GUERNICA

Pablo Picasso

Guernica 

Oil on canvas

349 x 776 cm

1937

1. Use the vocabulary you have learned in class to describe this artwork or performance in detail

The type of artwork that is seen in the picture entitled Guernica by Pablo Picasso is Cubism. The reason why it can be considered Cubism because it has the characteristics of what qualifies to be Cubism; these characteristic are a restricted palette which is black, white or brown, has its own internal logic and the fragments are drawn in multiple points of view. 

2. What process were used to create this work? What social influences might the artist be responding to and why?

The process that was used to create the picture entitled Guernica was to get a large canvas board and to use oil paint. The reason why Pablo Picasso made this artwork because it was a way to show viewers the bombings of Basque town called Guernica by German bombers. 

3. What is the relationship of this artwork to the time and society in which it was created? Describe the symbols used to express this relationship

The relationship of the work towards the time is that it can be considered anti-war like and protest art. The reason why I say this is because the painting was created by Pablo Picasso as a way to respond to the event of German bombers bombing Guernica, Spain.  The symbols that are used in this painting are incident individuals and animals suffering. 

4. Identify elements in the work that evoke a persuasive or emotional response. Be specific about what those responses are and why.

The elements that are used in this piece of artwork in general are lines, shapes and colors. When it comes to the elements that show an emotional response is the suffering. The reason for this is because you can practically see suffering in every person or animal. An example for suffering for a human is if you look closely towards the left of the picture you can see a mother holding what it seems to be a dead baby in her arms. An example for suffering for an animal is the horse towards the center of the picture looks like as if it has gotten hit by something and is about the fall to the floor and collapse. 

5. Evaluate what you perceive to be the strengths and weaknesses of the artwork. Apply discipline specific vocabulary and concepts when describing your point of view.

My perception for the strengths in the artwork entitled Guernica is that Pablo Picasso has done a great job showing the suffering of people in response to the bombings by Germans in Guernica, Spain. The only weakness that I could think of is that the suffering could have been seen more clearly if it were done with a different type of media or different theme of art, rather than using cubism. 

SELF PORTRAIT

Three portraits

McCallum Tarry

Show me where you bought me from

Oil on lien and toner on silk

46.25 x 35.50 inches

1945

Charles E. Burchfield

Portrait Study in Spring Landscape

Watercolor, charcoal and graphite on paper

28 X 34 inches

1976 

Bruce Jackson

Guard with Snake- Cummins

Black and white photograph

13 x 19 inches

1975

My picture before

My final product

Questions

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

I only see one picture at the Burchfield Penny Art Center that comes close to what a self-portrait is, so I had to go on the Burchfield Penny Art Center website to look for other self portraits. 

2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?

I decided to use a computer to take a photo and then grayscale the image because I’ve always love to grayscale my images in Facebook, so that was drawn to me and my art exhibition project consists of a grayscale theme, so this was another factor.

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?

I didn't have any challenges at all when it came to creating my self portrait because I knew I wanted to grayscale it as soon as I seen the assignment up;  my computer acted correctly while taking the photograph and then filtering it to make it grayscale. 

4. How does this piece represent you?

It represents me by being in my environment (my dorm room or my room back in the Bronx) where I feel the most relaxed. For the fact that it is grayscale it represents me because I tend to wear a lot of dark colors (black and dark gray) and it seems appropriate to reflect on my choice in clothing since clothing does represent people.

5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?

When it comes to elements, I've used colors because you can see the different types of grays and blacks that are being used in my self-portrait. When it comes to principles, I've used unity because the different shades of colors move in harmony. I've also used patterns because if you look towards the back, you will see my blanket on my bed and it has a swirly like pattern on it.

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?

No, because I pretty much take photos all the time of myself and for half of those images I tend to filter with them such as making them grayscale or mirroring the image. 

7. What do you think of your final work?

My final work looks like a lot of my default pictures on Facebook. Using the computer to snapshot the photo and then to grayscale the image was very convenient because it came out perfectly and it only took a few minutes instead of taking hours to do. 

