Art Gallery Visit #1
This past Friday I made a visit to the Albright Knox as my first gallery visit of the semester. The first artwork to make an impression on me was Paul Gauguin's "Le Christ Juane" (oil on canvas 1889). This piece made an impression on me through Gauguin's use of color, scale, and line, all of which create an eye catching composition. I found it compelling that the artist chose to simplify the image of Christ into very basic shapes, colors, and lines. Many other traditional images of religious figures that came before this piece involved detailed attention to smoothing the paint so the brush strokes were almost invisible, and depicting Christ in a idealized form, even in death. The simplification of this figure is humbling in a way, with his corpse seeming to reflect a sort of calm in death, rather than the over-dramatizing of the event of Christs death that can be seen in Renaissance art.
The second piece to make an impression on me was Gerard Richter's "Untitled (#418)" (oil on canvas 1977). This piece first caught my attention because it took me a moment to realize that it was an oil painting. My first impression mistook it for a large print of a digital photo on canvas. While the forms in the piece are abstract and nondescript, the pieces "blurriness" is reminiscent of a blurred digital photo. I found my eyes attempting to focus on the blurs and piece together what physical objects they might be. However, the intention of the piece is to be nonobjective. There is nearly no trace of brushwork, the entire piece has been smoothed over in an illusionist, renaissance style. This was an interesting take on the use of those techniques in a nonobjective setting.
The first artwork I felt a connection with was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's "Femme Retroussant Sa Chemise" (Oil on wood panel 1901). I was drawn to this piece because of its honesty. As a young woman, it can be hard to ignore the beauty standards that constantly stream in and out of popular culture. Women are idealized and objectified, and the market for obtaining inhuman beauty is ever-growing. Often it can be hard to separate one's self worth from one's physical beauty, when all you see is a world of digitally altered models and perfect movie stars. Henri did not attempt to perfect or alter the figure in his piece. Her body type is is not perfectly skinny or curvy or smooth. The painting caught my attention for many aesthetic purposes, but the main reason I relate to it is because the woman depicted has almost my exact body type. Accompanied by this is fact that she is not overly beautified in any way, she is not smiling, she is not young, she is not bright and pink and smooth. She is a woman. She is a woman who is not portrayed as a goddess or a nymph or some impossibly beautiful being, but as human as she would be if she were standing right in front of you.
The second piece that I felt a personal connection to was Vincent Van Gogh's "La Maison de La Crau" (oil on canvas 1888). I grew up in a small rural community. I spent a large part of my childhood caring for animals and farming. This painting reminded me of the fields that surround my childhood home, which are usually filled with corn or soy, but during some lucky summers are bursting with sunflowers. The piece reminded me of the creeks I used the play in as a kid and the simplicity of doing my chores and being satisfied with my life at a young age.
The first piece I would like to know more about is Philip Guston's "Multiplied" (oil on canvas 1972). This piece is one of the few in the gallery that explores a mainly monochromatic color scheme. I do not find that my personal strength as an art student is in abstract art, so seeing a non-objective piece that I truly can not make sense of often discomforts me. I usually resort to trying to apply logic to a piece that is clearly not meant to represent a physically existing being. This piece reminded me that I still have much to learn about art that I do not find strength in creating.
The second piece that I would like to learn more about is Andy Goldsworthy's "Path" (2012-2013 granite). I personally did not know this path was an installation or even a piece of art until I saw it on the website of the Albright Knox. I have taken walks on it before, and used it, but I was unaware that it was meant to be a work of art. Seeing it listed on the website made me think about what art can be when pushed outside traditional boundaries. I am interested to know if there is any particular significance to the direction of the path, or if it is meant to be left up to interpretation.
The second piece to make an impression on me was Gerard Richter's "Untitled (#418)" (oil on canvas 1977). This piece first caught my attention because it took me a moment to realize that it was an oil painting. My first impression mistook it for a large print of a digital photo on canvas. While the forms in the piece are abstract and nondescript, the pieces "blurriness" is reminiscent of a blurred digital photo. I found my eyes attempting to focus on the blurs and piece together what physical objects they might be. However, the intention of the piece is to be nonobjective. There is nearly no trace of brushwork, the entire piece has been smoothed over in an illusionist, renaissance style. This was an interesting take on the use of those techniques in a nonobjective setting.
The first artwork I felt a connection with was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's "Femme Retroussant Sa Chemise" (Oil on wood panel 1901). I was drawn to this piece because of its honesty. As a young woman, it can be hard to ignore the beauty standards that constantly stream in and out of popular culture. Women are idealized and objectified, and the market for obtaining inhuman beauty is ever-growing. Often it can be hard to separate one's self worth from one's physical beauty, when all you see is a world of digitally altered models and perfect movie stars. Henri did not attempt to perfect or alter the figure in his piece. Her body type is is not perfectly skinny or curvy or smooth. The painting caught my attention for many aesthetic purposes, but the main reason I relate to it is because the woman depicted has almost my exact body type. Accompanied by this is fact that she is not overly beautified in any way, she is not smiling, she is not young, she is not bright and pink and smooth. She is a woman. She is a woman who is not portrayed as a goddess or a nymph or some impossibly beautiful being, but as human as she would be if she were standing right in front of you.
The second piece that I felt a personal connection to was Vincent Van Gogh's "La Maison de La Crau" (oil on canvas 1888). I grew up in a small rural community. I spent a large part of my childhood caring for animals and farming. This painting reminded me of the fields that surround my childhood home, which are usually filled with corn or soy, but during some lucky summers are bursting with sunflowers. The piece reminded me of the creeks I used the play in as a kid and the simplicity of doing my chores and being satisfied with my life at a young age.
The first piece I would like to know more about is Philip Guston's "Multiplied" (oil on canvas 1972). This piece is one of the few in the gallery that explores a mainly monochromatic color scheme. I do not find that my personal strength as an art student is in abstract art, so seeing a non-objective piece that I truly can not make sense of often discomforts me. I usually resort to trying to apply logic to a piece that is clearly not meant to represent a physically existing being. This piece reminded me that I still have much to learn about art that I do not find strength in creating.
The second piece that I would like to learn more about is Andy Goldsworthy's "Path" (2012-2013 granite). I personally did not know this path was an installation or even a piece of art until I saw it on the website of the Albright Knox. I have taken walks on it before, and used it, but I was unaware that it was meant to be a work of art. Seeing it listed on the website made me think about what art can be when pushed outside traditional boundaries. I am interested to know if there is any particular significance to the direction of the path, or if it is meant to be left up to interpretation.
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ReplyDeleteHi Sabrina,
ReplyDeleteI think your pensive, honest reflections on the artworks you chose were very insightful and they helped me to gain a better understanding of who you are as a person. Since I do not know you personally, I really appreciated how thoughtful you were in your interactions with the artworks you chose. I did not choose any of these examples that you did, which made your reflections on them all the more interesting for me. Great job!
Doug