had to of had a very unique and keen understanding of perspective and how to manipulate them in order to produce such optical illusions. In his Vega 200 he uses different sizes of the circles and the space between them to create the three dimensional illusion. The colors red, green, and blue are strategically chosen as well because they are primary colors that have more of an effect in the contradicting juxtaposition battle of perception. 

Bridget Riley 

Articles acclaim that since these artistes time, their style has diminished. I believe this is hardly the case. It may have diminished in the sense of "paint on canvas" but when is the last time you've gone to the movie theater without the option of seeing a 3-D film? Or a film that is not edited with visual special effects? Their philosophy and ideas are still around, they just technologically got picked up into a new media. 

Sources:

http://www.ehow.com/info_8664315_retinal-effects-op-art.html

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-op-art.htm
http://www.op-art.co.uk/victor-vasarely/

Andy Worhol

I may be wrong, but I believe that Andy Worhol may be the most popular artist among our generation. Most popular in way that I'm sure the majority of the people know his name and have seen at least two of his paintings. I believe this is the case because he did a lot of work that dealt with Marilyn Monroe and as of the past ten years her popularity among the up coming generations spiked. Also, shows like "MTV" often have art work in the backgrounds that use his technique of the same photo in multiple phrases in different colors.

His popularity among my generation I'm sure is due to the fact that he was an American artist and the leader in the movement of Pop Art. This movement centered around relevant materials of the time. Collages were popular in the Pop Art movement for it gave the artists a way to put together some what of a shrine of what was happening in the world at that moment. 

Another notorious work of Andy Worhol is Cambell"s Soup Cans which was completed in 1962. In this work he is referring to the commercialization of America at the time with everything becoming manufactured and mainstream. This is also why he arranges the cans in perfect symmetrical lines possibly alluding to an assembly line. 

As I had pointed out in an earlier post about the tragic artist, Andy Worhol only lived to be 58 years old which is a lot younger than the other artists that have been in my blog. Makes me wonder if the tragic artist popularity paradox struck Worhol as well. 

Louise Bourgeois- Cumul I

Louise Bourgeois was a French-American artist (1911-2010) who is now considered the founder of confessional art. She recently holds the record for the highest paid for piece of art by a woman.  However, here we are going to take a look at her Cumul I sculpture in particular.

Embedded in her Cumul 1 sculpture are a series of childhood drama and psychoanalytic metaphors. At the very top, Bourgeois plays with the title of her work. The title "cumul" can mean both an accumulation of torments that she endured in her childhood, as well as cumulus clouds in a meaning that she has risen above all of her past. Next, a closer look at the sculpture, the viewer can make out male and female body parts of breasts and penises that make up the cloud.  She noted that it must have been Freudian theory of traumatized childhood effecting latter life occurrences. If she was unaware of the shapes she was forming, one could say this was a dawn out "Freudian Slip" in which she unconsciously acted as she truly believes. However, after viewing more of her work it is hard to believe that she did this unintentionally for it seems she has an infatuation with sexuality. Her father had an affair with her nanny and this is what caused the root of her traumatic childhood, but it leaves you asking did it cause a form of psychological condition? There are theories of people being "stuck" in phases of growing up depending on how healthy their childhood was. Could Bourgeoisie have been stuck in the "phallic stage" where she had emotions for her father in a way that she saw how the affair effected him and use that analysis so that she could tighten their bond and eventually became fixated on sexuality?  

Sources:

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/louise-bourgeoiss-cumul-i.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bourgeois

http://www.radford.edu/rbarris/Women%20and%20art/louise%20bourgeois.html

Op Art

Richard Anuszkiewicz was part of a group of artists who made art in the style named "Op Art" short for optical art. These kinds of paintings were illusions. They created illusions using either color, lines, or a combination of the two to create optical illusions. These illusions mostly either looked like something was coming toward the viewer from the canvas, something looked concave on the canvas, or the painting had the illusion that it was moving or vibrating due to the color, shape, or pattern the artist used.

