Art and Social Change

  Waste Land is a documentary by Lucy Walker, discussing the works of Vic Muniz. Vick Muniz travels to Brazil to work with the men and women who pick through the refuse, to be able to work and create art out of recycled materials. In his desire to assist the catadores also known as garbage pickers, and change their lives, Muniz finds himself changed as well. 

Vick Muniz, a Brazilian artist known for using uncommon and irregular materials to create portraits of marginalized people, set out to paint the catadores with the garbage that they spent their day sorting through. In deciding to turn the project into a collaboration he decides that all proceeds from the photographs he creates of the finished pieces go back to the catadores, which they can use to improve their living conditions, go to school, invest in the co-op, keep their trucks in working order and even build a library. The pickers report that the project has helped lift some of the social stigma surrounding their profession, and the Brazilian government is now using the film to promote recycling nationwide.  

The most important thing that I took from this film is that art can change the lives in small and great ways. Muniz learned that the people that he has worked with are strong survivors, he began to connect with them on a sentimental level, which influenced him to help them in any way that he could.

The power of art can change society.

                

Robert Gober

Rober Gober is an American sculptor, his work is often related to domestic and familiar objects, such as sinks, door, and legs; moreover he creates different types of sculptures including individual sculptures, immersive sculpture environments and a distinctive selection of drawings and prints. His work also has themes of sexuality, nature, religion and politics. His sculptures are handcrafted in very great detail, using realistic objects to make his sculptures seem life like. He has also mad photographs, prints and drawings. 

In one of his sculpture "Untitled (leg)" Is a copy of a mans leg using real human hair, bees wax, cotton, wood, and leather. 

Two works of 20th Century Art Styles, Cubism and Surrealism

Cubism: Pablo Picasso ( Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907)

This cubism art work represent five naked women who faces appear to be flat and inspired by African mask. Each figure is also depicted in a disturbing confrontational manner and none are shown to be feminine. Picasso used great geometric form to show the distortion of the females body. This offered idealized representation on female beauty. This painting is square to the eye which  disposes you to attend space and symmetry. Picasso also used lack of bright colors, only using nude and dull looks of color. 

Surrealism: Giorgio de Chirico (The song of love 1914)


This surrealism art work bring together bizarre and unrelated objects. The head of a classic Greek statue, an oversized rubber glove, a green ball, and a train covered in darkness, silhouetted against a bright blue sky. He also used atomopheric perspective in which the train looks smaller than it appears.  De Chirico created what he termed "metaphysical" paintings, representation of what lies "beyond the physical" world. Disguised in an atmosphere full of anxiety and sorrow, using mostly dark colors evoke the intense irrationality of a universe torn apart by WWI.

Allora & Calzadilla

Jennifer Allora was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974. Guillermo Calzadilla was born in 1971 in Havana. Collaborating since 1995, Allora and Calzadilla approach visual art as a set of experiments that test whether ideas such as authorship, nationality, borders, and democracy describes today's society. In the video they talk about how they use forms in their art. Not just about the form of weight, scale and size of the art but showing forms of violence, oppression, genocide, and pollution. They decide how their art take shape in what they are trying to show in what is happening in today's society. They are also trying to get people to understand the aesthetic and its relation to politics has to do fundamentally with form, giving viewers another idea about form. By drawing historical, cultural, and political metaphors out of basic materials, Allora and Calzadilla’s works explore the complex associations between an object and its meaning.

Dada Art Collage

I Apologize if the picture looks weird. I did the collage on Publication and it wont let me upload the file to the blog. I did send the collage to your email for a better look. 

Impressionism/Post Impressionism.

Watching this lecture taught me about impressionism and post impressionism.Impressionism is a 19th century movement that originated with a group of Paris based artist who's independent exhibitions brought then to prominence during the 1870's and 1880's. Impressionist usually did not paint using and moral message. They usually had an understanding with using color theory, optics, and nature of light. For example optical painting is used in impressionism which is created through our perception of color. Impressionist like Claude Monet who placed many colors on the pallet and instead of mixing the paints on the pallet, they would literally just opposed them on the canvas, just opposing yellow and blue for example to make green. Impressionism is all about light and color. They also painted mostly directly from nature.

 In this painting "Water Lillie's" by Monet which was painted in the last moments of his life. He wanted to create something that has no edges or corners. You can see that he used the mixture of yellow and blue to make green, being that green is not a primary color. He also used the impression of light and dark. The water being light and calm reflecting the lilies.

Post-Impressionist used impressionistic techniques but took the style to a new level.  Post impressionism was the work or style of a varied group in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century including Van Gogh. Post- impressionist incorporated their paintings with more passion, emotion and expression. They also used color to communicate with the world, using certain colors to express their feelings. For example Van Gogh who was searching for a deeper meaning in their art, by exploring color, line, and form that led to the development of expression.

