Cindy Sherman's Photography

Cindy Sherman Untitled #123 1983, Photography

     Cindy Sherman's photography that is based on fictional characters and situations collides with photography being the truest art form. This is because in other photography events or places are captured by the photos along with real characters at a specific moment in time. Not only is her photography fictional, but it is edited to change the characters and their surroundings. But strangely the truth in her work can still be found in the characters. She bases her characters off of real groups of people or settings. Like clowns and how dynamic and different they can be. Along with this, another truth in her work is how she portrays society in her own opinion. She changes her identity to provide the themes found in her work and collections. For example, changing her appearance to what a typical Hollywood woman would look like and showing the extremes behind them to establish meaning and character to the photo. If I did not know that all of the pictures are of her I would feel less like she was making or poking fun at some groups in society. I find her collections to be interesting and love that I can not always tell that is her at first. But knowing that it is her, I do not interpret is as a photograph to capture an event or moment in time. I believe that the pictures have slightly less meaning because they are more staged or reenacted opposed to be a real photo capturing Hollywood, a house wife, or other characters she portrays. By changing identity, she also takes some meaning away from the photo. Since her true identity is not as the characters portray, I takes truth away from the character. 

Cindy Sherman Untitled #425 2004, Photography

          If I were to have my portrait done by one of the artist that we have covered in this course, I would choose Artemisia Gentileschi. I would choose this artist because I love the piece Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes.Though I do not like the gloominess of the painting or the context I lie the attention to detail by the artist and the techniques used for the piece. In the piece there is a focal point on the two girls but also detail in their surrounding, like the visual texture in the curtains that replicates curtains draped in a window realistically. So in the portrait of me,  the back ground would have details that are realistic and along with having texture. This would also be done through chiaroscuro which gives the painting and back ground  three dimensional effects through the use of light and dark areas. The portrait would be realistic with proper proportion of facial structures and body distribution, opposed to other abstract portraits. It would have perceptual color matching the colors in the painting to the colors that are seen in reality.  The portrait would also have balance between light and dark areas so that neither would over power that other. This would be done through the use of shadows along with positive and negative spaces.                                  



http://www.womeninthebible.net/Judith_Holofernes_Artemisia_Gentileschi.jpg

The Differences Between the Work of Gary Cooley and Richard Serra

Richard Serra. The Matter of Time 1994-2005. Sculpture

Though both Gary Cooley and Richard Serra are sculptures, their work differs drastically. Richard Serra does large scaled sculptures that are created without drawing out plans before her starts. He simply just starts making a model of what the sculpture will look like once built while Gary Cooley does a process called Lost-wax bronze casting with a realistic mode of representation. The process in long and starts with a mold of what the sculpture will be of. This part of the process uses additive and subtractive sculpting. Cooley adds to area and then carves away what is not need to add more detail to the sculpture. Much like Serra adds and takes away pieces of his model and sculptures to create the final product. Then that mold is covered in a plaster ceramic coating and then fired. The melted bonze is poured into the remaining cavity and left to cool. Once cooled, the ceramic plaster is busted off of the metal for it to be polished and finished. Because of this process the scale of these sculptures are much smaller than the work of Serra. The subject matter of the bronze sculpture in the video is of a warrior. The traditional clothing is draped over one shoulder and painted red to show power. The pose of the warrior is kneeling on one knee. While the sculptures by Serra has large scale sculpture that can be walked through, around, and under. His subject matter tends to deal with space, mass, and gravity. And in the image to the right you can see that the sculptures have flow and movement within the space that they occupy.
Both artist produce unique and beautiful artwork but through to different methods and modes of presentation. I found these styles to be very intriguing, especially the bronze casting to be very interesting and I dearly wish that I had the money to try it myself!

Lari Pittman

Lari Pittman, Untitled #7, 2007, canvas

          I believe that the purpose of the artwork in the  Art 21: Lari Pittman video is to make the viewers see the world in another way. He paints and draws about different aspects of the American society and privileges that some have. Some of is work is based off of the hatred that is often directed towards homosexual individuals by society and our government. For this I also believe that his work gives viewers a sense of hope that one day society will accept and support all kinds of marriages and relationships, along with moving away from being corrupted. Not only does his address very serious topics, but he also draws attention to things in society that matter like the world around us. For example he put the focus of a painting on the cactus plants that he walks by every morning and the beauty that they have. Another role of art is to balance us. Though I don't believe his work balance society is a politically correct way, by him drawing the attention of the public to viewers or topics of our corrupt world, there is a chance for change and that gives us hope that society could change. If not his art shows us the destruction that lies ahead of us. Though this is my first time viewing the artwork done b Pittman, I found the art to be dynamic and intriguing. I love that he can proudly address hot debated topics in society and apply technique and purpose back to other aspects of life.

Larri Pittman Flying Carpet with Petri Dishes for a Disturbed Nation, 2013, canvas

 

Oil Painting and Sandy Brooke

Sandy Brooke 2014 mixed media

           In the Studio Technique video "Oil Painting," viewers watch as Sandy Brook creates an oil painting and uses various techniques. I believe that the only clear role of an artist that is being shown by this painting is, helping viewers see the world in a new or inventive way. I believe that the painting is showing us the view of Brook on the world that she sees. In the painting there are objects, for example, in the bottom right corner of this painting it appears to be someone coming through a door. So the artist could be trying to tell a story through the painting. This role is seen more in her other painting (like the one to the left), where you can clearly see the outline of three people.


Sandy Brooke. Fate and Luck 2012. oil on linen

The artist also has self expression and emotion in the painting through the expressive lines and the colors used, therefore the role of expressing emotion is used in the painting. However I did not find the other roles of an artist to fit this painting. For example it is not making a functional object more enjoyable or dealing with giving form to anything immaterial that is obvious.
       Even though I have done a lot of painting over the past couple of years, I have not experimented with oil painting so I found the video fascinating. I did not know that oil painting started in Europe. I had actually thought that it was start in Africa or Asia. I also found it interesting that walnut oil was used or favored in Europe during the Renaissance. I had no idea that I could make oil paints and mix them myself with house hold oils. I also found in very interesting that a canvas has to have a prime coat on it before using oil paints so it does not rot due to a chemical reaction. I had know idea that oils could cause a canvas to rot so that information could prove to be very helpful. I also thought it was neat that you can draw using crayon or oil crayons then paint over them using oil paint, and the lines still show though. Every time I have tried a technique like that it has been with crayon and watered down acrylic paint so that technique could be used in other ways was interesting.