This piece of art made by Richard Anuszkiewicz is entitled "Convexity" and has created the illusion that the diamond shape in the middle of the painting is convex as compared to the rest of the painting.

This is one of Anuszkiewicz's creations where it appears that the pink square in the middle of the canvas is rising up toward the viewer.

 

Another artist that was known for creating this kind of art pieces is Victor Vasarely. One of his more famous optical art paintings is called "Vega 200".

This painting looks like something we would see now-a-days on a calendar or in a magazine that was industrially produced. We can now make these illusions on our home computer in much less time than it would take these artists to draw and paint these by hand. This painting has the illusion that the sphere in the middle of the canvas is convex like the painting above.

These patterns and illusions have impacted our daily lives since they began. One area that they have had particular influence is in fashion.

Here we see an optical illusion on a dress that looks as if the woman wearing it is standing sideways and on her tiptoes.

This is yet another example of how optical art has influenced many other factors in our lives, like fashion. Optical illusions in fashion serve many purposes. For women, it could help make your waist or hips look smaller, it could emphasize things that you want to emphasize and deemphasize things you would rather not have emphasized.

 

Notre Dame du Haut

Notre Dame de Haut is a chapel that was design and constructed by Le Corbusier in the mid-1950's. This work is unique to Le Cobusier because ihe chose not to go with his typical standardization and machine aesthetic style, but instead went with what he felt in the "spirit of the land" and surrealism. What is most interesting about this construction to me is it's pure biblical reference. Before it's construction, a chapel was already there that was built in the 4th century hoxever was demolished by WWII. So to build this chapel in the same area is a kind of Resurrection as Christ did. Also, Le Corbusier decided not to go with the typical chapel look, but wanted to incorporate a primitive style while appealing to the modern art realm and to also echo the reformist movement of the time. This I also parallel biblically because the main goal of the reformist wanted to renew the spirit through the means of appealing modern art. I believe this also references the Resurrection because one of the main effects was the solidification (renewing the spirit) of Christ as King.

The chapel was constructed in concrete in stone that related back to the original chapel. However, Le Cobusier put his modern art twist and more metaphors into his design. The chapel's roof was designed to resemble a boat which could reference the Arc in which God safely directed Noah from troubles to sanctuary. The modern twist is most identified by the south wall. Le Bosuier constructed the wall with unique dimesnions, but what really steals the show are the windows. The windows are of different sizes and also different angles that emit light into the chapel in a spontaneous pattern. The windows are often covered with stained glass that light up the room in a magnificent array of color.

Whether or not Le Cobusier's intentially created all of the illusions to the bible I have described (I think it was), I found this chapel most inspiring and hope to visit it someday haven seen other cathedrals.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_du_Haut
http://www.ecclnet.org/notre-dame-de-haut.html
http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/mellin/arch671/winter2000/mchan/precedents/corbu.html

Jean Tinguely and Nouveau Realisme

“Just as one can compose colors or forms, so one can compose motions.” —-Alexander Calder

       In my other post, I mentioned that traditional oil paint was not the only type of media that Nouveau Realisme. Sculpture was also used, and this was the chosen media for Jean Tinguely in his work Homage to New York. The work falls under the category of "kinetic art," which is the term used for any form of art that incorporates motion, either real or simulated.
       The work itself is a mish-mash of a variety of parts that Tinguely scrounged from around New York. When set in motion, the components began working, designed to finish with the work's destruction at the climax. In reality, Homage to New York only worked partially and it started a fire that had to be put out by the New York Fire Department. Much like Yves Klein's anthropometries, Homage to New York was meant to portray the causes of World War II: mainly materialism and militarism. Therefore, by destroying a work constructed out of scrap materials, Tinguely protested against the brutality of that global conflict.
       While Homage to New York had a destructive conclusion, the idea of a machine running through a sequence of its individual parts is similar to that of a Rube Goldberg machine.