 

REFLECTION FOR THE PROJECT

In order to complete this project I first came up with a few ideas for the theme that I wanted to present in my project; I narrowed it down to pictures consisting of grayscale, shades of red or shades of green. Since looking up pictures that had shades of red or green would be very difficult, I decided to go with grayscale. When I found my theme, I went onto google to look for pictures. At first finding the first few were very easy, but after a while I did find more pictures, however, these pictures did not have information on them such as the year it was created, the media used or the name of the art piece. Since looking for these pieces of artwork has became more challenging, I had to refer to the art textbook of this course in order to get the rest of this done; I also decided to look on the Burchfield Penny Art Center  and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery website for more pictures to complete it. As soon as I put all of the pictures onto the powerpoint, I filled in all 15 of the pictures with their respective information. Lastly, I put a description of what the picture is, the analysis of it such as the elements and principles used in the picture, my interpretation of what the artwork is and a reason for why I chose this piece of artwork. To add more information on to the powerpoint, I put a introduction slide which is used to introduce the project, a conclusion slide to conclude what has been seen in the presentation and a reference slide to site the pictures and information used in this presentation.

Overall, the presentation was very easy because I somewhat assumed beforehand to put the pictures up on powerpoint followed by putting the pictures information and analysis on it. Honestly, the only trouble I had with this presentation was finding pictures because as I stated earlier, it became easier, but it became more difficult to find the information for these pictures. When it came to the layout of the powerpoint, I knew that making it black, white and grey were the appropriate choice for this project.

VIDEO REVIEW BLOG

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned?

The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art
1. Lowbrow is a person regarding as uncultivated and lacking in taste
2. Supposedly Robert Williams says he came up with the term lowbrow art
3. Conceptualism excluded audience members who lacked training in art history

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach
1. Art displayed in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) displays artwork in chronological order from 1929 to present
2. Four sections are used in The Tate Modern in order to display their art
3. Abstract artist wanted to convey emotions and aesthetic effects and were not depended on figuration

An Acquiring Mind: Philippe de Montebello and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1. Montebello guided acquisition of over 84,000 works
2. Montebello served 31 years as the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art


2. Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition Project? If Yes, explain how. If no, explain why?

None of these videos helped me with my creation of the Art Exhibition project because none of the videos lack the theme that I am creating which is black and white. The only thing these videos helped me in is learning about new topics.


3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practice while creating your curation project?

My opinion of the films is that it did a good job explaining new concepts that I have never heard of, but it didn't help me create my art exhibition project. The first video entitled The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art gave me the idea of making a Pop Art like art exhibition because I highly doubt that there are many Pop Art like art exhibitions out there.

VIDEO BLOG REVIEW

1. Explain why you selected each of the two videos you choose from the selection above?

The first video I chose was entitled Andy Warhol: Images of Image because I've always heard positives views about his artwork, so I wanted to see more of his artwork to determine if he is a talent artist as everyone says. The second video I chose was entitled Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the '50 and '60's. because I wanted to see more examples of Pop Art.

2. For each video list/discuss the concepts you have learned

For the video entitled Andy Warhol: Images of Image

1. Silk screening consists of a photograph being blown up and put into silk screens and then transformed into paper and canvas while using ink and paint
2. Andy Warhol took silk screening as a advantage in order to make money
3. Andy Warhol's artwork addresses several causes such as race riots and the conquest of the moon

For the video entitled Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the '50 and '60's
1. Warhol and Rauschenber are two artists that became artist of the 1960's
2. sometimes abstract art can be compared to figurative artwork
3. Warhol can be considered to be synonymous to Pop Art

3. How do the videos relate to the text?

For the video entitled Andy Warhol: Images of Images it relates to the textbook by talking about Andy Warhol's life. This video also relates to the textbook by talking about silk screening which made Andy Warhol more famous and more wealthier. For the video entitled Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the '50 and '60's it relates to the textbook by talking about Pop Art's famous artist, Andy Warhol. The video also relates to the text by talking about artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthalter and Jasper Johns and it talks about their artwork.

4. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding the of the readings and key concepts?

My opinion for the video entitled Andy Warhol: Images of Image is that it did a good job talking about his life; it went in more detail of his life than the textbook itself. It help me understand the concept of silk screening used in Pop Art by photographs are blown up and developed onto silk screen, then transformed into paper and lastly ink and paint are used. For the video entitled Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the '50 and '60's my opinion of this video is that is also did a good job because it shown me more artwork from the artist mentioned in the textbook. This video did not help me understand the readings and the key concepts because the readings for this part of the book were pretty straight forward, meaning it was very easy to understand.

