Artist Essays (Examples)

artist in cultural phenomenon in science fiction that have been influenced by a topic in mathematics including pure, applied mathematics, artificial languages and the philosophy of mathematics

Darren Aronofsky's Pi

Mathematics has long inspired individuals concerned in science fiction, as its logics influenced them to believe that it would be extremely important for mankind as a whole to be able to process a series of difficult mathematical calculation with the purpose of helping society experience progress from several points-of-view. Darren Aronofsky's 1998 motion picture Pi stands as an intriguing example concerning art coming together with mathematics and ultimately leading to an impressive piece of art. The film revolves around the idea of number theory and promotes the idea that individuals can use mathematics as a tool to unravel some of the Universe's deepest secrets.

Aronofsky's work provides viewers with a unique view into the world of mathematics and succeeds in…

One time, when she was sketching the necklace of her aunt, an idea stumbled in her mind. It was at this very moment that she realized that she might actually be able to make a good business out of her jewelry designs.

She started this business at her house in 2007. She made jewelries and souvenirs using mixed media such as silk, cotton, paper, thread, lacquer, stone, bead, and glass. She also made it a point to be able to explore by using different shape and forms in her art pieces. She offered low prices for people who are looking for souvenirs.

In order to improver on her craft, she regularly participates in craft shows especially for the Spring, Summer, and Fall Collections during October and November. She also finds these occasions as ways by which she's able to get information and new ideas from the people who attend the…

Artist Comparison

The rise of a leisure class that demanded regular entertainment during the mid to late 19th century contributed to the need for illustrators and illustrations for those magazines, books, and other materials. This contributed to what is called the "Golden Age of Illustration." Essentially, there was a significant increase in both literacy and the desire for entertainment in print during the 19th century; particularly in American urban centers. This led to a need for the weekly story, magazine, and even book that was lavishly illustrated. Combined with the improvement in printing technology, this caused a literal revolution in the need for illustrators, many of whom were able to make quite a good living producing materials for the masses (Levin).

Charles Robert Knight- (1874-1953) -- Knight was one example of someone who lived during the late 19th century but continued working until his death in the early 1950s. He…

Rubens's personal contribution to the over 2,000 works produced by this studio varied considerably from work to work" (Pioch 2002). The studio acted as a kind of de facto academy for many young artists who served as Reuben's assistants, including Anthony van Dyck.

Rubens has been called, in contrast to the inward-looking Dutch depicters of scenes of private, interior life, a 'public' painter, a status underlined by his equally impressive career as a negotiator and diplomat for his royal patrons, Archduke Ferdinand and Archduchess Isabella, during the war between the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. "A devout Roman Catholic, he imbued his many religious paintings with the emotional tenor of the Counter-Reformation. This aggressively religious stance, along with his deep involvement in public affairs, lent Rubens's work a conservative and public cast that contrasts sharply with the more private and secular paintings of his great Dutch contemporary, Rembrandt' (Pioch…

Artist's Statement

Brief Life History

I come from the town of Ahvaz, in the south of Iran, and was born during the time of the Iran-Iraq War. I was four when the war ended, so I did not experience the conflict directly, but the events of that era were a strong influence on the history of both my family and of the Iranian people. War is a relevant subject to work with, because its impacts are far-reaching. I had no direct connection with the war but because it was ongoing during my childhood it affected many aspects of life. My parents and family members had stories to tell about the war as well. While many in this world are lucky enough to avoid dealing with war directly, they know it from reputation and from images in the media. So everybody has an image of war that exists in his or…

But the music and the overall tone was a controlled sense of riotousness. Near the end of the dance, when the dancers were all gesturing up at the sky, they seemed to be asking something of nature or of God. Also, towards the end when a man and woman came out dancing in sync while hand in hand, this appeared to denote mating. When he man in purple with the long hair had the solo in which he jumped up and down and spun around a lot, he seemed to be demanding something of nature. When all four women were dancing the same moves in synonymously, they appeared to be taking part in a mating ritual dance. The woman in the very beginning who was kicking her legs above her head appeared to be expressing her power.

The sound score is based on percussion. There seems to be at least…

Artist Statement
My background and upbringing has had an indelible influence on my work and perspective as an artist. I was born in Paris in 1995 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. This kaleidoscopic childhood made me sensitive to the arts as I now work as a graphic designer and a street life photographer on the side. ? More importantly, I grew up in a family of artists: I was fortunate enough to always be exposed to adults that were constantly looking for deeper meanings and were not afraid to analyze, dig deeper and constantly create. This influence impacted my path, my approach, and my perspective as an artist. I learned that there is no limit to one’s viewpoint and imagination. My upbringing influenced my aesthetics in photography, because I wanted to embrace photographing things that seemed basic, ordinary and which are largely taken for granted. So much of art revolves…

Describe and evaluate one of the artist's works: title, material, size, year completed, subject matter, content, style

Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face) is a photograph dated 1981-1983 depicts a classical, Grecian bust of a beautiful woman's symmetrical head in white against a black background. The jagged words of the confrontational, angry subtitle of the work exist in photographic fragments against the side of the bust. The image is traditional, but the words are potentially inflammatory, as if the statue is speaking back to the gazing viewer. The words seemingly attempt to drive the viewer away, although the gaze of the bust is gentle. The viewer cannot escape the words, even while the viewer gazes at the head of the woman.