 In this painting by Van Gogh you can see that he uses different colors of blue to make up what the sky looks like in his imagination. he also didn't mix the colors of blue before putting it on the canvas. This painting seems to be an image that Van Gogh sees from his window. The swirls in the sky seem to be the wind blowing and the bright yellow dots could be the starts in the dark sky.  

Met Museum Reflection

This baroque painting “The denial of saint peter” was finished around 1610 by an Italian painter Caravaggio. It depicts peter denying Jesus, after Jesus was arrested. Peter is shown before a fire place, when a women accuses him of being a follower of Christ. The pointing finger of the solider and the two fingers of the women suggest three accusations and to peters three denials. In this painting Caravaggio contracts light to a dark background also having a dramatic effect on brightly lit areas. On the right side of the painting you can see that the dark contradicts with the light from left to right. The soldier wearing the helmet and armor appears from the left. He is turning his face to the maid where it appears to be getting swallowed up by the darkness. Whereas on the right side peter appears to have all the attention because of the brightness of the light on his face.  Caravaggio’s art work is a good example of baroque art because it shows how he used light and shade in a dramatic way, he also showed emotional expression in his characters.













This renaissance painting “The denial of saint peter” by an Italian painter Lorenzo Lotto, who painted mostly altarpieces and, religious subjects and portraits during the renaissance. This painting was finished around 1556. It depicts Venus and her son cupid in a beautiful setting with flowers and trees. This painting was to represent celebrating a wedding. The shell above Venus head and the rose petals on her lap represent her characteristics while the ivy and snake symbolizes infidelity. No one came to a conclusion of why cupid is urinating on Venus but some say it is a pure sexual act or it could be because of her infidelity.  This art work is a good example of renaissance art because of the lack of contrast between light and dark. Also there is a lack in facial expression. This painting also showed the interest in showing off the human body.

Campare and Contrast Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles

Ancient Egyptian art represents the ancient civilization with out much outside influence. Their art was highly stylized and symbolic. Just like this sculpture on the top right which is a free standing sculpture nothing being attached to it, its just standing on its own. This stone sculpture comes from the Archaic period and the cypriot culture. As you can see the worshiper wears bracelets, a belt, and a kilt decorated with uraei. He may have had a painted pectoral. The first Egyptian influences on Archaic Cypriot sculpture manifest themselves in the kilt and very broad-shouldered proportions. In time, not only are more Egyptian accessories included but Greek influence also becomes evident in the softer, looser articulation of the body.("Limestone Male Figure in Egyptian Dress | Cypriot | Archaic | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.}








The art of  Greek and roman styles are usually known as classical art. The photo on the bottom right is an example of a relief stone sculpture, which is usually 3 denominational. This sculpture was apart of the Early imperial, Augustan period. In the sculpture Demeter, the goddess of agricultural abundance, stands at the left, clad in a peplos and himation (cloak) and holding a scepter. At the right is Persephone, her daughter and the wife of Hades, the god of the underworld. She is dressed in a chiton and himation. Each goddess extends her right hand toward a nude youth, but it is no longer possible to determine what they held. The boy is thought to be Triptolemos, who was sent by Demeter to teach men how to cultivate grain. On contemporary Athenian vases, he is usually shown as a bearded adult seated in a winged chariot about to set out on his civilizing mission. The original marble relief was found at the sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis, the site of the Eleusinian mysteries, a secret cult that was famous throughout antiquity.(  "Ten Marble Fragments of the Great Eleusinian Relief | Roman | Early Imperial, Augustan | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.)




On the contrary Egyptian art focused more on religion while Greek and roman art focused more on philosophy. Greek and roman  art was more human like and more realistic than Egyptian art. They focused more on the human anatomy like the human organs, facial expressions and muscle, they were also very acceptable on nudity. Greek and roman sculptures show more of a relaxed body structure while Egyptian sculptures where more fixed and serious. Even though both styles had major differences both styles consist of painting, sculpture, pottery and architecture. They also use human like characteristics in both of their art styles.  

 

About Me !

 

Hello, My name is Achaia, I am a transfer student at Laguardia Community College. I transferred from Jamestown Community College. The reason why i transferred was because the school just wast for me i didn't like the atmosphere. It just didn't feel like home or any fun. My major of choice is Liberal Arts, because i want to go into the field of education. Working with Pre K/ Kinder gardeners. I feel like that is when children are easy to teach and easily entertained. I always knew i wanted to work with children off of the fact that they always are attracted to me. They smile at me or always choose me out of my group of friends to play or talk to.   A favorite quote that inspires me is "Where there is no Struggle there is no progress" By Oprah Winfrey. This quote is important to me because i know throughout school you have to go through many battles, late nights and headaches to get to where you want to be. This quote is also important to me because i see Oprah as a role model for young black females. she has been through many tough battles in her life time to get to where she is now. That is a major inspiration. The only art that i have experienced is with music. I do sing a bit so learning different high notes is a type of art to me. for example a group of people signing's in harmony, like choirs, is inspiring, how people can come together and make beautiful music.