ART MUSEUM VISIT

Name: Aesthetics of Death

Artist: Alberto Rey
Theme: Mother Nature

Media: Oils on plaster over canvas glued to a wood panel

Year: 2008
Analysis: The elements that are used in this piece are colors, textures and shapes. The principles used in this artwork are movement, balance and emphasis
Interpretation: My interpretation on this painting is that the artist did a great job with the shading of the fish and blending the body into the stream

 Name: Niagara Rapids #1, NY 2014
Artist: Brian Milbrand
Theme: Mother Nature
Media: watercolor paper with video
Year: 2014
Analysis: The elements used in this painting are value, texture and colors. The principles that are used in this artwork are contrast, unity and movement
My interpretation: I really like the idea of this artwork because it has different shades of blue in it and they all go well together. I also love the idea (although cannot see it) of the actual painting and a projector is used to add a second background like appearance to it

Name: Birds, I
Artist: John M. Opera
Theme: Dark
Media: chromogenic print
Year: 2006
Analysis: The elements that are used in this artwork are texture and value. The principles used are movement, pattern and unity
My Interpretation: My interpretation of this painting is that it seems to be too simply to me, but at the same time it would be something that I would hang up on my wall because I like pictures somewhat like this.

The Art Gallery

1. What type of lighting is used?

The type of lighting that was used was ordinary light bulbs; this was used for all of the pictures that I have taken photos of

2. What colors are used on the walls?

For all of the pictures that I have taken pictures of, all of the walls are painted white

3. What materials are used in the interior architecture of the space

The only material that I've seen are walls, video (for some of the artwork) and a wooden floor

4. How is the movement of the viewers through the gallery space

The movement of the art gallery in some areas are kind of clustered while other areas were open spaced. There was also a second floor that had less things than the first page and it was clustered.

Overall Art Work

1. How are the artwork organized

The artworks are organized by theme. For example, there were exhibits based on water and it consists of water patterns and fish (such as the two pictures I posted above)

2. How are artworks similar?

The artworks are similar by being approximately the same size and being on paper

3. How are the artworks different?

All three of the pictures that I have picked have different themes to it as well as different medias

4. How are the artworks framed?

None of my pictures were framed; each were put on the wall by itself and the one with the video was a picture followed by a projector.  

5. How are the artworks identified and labeled?

The artworks are identified by their artist, title, year, media and where the piece came from

6. What is the proximity of the artwork to each other

Some of the pieces were close together while others were far apart. It depended on the exhibition located in the art museum

Overall visit

1. What did you think of visiting the Gallery and purposefully looking at the exhibit from a different perspective- the physical space, the architecture theme?

I think it was a really good experience. For some of the exhibits such as the black and white exhibit they really did a good job with it because everything was either fully black or fully white.

VIDEO BLOG REVIEW

1. Explain why you selected each of the TWO videos you choose from the selection listed above?

I chose the video entitled Dada and Surrealism because I wanted to see more examples of Dada art and what possessed these people to conduct this artwork. For the video entitled The Impact of Cubism I chose this video because I wanted to see more examples of what Cubism really is by Pablo. I also wanted to see more artists and their version of what Cubism really is.

2. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you have learned

For the video entitled "Dada and Surrealism"

1. The Dada movement was created as a reaction towards World War I

2. Surrealism characteristics consist of exploring the unconscious mind.

For the video entitled "The Impact of Cubism" 

1. Cubism was influenced by several things such as African tribal art and Cezanne

2. Cubism allowed Europeans living during the 20th century to represent form and space

3. Cubism can involve using memory and other elements to make art such as Sonia Delaunacy's Electric Prism

3. How do the videos relate to the readings of the text?

For the video entitled Dada and Surrealism it relates to the textbook by explaining what Dada really is and it even goes into depth by showing several examples of what Dada is, back history for their motive and how they did this artwork. For the video entitled The Impact of Cubism it relates to the textbook by explaining what Cubism is, the origin where it came from, how the artist created the piece and it shows several examples of what Cubism is just like the book. 

4. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?

My opinion of the two videos is that it was really good. I didn't expect each video to have many examples of what each theme of art is. It added my understanding of the readings by explaining in depth how each work was completed such as the artwork entitled "Sad Young Man on a Train" by stating that small, dark and oblique figures were being used. For the other video entitled Surrealism and Dada it adds depth to my understanding of art by explaining further what Dada really is and explain each artist reasoning for doing their piece. Overall, I enjoyed the video entitled Surrealism and Dada more.