Discussion of the meaning of the work: hat is the artist trying to say?

Usually, a statue is silent, while the gazer observes and judges the…

artist synthesis related design elements in a fashion line to create a coherent theme from them. The design of each fashion piece is imbued with intricate meaning to link it with a particular season or theme. For instance, a designer's line that is medieval inspired would represent bodices with layered over peasant blouses, ankle length tunics over long skirts, and long flowing dresses with exaggerated sleeves. These designs replicate the medieval period of dress.

A color story, on the other hand, is one where a palette of colors is used in a line or of visual merchandising in retail stores. Here it is color, rather than design, that connects the fashion piece to season or to theme. Autumn, for instance, may be evoked by brown, green, orange and similar Fall-type colors.

The best sort of compositions combine harmony in idea, treatment, and design. All methods must be related to the…

artist must take a stance in the world. He or she must present himself from a vantage point, a perspective, that identifies him or herself and from which he is able to convey his or her sentiments about whatever topic is at hand. This sense of identity and the vantage point it affords Lucille Clifton and Etheridge Knight are fairly obvious in their poems "adam thinking" and "The Violent Space (or when your sister sleeps for money)," respectively. It is also what would more than likely cause Groddeck to say that their poetry is that of a dying tradition.

This fact is certainly true in Clifton's poem. This poem is clearly written from a feminist perspective which is not at all inclusive of the democratic values that Groddeck celebrates. The interesting thing is that although this poem champions feminist values, it is narrated from the perspective of a man. Moreover,…

art and influences of African-American artist Faith Ringgold.

FAITH RINGGOLD

Ringgold was born in New York City on October 8, 1930. She grew up in Harlem. Her mother, illi Posey Jones, was a fashion designer, and when Ringgold was young, she spent a lot of time at home, watching her mother work. She learned how to sew from her mother, and learned about working with different kinds of fabrics, and about drawing. The family was poor, but they were very interested in art and culture, and often took her to local museums. She grew up with people in her neighborhood like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, who influenced her in black culture and what blacks could accomplish.

She attended City College in New York, where she studied art and got a degree from the School of Education, finishing her education with a master's degree in Fine Art in 1959. Like…

She paints her own family, as in this painting of her daughter-in-law and her new babies. Even during this happy occasion, there is a pensive quality about the woman, as if she is contemplating the rigors of raising two babies at once. There are splashes of color, but the dark background is extremely prominent, and the baby nursing indicates the continuation of life and family, all themes that played strongly in Neel's personal life as well as her painting. She often paints families and children, and this almost compulsion to paint families indicates how important they were to her, and ultimately indicates that the loss of her child affected her work throughout her life.

It is interesting to note that Neel's work did not really begin to sell steadily or gain real notoriety until the 1970s. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter presented her with a National Women's Caucus for Art…

Chickens and a dog fill the scene as well, along with working farmers and fields and homes in the distance. Her perspective is not perfect, but she gives the scene life and vibrancy by her use of color and her clear understanding of the natural world she was painting. Her paintings are like taking a step back in time, and this one shows her love of the farmlands around her and her love of color and people, as well. She painted this painting in 1953, after she had been painting for nearly 20 years.

She depicted her surroundings in all the seasons, and some of her most interesting works depict winter, and one of the most arresting is "Get Along," a snowy winter day with several sleighing parties out enjoying the snowfall. The bare tree branches of the trees are covered with snow, and the houses huddle together under a…

Artist: Wassily Kandinsky

The spiritual life, to which art belongs and of which she is one of the mightiest elements, is a complicated but definite and easily definable movement forwards and upwards. This movement is the movement of experience. It may take different forms, but it holds at bottom to the same inner thought and purpose.

~Wassily Kandinsky, from Concerning the Spiritual in Art

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky lived from 1866 -- 1944. He was of ussian heritage, born in Moscow, and additionally had Asian ancestry on his maternal side. Not only is he a renowned abstract painter, art historians and other related professionals often credit him as the original abstract painting, at least in the west. He was born into a family with moderate to substantial wealth for the era. He was notably a friend and peer of Solomon Guggenheim, who has a museum with his namesake in New York…

Art

Interview with an Artist

Describe your artwork and creation processes, how you became an artist, and what training you had.

My name is Evan Z. I began working on art in high school, back in the 1990s. I used to love to draw and I would copy the cartoon drawings of Bill Watterson, who was my favorite artist back then -- the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, for anyone who does not know him. I could sit for hours at a time, listening to the same song on repeat on the CD player -- back then I think it was something by The Specials -- Rudy Something -- so I'd listen to that over and over again and copy out an entire sketch by Watterson, trying to mimic every nuance and detail just right.

After college, I kind of put away the art for a while, but while working…

The spot light and people's recognition are not enough for the artist. It is consolation he is looking for and never finds it. The misunderstanding of his very art is the cause of his exhaustion. Like Kafka, the Hunger Artist is trapped in a vicious circle, unable to see the light of understanding in the world's eyes. hat was always the cause of misery for an artist? Being misunderstood in his art was the worst that could happen. No one could bring consolation in his life and he acknowledged it as a condemnation of his state not able to give up his art and bound to it to the very end.