       For more on the Rube Goldberg machine, visit
http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

       For a biography on Tinguely's life, visit
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jean-tinguely-2046


       There are lots of different types of motion. For motion from a physics standpoint, check out
http://physics.info/motion/

       There is also a wide variety of kinetic sculptures on YouTube.

cyclops

 "Cyclops" by William Baziotes is a piece inspired by Baziotes' trip to the zoo. He said he fed the rhinoceros, his favorite animal, and was intrigued by both the animal's playful and gentle nature and its cold, deadly eyes. The the reference to the vile cyclops of mythology and the rhino's relation to prehistoric animals bode of evil.The mythological reference of the painting resembles the old academic paintings.
Baziotes did not begin a painting with the end look in mind, but he believed that the process as well as the final outcome was the work of art. He allowed the painting to develop its own appearance as he worked on it though a process called automatism, or automatic drawing. Once he had finished a work, he named the piece based on the final result. "Cyclops" The painting came from his subconscious. This work is characterized by biomorphism, or a resemblance to a living organism, usually an amoeba or protozoan.
It is one of the first Abstract Impressionist paintings to receive wide-spread recognition when the Art Institute gave Baziotes the Walter M. Campana Memorial Purchase Prize.








http://books.google.com/books?id=75yZ9vMLeBYC&pg=PA212&lpg=PA212&dq=baziotes+cyclops&source=bl&ots=jQkhUIDG41&sig=c7CJWHjbSCuontpRojO3H4F33Qc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jTBcUYFhkfbZBbLqgGA&ved=0CGgQ6AEwCTgU#v=onepage&q=baziotes%20cyclops&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=_5Q9bH24kocC&lpg=PA6&ots=Hp45SxT-5j&dq=baziotes%20cyclops&lr&pg=PA12#v=onepage&q=%20cyclops&f=false
http://www.artinstituteimages.org/searchresults.asp?image=00000113-01

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_5Q9bH24kocC&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=baziotes+cyclops&ots=Hp45SxT-5j&sig=okIcWofYQYzUNbfI2ZvKfQ6h3wk#v=onepage&q=%20cyclops&f=false

Yves Klein and Nouveau Realisme

       Yves Klein was among the many artists sent into a state of disillusionment by World War II and the Holocaust. In response, Klein created a new movement of art called "Nouveau Realisme," or New Reality. My instructor described it as "a comical and ironical view of human life," using a variety of media ranging from traditional oil on canvas to kinetic sculpture in order to  portray the silliness and absurdness of human nature in the wake of millions of lost lives. For the purposes of this post, I will focus on the anthropometries that Yves Klein "painted."

Yves Klein, Anthropométrie de l'époque bleue (ANT 82), oil on canvas. 156.5 x 282.5 cm. 1960.

        This was the anthropometry that our instructor showed us in class. It is a fairly straightforward image of vaguely human figures that are pressed into the canvas, each one in a deep blue color that Klein developed himself. When I say pressed, I mean that Klein actually had a group of supermodels put paint onto their naked bodies and press themselves into the canvas. The anthropometry is designed not only to capture the human form but to show the temporary mark that each model left. This is the first time that I have heard of a work that was painted using the human body as the primary tool, rather than the gentle strokes normally associated with oil paints. It calls to mind Georges Mathieu, who also broke the rules of oil painting by using long and aggressive strokes in his works.
        As for the deep blue color that Klein developed himself, he went quite out of his way to develop a hue that would not dull when made into paint, even getting it patented when he succeeded. Now known as International Klein Blue (IKB), the ultramarine hue that Klein developed reflects his goal of reaching out to the other side of the unknown, mainly the sky and sea.
        For this post, I focused on the anthropometries that Klein "painted." Paint was not the only media used in Nouveau Realisme. Sculpture was used as well. Nouveau Realisme was recognized as an official movement in 1960.

       For the full story on International Klein Blue, visit
http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/international_klein_blue.htm

       For more on Georges Mathieu and Lyrical Abstraction, visit
http://www.artinsight.com/lyrical_abstraction.html

       For more historical information on Nouveau Realisme, visit
http://www.prlog.org/11899013-the-history-of-nouveau-ralisme.html