Awareness Post #7 - Alphonse Mucha5/16/2018 Alphonse Mucha was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist who often painted women for advertisements, illustrations, and designs. He lived from 1860 - 1939 and his work continues to be iconic to the Art Nouveau movement (which is actually often referred to as The Mucha Style). His work is characterized by images of beautiful young women in flowing robes surrounded by lush flowers and beautiful embellishments which more often than not form halos behind their heads. He often used pale pastel colors unlike most of the posters of that time period.
"Reverie" is considered one of Mucha's most famous works. It is a lithograph designed to serve as the 1898 Champenois company calendar. Upon its publication, however, its popularity led it to become apart of the magazine La Plume as a decorative panel with the title Reverie. It depicts a hazy-eyed woman looking through a book of decorative designs. She sports flowers in her hair and a halo of decorative flowers and stems behind her. The halo forms a lace-like pattern. In terms of meaning, Mucha's work generally depicts a "new woman" which was his way of celebrating femininity in an over-industrialized, "masculine" world. He wanted to communicate a spiritual message and uplift viewers, so he often mass-produced his art. The halo in this work and many of his others represent the religious icons that Mucha would often witness in his Catholic upbringing. Mucha's work is PHENOMENAL to me. I've always loved the illustrative and decorative style and never knew that Art Nouveau was exactly the art movement I was looking for until now. I adore the pastel colors he uses, the flowers in the hair, the halo of decoration around her, and the delicate folds of the woman's dress. The swoops in the background with the date are absolutely gorgeous to me, and I love the intricacy of the design. Line hold so much importance in this piece as nearly everything is accompanied with a contour to emphasize each aspect of the painting. Mucha employs a simple composition with the woman in the center but he gives the work movement with the position of her arm and the folds of her robe. I have little negative to say about this work besides I wish it had more contrast between the colors in order to emphasize the woman. Although there are many variations, I find that the one with the brown background is most common and I think the brown detracts from the piece. It makes the work look muddy and the ones with a vibrant evergreen color easily surpass the other variations. In addition, for such detail at the top, I think that the bottom left and right corners lack something. Although, this is not a large detail as the piece is still balanced. In addition, her hand holding the book lacks shading that he employed on the face. The non-cohesiveness makes her hand look like it is not part of her body and the lack of strong contour lines between fingers makes it appear as if she has no fingers whatsoever. I definitely want to look into illustration and more of Mucha's work. I love his embellishments and I hope to incorporate his attention to detail into my own work as well. I will utilize the motif of flowers more especially since I love the concept of them and the way Mucha executes them is simply phenomenal. Mucha has also inspired me to experiment with lithographic printing as his ability to mass produce his work without losing detail is incredibly intersting to me.
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Awareness Post #6 - Takashi Murakami3/24/2018 Murakami is one of the most influential artists in Japan today. He pioneers the art movement dubbed "superflat" and has helped define and create a unique contemporary Japanese style. His work is famous worldwide for it's vibrant colors and psychedelic appearance. Murakami paints, draws, sculpts, animates, and collaborates with big name brands.
"727" was painted in 1996 and is considered one of his most influential works. The center of the triptych features a character named Mr. DOB who is a frequent motif in Murakami's work. Mr. DOB is Murakami's effort to create an icon similar to Mickey Mouse or Hello Kitty as Murakami wants to destroy the image of the artist in favor of a character which will survive for far longer. To summarize, Mr. DOB is a critique of modern culture as well as a promotion of its ideals. In the piece, Mr. DOB is revealing his razor sharp teeth and his multiple eyes are maniacally looking around the work. In terms of meaning, DOB is short for "dobozite" which means "why?" and DOB's smile can be interpreted as Murakami's reaction to the art world and the West in general. 727 refers to the Boeing airplanes that flew over Murakami's childhood home in order to reach U.S. military bases during the post-WWIII Japan that Murakami often explores in his artwork. Murakami also takes influences from Hokusai and nihonga in this work with the stylized wave that Mr. DOB sits upon and the style of scraping away layers of paint that he utilized in the background. I love the complexity and the multiple layers of meaning that Murakami infuses into this work. The wave and Mr. DOB's contrast to the scraped off texture of the background is by far one of my most favorite parts of this piece. Contrast seems to be central to Murakami's creation of this work as the elegance of the wave is a distinct opposite to the sharpness of Mr. DOB's teeth. Furthermore, the composition of the work is neither boring nor simplistic with the wave dynamically coming in from the left and the character's off center placement. In terms of critique, I sort of dislike the colors used. I love the white of the wave and how the scraped off purple seems to create a halo around the swirls and emphasizes its shapes. However, the dark blue of Mr. DOB combined with the dark purple around it makes the piece look dark in that area which is not my cup of tea. In addition, the yellow haze in certain areas of the work seems out of place although that may just be my preference. I want to try the scraping off technique in my background as the surface and effect is appealing to me. Additionally, I love the anime-esque and elaborate meanings behind Murakami's work. I want to infuse multiple layers of meaning into my work with whatever I create as well as possibly creating a character of my own as a motif seems like it could connect my portfolio pieces together. Awareness Post #5 - Banksy3/21/2018 Ever since 1990, Banksy has fascinated people around the world with their powerful satirical graffiti art and their famed anonymity. Little is known about Banksy besides the fact that they began as a graffiti artist in the early 1990s and gained significant traction in 2006 after celebrities began taking notice of their art. They have engaged in numerous "graffiti wars" and runs an Instagram account with around 2.1 million followers.
One of Banksy's most popular works is known as "Balloon Girl." "Balloon Girl" was created in 2002 on the side of an east London shop, and it depicts a child either reaching for or losing her red, heart-shaped balloon. A faded message located near the mural states "THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE." This mural was voted Great Britain's favorite artwork in 2017 through a Samsung poll. Many people believe that the girl is losing her balloon which may signify loss of innocence which is a bleak yet realistic message. I believe that this interpretation falls in line with many of Banksy's other murals (that are reasonably depressing) as well as their later revision of this work that depicted a Syrian refugee in place of the girl. On the other hand, the work may also be interpreted as the girl reaching for her balloon as a sign of perseverance of hope which aligns with the message displayed near it. This optimistic view point also appeals to me as their recreation of it may signify that Syrian refugees should not lose hope despite how terrifying their situation is. I LOVE this mural. In particular, I love the use of selective color in the balloon as it draws attention to it and elevates the balloon's importance. Furthermore, Banksy has always been incredibly talented in displaying forms using dark shadows and this work is no different. The form of the child is entirely suggested by the shadows they use. I have never been good at using shadows to define forms as I rely heavily on contour lines, and I envy Banksy's mastery of this technique. In terms of faults, the face of the little girl is a bit terrifying. Although, only from up close is it very noticeable. She looks angry, which may be due to how her form is portrayed with just shadows, but it still unnerves me as a viewer. Banksy's use of shadows and pops of color are something I want to emulate in my work and incorporate into my pieces as I greatly enjoy how they look in both an aesthetic and communicative way. As Banksy primarily works with stencils, I want to try to see how I can build a complex work with such materials. I have seen videos of people using numerous stencils to accomplish one picture, and I think it looks incredibly tedious but the results are amazing. author.jacqueline. she/her. senior. virginia, usa. art v. archives.
March 2020
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