The story is written two years before Kafka's death and it is also one of the few he did not want to be destroyed after his death. It may be considered a reflection on his condition as an artist,…

.." (a Hunger Artist) the artist continues to fast until he eventually dies.

In terms of narrative structure, the story follows a conventional pattern of success, decline, failure and death. However in the process we encounter the real feelings and the emotions as well as the areas of conflict within the artist's life. The conflicts in the story are the conflicts between society and the artist, which will be discussed in the following section.

2. Symbolism and metaphorical meaning

Like many of Kafka's other stories, a Hunger Artist is highly metaphorical and makes use of symbols to suggest the central meaning of the work. In this case the central motif is the artist, his suffering and his alienation or difference from society. The difference of the artist from the other people around him is clearly exemplified in the characterization of the hunger artist. He is a symbol of the artist…

I can't do anything else," said the hunger artist." This conversation actually forms the crux of the entire story. The artist is looking for validation while the public is apathetic. A true artist on the other hand is consumed with passion for his work and public admiration is not his main concern. But in this story, the suffering artist is craving for attention. When that attention is denied him, he loses respect for his work too. He believes he would have done something else if he could. But the only reason he fasts is because there is nothing else he knows.

The food that he seeks is public attention and when he doesn't get it, he starves to death. The story has few layers of meaning. It is not a simple one-layered tale. On the one hand, we meet are being introduced to the suffering artist who is a victim…

He is putting this starving artist on a plane above the regular person. hese people cannot truly understand art, or the artist, because they do not have ability nor have they given up all for something they are passionate about. hat makes artists better than anyone else that views their works.

Are artists the only individuals who see reality of life as it really is? Are they the only ones who live for each moment, and are not tempted to stop by each new attraction to keep life interesting? hey do not need such temptations. hey have their art, which is the only thing they live for.

he higher level that Kafka alludes to is the suffering that these true artists endure. he hunger artist, although he says it was simple to starve, must have suffered -- even if it was when he no longer held the power to attract…

Without food and approval, he withered away into the closets of history. Ultimately, though, the freedom of death brought with it the escape from those things that defined the artist's life: rejection and applause.

Kafka presented this final stage in the artist's life as liberation, but countered it with the injection of life. Into the cage where hunger had eaten the man alive went a young panther, full of zest, energy, and the joie de vivre that is as basic to any animal as food, and both of which the artist rejected. "The joy of life streamed with such ardent passion from his throat that for the onlookers it was not easy to stand the shock of it," Kafka concluded, "but they braced themselves, crowded around the cage, and did not ever want to move away." Ultimately, spectacle, not art, was revealed, and the human instinct to watch life -…

This is not a sign of power, yet a reflex derived from his alienation. We could even go further and affirm that the artist is an escapist, because he absolutely ignores the real necessity to get a decent job and he also ignores the clock in his cage, the ticking indicator that the time he went to work has come. He escapes in his own world of fantasy, where he can create his own rules and philosophy of life.

One very realistic element in the story, combined in an unusual manner with the rest of the almost absurd type of characteristics, is the existence of a manager. While the artist's fasting emerges from suffering and grief, his impresario denatures this fact in an entertaining, circus-like show. This seems like a parody of real art, which is transposed, in the capitalist world, in a money-making scheme.

Another realistic detail of the…

Elizabeth Murray

Life of an Artist

Every once in awhile, an artist comes along that completely changes the landscape of what art is and how it is perceived by society. Elizabeth Murray was undoubtedly one of these artists. Ms. Murray was born in the 1940's, in Chicago, and earned her BFA in the same city.

Yet soon, this metropolis could not contain her talent, and Murray went on to be one of the most celebrated artists of her time. This paper will discuss both the life of the artist, and her work, in order to truly see how fantastic and changing this artist's work has been for society.

After 66 wonderful years, Elizabeth Murray passed away in 2007, leaving behind a myriad of incredible paintings. To illustrate her impact, of the obituaries written to her memory stated, "ith the death of Elizabeth Murray at age 66 on Sunday, America lost…

Hunger Artist" Franz Kafka

Deprivation and Delusion in "The Hunger Artist"

"The Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka, is the story of a man who is defined only by his profession, which is that of a traveling performance artist. His method of performance is to stage public fasts, depriving himself of food in an attempt to entertain the unappreciative public. Kafka explores several themes in the work, including self-deprivation as a means of attaining superiority to others, the artist as iconoclast, and the perils of seeking fame. The story functions as both an allegory and a character study: the hunger artist is a stand-in for all artists and also a tragic hero in his own right.

The hunger artist is a man who, we are shown, has a singular ambition which is to continue to best himself and achieve longer and longer periods of hunger. He says that, if allowed, "he…

Edward Hopper: Greatest 20th Century Artist

Edward Hopper was an artist that worked in the 1900s, born in Nyack, New York. His parents were merchants and his family at large made a concerted effort to encourage his artistic abilities. Hopper studied at the New York School of Art, studying with certain greats of the art world like William Chase and obert Henri (artic.edu, 2013). Hopper later travelled throughout Paris, visiting major metropolitan oases like Paris and London. Upon his return, Hopper worked as an illustrator for major advertising agencies and he tried fervently to get his work recognized (edwardhooper.net). Hopper gained his acclaim as a painter of modernism who has explored the ideas of tension: tension as it exists in society, both in urban and rural settings, along with tension as it can be evoked by various periods of the day (metmusuem.org).

Description

Hopper's work is highly identifiable and that…

Women Creating Culture: Sofonisba Anguissola, Mary Wollstonecraft and Emily Dickinson
Introduction
While the patriarchal heritage of the West commonly references the contributions of men to history and culture, the West would not be what it is today without the contributions to culture made by women as well. This paper will look at the contributions of three women in particular—Sofonisba Anguissola, the Italian Renaissance painter whose skill caught the attention of Michelangelo and ultimately won her a position in the court of King Phillip II of Spain; Mary Wollstonecraft, whose Vindication of the Rights of Women in the 18th century opened the door for the 19th and 20th centuries’ women’s movements; and Emily Dickinson, whose poetry of the 19th century was lauded by second wave feminists such as Adrienne Rich, who identified Dickinson as an important inspiration in her own work. These women helped shape but were also shaped by their…

Art - A Product of Its Context
Introduction
Exploring by visual means is a versatile process of collecting facts about the world. The context from which one does so and their personal factors influence such a dynamic exploration process. Art and context are inseparable. The meaning is derived from the information that accompanies a piece of art. Thus far, aspects such s the title of a piece of art, the authenticity and historical facts also add to the meaning. The mentioned factors determine one’s evaluation of a piece of art and their sensitivity to the same (Brieber).
Sun mad – 1981 by Ester Hernandez
Figure 1. Sun Mad (1982) (Adopted from Bain, 28-29.)
The skeleton of Hernandez demonstrates the deadly effects of pesticides while strongly locating the text in the Mexican traditional making of print that dates back to the day of Jose’ Posada. The skull signifies a Mexican society…

Brecht’s Influence on Boal: An Examination
Attempting to trace the influence on a particular artist can always pose a host of problems, given the fact that in the lifetime of an artist, they have been impacted by a host of artistic influences. However, the work of Boal has a very evident debt to Bertolt Brecht, most notably in Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (Babbage, 6). This work make constant reference to Brecht’s thoughts on Epic Theatre, and orbits around many of Brecht’s motifs on politics and anti-illusionism, along with a critical production aesthetic (Babbage, 6). This paper will examine how the work of Augusto Boal via his Theatre of the Oppressed, was undeniably influenced by the work of Bertolt Brecht.
One aspect of Brecht’s profound influence on the work of Boal, and arguably on so many artists of the era, was that he encouraged a new means of thinking about…

Everyday Creativity
The concept of everyday creativity is about finding joy in the things we do and obtaining happiness in even the most routine aspects of life—such as finding food to eat, getting dressed, getting to work, or even adapting to an unexpected emergency. Everyday creativity is about the art of spontaneity, the art of adaptability, the art of being okay with things the way they are because at all times one has the means to succeed, to feel good, to be brave, the obtain joy even in the most miserable of times. This idea is rooted in the belief that there is grace in all things, all around one, and that by tapping into this grace, one enhances one’s own life exponentially. This paper will show how the American Psychological Association (2007), through the articles by Zausner (2007) and Richards (2007), proves that creativity is the best approach to…

2-D Artist: Bill Watterson
One of the finest professional cartoonists to ever do a syndicated comic strip is Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson’s 2-D artwork was composed of ink drawings and watercolors to supply depth and beauty to his pieces. Watterson prided himself on his artistic values and took efforts to create dazzling Sunday strips that were larger than life, full of color and imagination. For this reason, Watterson became one of the most beloved artists in the history of syndicated illustrations (Hulsizer).
Watterson is my favorite 2-D artist of all time because he packs so much into his artwork and really brings his characters to life through the use of color, line, perspective, and expression. His characters, particularly the six-year-old boy named Calvin is so expressive in his body language that simply looking at the drawings can cause laughter, empathy, and compassion. Watterson is not…

The Medici Venus is the common name applied to the Aphrodite statue that has been essentially copied from the Praxiteles form. The Aphrodite housed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a famous example of the form: armless (because they have broken off, not because the statue was designed that way), Aphrodite is depicted as emerging from the sea which is symbolized by the small dolphin at her feet (the sea creature also doubles as a support for the standing Aphrodite). The marble statue of Aphrodite in the Met hails from the Imperial Roman period and was likely chiseled in the 1st or 2nd century AD. Standing at a height of 62 ½ inches (including the plinth upon which the Aphrodite is situated), the statue is a life-size replica of the Greek statue by Praxiteles, who was the first artist of antiquity to depict the goddess in…

There he exhibited 125 of his large Pacific coast views and had more than a thousand images accessible for view through stereoscopes. During these years, he traveled further afield in search of new subjects: he sailed to the barren Farallon Islands, twenty-six miles off the California coast; he photographed the geysers of Sonoma County; he traveled to Mount Shasta in the northern part of the state; and he documented the massive hydraulic gold mining operations in the Sierra Nevada foothills (Watkins' Life and Works, 2010).

Watkins received support in his travels from his friend Collis Huntington, a principal in the Central Pacific ailroad, who offered him a flatcar to carry his van filled with photographic materials. By 1869 the Central Pacific line had pressed through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, allowing Watkins to take photographs of the wilderness landscapes that could now be seen by railroad travelers. Throughout the final years…

artists be given free rein in the producing and displaying of works that are offensive, objectionable, or disparaging of certain people's beliefs and values? What responsibilities do artists have to their society? What responsibilities does the society have to its artists?

The job of artists is to hold up a mirror to society and comment on both the beauty and ugliness that exists in the real world. It is easy to showcase things that are beautiful. The museums of the world are full of pretty pictures which depict landscapes and lovely people in fancy dresses. However, there are also works of art in museums or galleries which are controversial, unsettling, and perhaps even downright ugly. Some works of art show things that most people do not want to see, such as material which is offensive, or objectionable, or even disparaging of the beliefs and values of others. Such works are…

Even five years ago, this was not the case. Moore uses his own brand of investigative, and sometimes highly charged and emotionally biased journalism to make his points. He causes people to violently disagree with his determinations, but he causes people to think, something that many filmmakers simply avoid. Moore's documentaries are more than entertainment, they get people talking about and investigating issues on their own. His message may not appeal to everyone, but his methods are some of the best in filmmaking. He creates films that people remember, and this is an important aspect of the process. He uses emotional, controversial, social, and meaningful themes to "stir the pot," and will certainly be one of the 21st centuries most remembered filmmakers.

Steven Spielberg is probably the most influential and important filmmaker today. His films are much more than entertainment, they are thought provoking, artistic, and stunningly memorable. From "The…

artists creations. I NEED TO STRESS THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT ILL BE SUBMITTED

My apologies for the delayed response; I just now saw this request.

The instructions state that the paper is to be 750 words, which is why I wrote that amount.

They also state that the only source to be used is the YouTube one you provided of Soltes' lecture, which is why I assumed you would know what the orks Cited were. Here is the one source that you requested in the instructions.

Soltes, Ori. "Continuity and Transformation -- hat is Art. www.youtube.com 2011. eb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfxSp_4SZII

I hope this is not too late to help.

There were several ways that Geometric Greek art evolved into Classical Greek art, the culmination of which is perhaps evinced in the artwork decorating the Parthenon. The key word in explaining this phenomenon is evolution, because there was not necessarily a direct alteration…

Grant ood

The best possible introduction to Grant ood's American Gothic is the fact that it was listed by The ashington Times as one of the most important icons of the 1930's in America: "Hardship at home and conflict abroad...the Great Depression. Dust bowl farmers sought a harvest of hope...labored to lift the countries spirits...Pitchfork Picture: Grant ood paints American Gothic." (The ashington Times, May, 1999)

Created in 1930, American Gothic captured the public imagination and shifted the attention of American painting from the cosmopolitan to the rural: "Grant ood's 'American Gothic' caused a stir in 1930 when it was exhibited for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago.... Newspapers across the country carried the story and the painting of a farm couple posed before a white house...." (The Art Institute of Chicago eb site)

hy did a painting of an ordinary farm couple in front of a…

Martha Graham

Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to the paradise of the achievement is no easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in sleep. There are times of complete frustration; there are daily small deaths. (Graham).

Are there ever any outstanding artists who create a new style or have a completely different vision of expression who are not compulsive, driven and somewhat disturbed? Or, is it actually these personal characteristics that make them become geniuses? Some of the stories related about the great dance innovator Martha Graham's impatience, anger, and obsessive personality are disquieting. Yet she was one of the most important individuals in Western art. As noted in an article by Porterfield about Graham's contribution: "(she) was to dance what Picasso was to painting and Joyce was to literature. One of the most influential dancers, choreographers and teachers of…

Tapies, Van Gogh, And Munch

Antoni Tapies' Composition with Figures (1945) is a work of modern art that uses the impasto technique to create a figurative or symbolic painting. Its style and use of color appear to be inspired by Van Gogh, yet its melancholic tone and expression (most clearly seen in the hollow, hopelessness of the central subject's eyes) appear inspired by Munch. Tapies' Composition comes at the beginning of his career but at a time in history when the modern world has already attempted to rip itself apart twice (WWI and WWII). Thus, one sees in this composition a subject located between two extremes with a "celestial light" above it that does not seem to be able to fill the entity below. Yet what the light is doing is indeterminable exactly because the more one looks at the painting, the more realizes that it contains complexities that arouse…

Jenny Holzer

Many artists seek to have a powerful influence on the public through the drama and communicative elements of their work. Neo-Conceptualist artist Jenny Holzer is certainly among those artists whose strong social and moral values motivate them to speak out on important social and political issues. Holzer's background shows that the artist found her artistic calling after her first two years in college. She was born in 1950 and first pursued her education at Duke University in liberal arts before realizing what she truly wanted to achieve was an education in fine arts and painting. She was awarded a B.F.A. (Bachelors of Fine Arts) at Ohio University in 1972 and an M.F.A. (Masters of Fine Arts) from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1977, according to The New York Times "Forums." This paper delves into Holzer's themes -- in particular, her truism themes -- her materials, the…

Transformative Art

The artists that I have chosen to spotlight come from three continents and different ethnicities. They are actors, musicians, lyricists, rappers, poets, and comedians. They are also revolutionaries who are using art to transform the world that they live within into a better place.

Saul illiams

Saul illiams is an artist with many interests and abilities; he is hard to place in a single category. Saul illiams is a poet-both written and spoken; an actor; a philosopher; a rapper; a rock-star; a productive musician; a producer…and the list continues (illiams, Bio). No matter what genre illiams is creating within, one thing remains the same- namely, the theme underlying his work. In all of illiams's work, whether one looks in the albums, the movies, the song tracks, or the books, one can find illiams' commitment to transforming individuals by challenging and transforming how they think, what they believe, what…

.....gentrification" was first coined in 1964 by sociologist Ruth Glass, who commented on the changing "social character" of districts in London (Smith 1996, 33). Glass critiqued the process of gentrification, however inevitable it might seem to a realist, on the grounds that it threatened to undermine social welfare. Gentrification cannot be discussed without reference to the intersections between race, class, and power. However, gentrification may be an unreasonably maligned concept and term. Artists have consistently and historically stood at the forefront of gentrification, as the earliest pioneers of urban gentrification around the world. Ironically, though, artists have frequently been framed as the "victims" of gentrification (Makagon 2010, 26). The conceptualization of artists as victims and not as instigators of gentrification is a racialized critique of the process of gentrification because it ignores, discounts, or even denigrates the contributions made by non-white counterculture and bohemian pioneers of aesthetic urban revitalization. Although…

Art Analysis: Art21

After reviewing the artists from Art21, the artists chosen are Pierre Huyghe and AI Weiwei as the subjects of this paper. The pieces the paper will be "This is not a time for dreaming" by Huyghe and "Forever" by Weiwei. Both pieces are installation pieces although the artists are not classified under the same grouping on the Art21 website. Weiwei is listed as "Featured in Change" and Huyghe is listed as "Featured in omance." Though they are not featured or classified in the same group, their respective groups are related. There are several different kinds of people in the world for whom change is romantic. Weiwei is a renowned activist as well as renowned artists. Artists typically have a deep passion within that they express via their art. Therefore, Weiwei could see the connection between romance and change. For the native Parisian Huyghe, romance may very well…

Portraits: Talking ith Artists at the Met, The Modern, The Louvre, And Elsewhere

Attempting to put art into words can be like trying to put that proverbial lightning in a bottle: art often seems to defy description, much as art critics attempt to do so. Even artists themselves often struggle with articulating the concepts behind their works. Various attempts over the years have been made to make art, particularly abstract modern art more intelligible, including trying to film the artist Jackson Pollock painting one of his famous 'drip' paintings from below the surface of a piece of glass. In the book Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre, and Elsewhere, the New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman adopts a different technique and actually asks prominent modern artists to talk about art in front of paintings and photographs at various museums. Not only does he ask…

Lives Artists: Volume 2 Giorgio Vasari, Peter Murray, George Bull, Book Review -The audience read book, give

Essentially, the author of the work of literature entitled Lives of the Artist, Volume 2, created this work in order to immortalize artists who painted approximately during the time of the Renaissance. Some of these individuals who are depicted in this book are famous and are known by posterity without this piece of literature; others, however, are decidedly less so. In the latter case Vasari's work serves to preserve some of the memorable facets of the character behind the artist. In all cases, he helps to build the legend of these devoted artists while also portraying them as regular humans. To the end that Vasari is simply issuing a collection of remembrances and overviews of a plethora of different artists, this manuscript does not explicitly have a thesis. Additionally, the author is not…

Another political and public sidewalk mural done by Beever is his Politicians Meeting Their End, drawn on the night of the 1997 General Elections outside the Bank of England. In this work, Beever creates the illusion of a deep well in the middle of the sidewalk with unpopular politicians being pulled in. Again, like most of his works, this one demands the viewers attention and gives a clear message.

ulian Beever's work encompass several post-modern ideas. First, his works is often focused on current events or celebrities, and therefore encompass the pop-art trend often found in postmodern art. Further, his work is a type of installation art in that it is created and displayed in extremely public places, often causing a disruption in the general flow of the area it is placed. As such, his work is the essence of post modern's focus on the real and the current, making…

Female Artists Who Worked in the American West

The subject of female artists working in the American West has often been overlooked due to pervasive Western male stereotypes. These stereotypical images include popular media overlays of cowboys, male hero icons and male activities. Yet, the environment of the American West has been the inspiration for many American female artists. One of these is the landscape photographer, Laura Gilpin. Gilpin's relation to the West and the connection of that particular landscape to her work is obvious from the following quotation:

What I consider really fine landscapes are very few and far between," Laura Gilpin wrote to a friend in 1956. "I consider this field one of the greatest challenges and it is the principal reason I live in the West. I am willing to drive many miles, expose a lot of film, wait untold hours, camp out to be somewhere at…

I am also very confused by the author's decision to switch over to talking about the impact a Danish publication had especially because it did not relate to music and it did not deal with issues in the U.S. While the author intended to demonstrate the power of the press, he/she should have chosen an example applicable to the U.S. Moreover, the author appears to confuse a political cartoon that deliberately sets out to polarize the audience with traditional art, which sets out to be a tool for an artist's expression of thoughts, beliefs, and experiences.

The concluding paragraph is fraught with hypocritical inconsistencies. The author began by claiming that the First Amendment gives individuals the right to free speech and yet, he/she set out immediately to determine what an artist could and could not say, and what they should and should not say. Furthermore, in this last paragraph, the…

Post-Impressionist artists were interested in the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly in his concept of the Ubermensch, a superman who would be capable through intense struggle of surmounting the lower forces that would limit his ability to achieve. The idea that man could evolve beyond his present capacities influenced the relationship of European man to previous cultures and to contemporary but less "civilized" societies. This paper explores the ways in which Paul Gauguin applied the Ubermensch concept to his art and to his life, and examines parallel motifs in the oeuvres of his contemporaries.

The Artist Gauguin: Man, Nature, Ubermensch and God

At the beginning of the enaissance, Massacio painted The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and initiated a new view of humanity: an intensely personal and emotionalized struggle against fate. In spite of the Neo-Classical return to the formal norms of the past, the…

He began with very fuzzy looking works of light and sun, then began to paint more sharply drawn works, especially of women. His earliest works have urban subjects. They are typical "Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light," but by "the mid-1880s," Renior "had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women" such as his "Bathers," painted slowly over the course of the years of 1884-87. (Picoch, 2002)

Edgar Degas -- representing movement and the working class

Of all the Impressionists, Edgar Degas is acknowledged as the master of drawing the human figure in motion. Degas worked in many mediums, preferring pastels to oils. He is perhaps best known for his paintings, drawings, and bronzes of ballerinas and of race horses. Movement's ability to engage in the expressive aims of impressionism is what is important.…

Matisse and O'Keeffe: Modern Artists with Talent and Connections

hat Paul Johnson calls fashion art in the 20th century grew out of the experimental and impressionistic work of the late 19th century. It may be said to have originated with Picasso and Braque and Cubism, which helped launch a number of techniques and movements, such as Abstractionism and Surrealism. Like Picasso and Braque, Henri Matisse had connections with the rich American art patron in Paris, Gertrude Stein. (She purchased Matisse's La Femme au chapeau (oman with a Hat) and sat for Picasso) (Johnson 657). The American painter Georgia O'Keeffe was not connected to Stein, but she did study fashion art and transpose it (after a series of skyscraper works) onto the natural world. Matisse and O'Keeffe, though disconnected by the Atlantic, both found support from the art establishment (Matisse through Stein, O'Keeffe through her husband Alfred Stieglitz, "the owner of…

Female Artists: Neysa McMein and Rose O'Neill

Neysa McMein: Neysa McMein was an influential American artist in the early 1900's who painted various pop-culture images, including magazine covers, brand identities, and commercial designs. Her style is marked by her creative ability to invent appealing and compelling characters, many of which depict complex and powerful beautiful women who rarely make direct eye-contact. She created the cover designs for popular magazines that sold millions of copies throughout the 19-teens, '20's, and '30's. She designed propaganda poster images for World War I, as well as advertisements such as Palmolive soap, Lucky Strike cigarettes, and Coke. Most of McMein's illustrations were done using oil paint, with brilliant colors or soft pastels.

Many of her portraits and images featured seductively aloof, gorgeous female characters. The women were generally dressed in elaborate, sophisticated attire that complemented a matching background. One of McMein's most influential creations was…

Mock Interview

Hello, Mr. Bosch. Thank you for meeting with me today. Please tell me how and why you decided to become a painter.

Becoming a painter was a natural choice for someone whose father was also a painter. The real question for me was, what kind of painter do I become? hat is the best way to improve my skills and earn a living from my work? In 's-Hertogenbosch, it was fairly easy to acquire the tools and training that I needed, and my father provided to me as much as he could. My father, Anthonius van Aken, worked closely with local religious organizations to train their painters.

Please describe for me what it was like for you growing up in 's-Hertogenbosch, and what it is like to live here now.

e were always a fairly well-to-do family, and 's-Hertogenbosch was in fact as pleasant when I was growing…

Descriptions of women are primarily if not entirely based on mundane physical appearances: stockings, legs, and other features rather than character. The lack of strong female characters impedes the novel from exploring truly liberating themes, and there is a nearly complete lack of social justice issues in the novel. Historical and literary allusions omit the presence of female from the cultural canon. Joyce remains solidly concerned with the male coming of age and personal development experience, and women are but ancillary characters in supporting roles.

Still, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man does not pretend to be anything but a coming-of-age story that centers on an Irish male protagonist. Moreover, Joyce does paint Dedalus's portrait as a man who has trouble escaping the shackles of his past and his culture. Dedalus's upbringing had a powerful influence on his socialization and his perception of gender. His father is…

Beever's success has skyrocketed from his skill in this realism. As a result, he has been eagerly contracted for various special events of both political and social regard.

Often referred to as the 'Pavement Picasso,' Beever has produced his art on the streets of Birmingham where he directly correlated pieces to the celebration of the Chinese New Year. In Edinburgh's city center, he connected a piece to the G8 summit that proved to influence a persuasion of art, politics and humanity. Beever has also recently been asked to create a distinct work on the driveway of a soon-to-unveil New York City fire station in commemoration of the fallen firefighters in 9-11.

As Julian Beever's esteem cultivates to further audiences, his work continues to be heavily anticipated and eagerly followed. He has begun a trend in modern art that is hardly comprised of direct competition and thus, will undoubtedly prevail in…

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of Stephen Dedalus as he grows from an introspective and conscious young man into a rebellious and disaffected adult. For much of the novel, young Stephen is trying to figure out exactly who he is and what it is that he values in life. It is a stream-of-consciousness story wherein the internal thoughts and feeling, no matter how insignificant they may seem are written in their entirety so as to represent in a fictional work how a real human being's thought processes guide their life. As an Irish youth, it is expected that Stephen will follow the orders of his parents and honor his father and mother, and that he will live and behave according to the Catholic tradition of his family members and his community. Religion and…

Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About

Judy Kinberg's 2009 motion picture Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About provides a view into the life of a person who played a significant role in the twentieth century's art movement. Jerome Robbins used his mastery to make Broadway musicals much more intriguing and choreographed some of the world's greatest ballet dancers. The film uses a great deal of resources with the purpose of providing viewers with a complex understanding of the artist's life. Things like personal journals, confessions from witnesses that interacted with Robbins (some of them were close to him), and videos showing his performances all come together in painting a picture of the artist.

It would be safe to say that Robbins changed the way that many people perceived dance and music. His involvement in the industry provided these people with a completely new point-of-view on the domain and made it…

women artists," feminists have reflexively responded by trying to find great women artists from the past who were undiscovered or to emphasize little-regarded female artists from past artistic movements dominated by men. However, this can create the impression of feminists being 'desperate' to find examples of female greatness and over-inflating the reputation of relatively minor artists. Other feminist art historians have criticized the notion of what constitutes 'greatness' as overly masculine in quality and tried to create a new, specifically female-centric notions of artistic greatness. Feminist critic Linda Nochlin sees this as problematic given that there is no clear feminine principle uniting women artists through the ages: in fact, women artists and writers are more apt to resemble males of their respective periods than they are of all women throughout the ages.

Instead, Nochlin asserts that the absence of great female artists is similar to the reason why there are…

Sometimes, a paintbrush is used to create great circles, squares, and triangles of color that do not look like anything that can be found in life. The exciting, dynamic, and vivid use of the paintbrush show the viewer an imaginary world from the mind of the artist that only paint can create in its use of color. Sometimes a paintbrush can be used to blend colors on the canvas, to show the viewer what life is like, such as the complex expression of a human being or a scene in nature. A brush, in combination with the right kind of paint for the fibers or texture of the brush can create a uniquely expressive, human and startling idea on the canvas.

The brush can be large, small, as fine as a needle, and made from artificial or natural bristles. It can be dipped in oil or used to splatter acrylics…

Journal of Albrecht Durer, 1498

I, Albrecht Durer, will preserve what I feel today in indelible colors. I stand pompous, extravagantly dressed, back to where I have always belonged. I may seem ostentatious now, with the artistic splendor I am bestowed with, more refined. Yet it was at Venice where I found inner tranquility of being an artist. I shall paint now as my imaginations will sweep with the aura of nature around me and my skills shall gain more strength. I will rejoice today to celebrate the liberty of an artist that I had experienced in Italian culture with the hope to awaken same liberation amongst natives of my land. I shall portray myself to depict the worth of a piece of art, the spectacle that a mere smear of color on canvas could create.

I may seem imprudent to Nuremberg for here I stand now almost 26, still…

High enaissance Movement and Its Most Celebrated Artists

The enaissance is referred to as a period of time where there was a great cultural movement that began in Italy during the early 1300's. It spread into other countries such as England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. This era continued into the late 1400's and ended during the 1600's. The enaissance times were a period of rebirth and during this time many artists studied the art of ancient Greece and ome. Their desire was to recapture the spirit of the Greek and oman cultures in their own artistic, literary, and philosophic works. The cultures of ancient Greece and ome are often called classical antiquity. The enaissance thus represented a rebirth of these cultures and is therefore also known as the revival of antiquity or the revival of learning.

The artists' works include many aspects of the medieval times and incorporated…

Thus, it would seem his work could not be considered spiritual, and yet, there is something moving and thought provoking about many of his works. The busts in his nuclear series, which often show the grisly results of a nuclear holocaust cause the reader to look inside themselves and confront their own ideas about mortality and spirituality, and there is something very moving about these works, but they are very disturbing, as well.

Arneson's work might not be considered spiritual, and yet, there is something very touching and special about some of his works. His works make viewers think about history, about their own lives, and even the politics of the world around them. That makes them look inside themselves, too, just as Arneson did when he created his self-portraits. This ability to create whimsical and yet touching works is something Arneson mastered completely, and that helps give his work…