Response to Lecture The Razor's Edge & Maria Abramovic

Last Tuesday’s lecture was very interesting to me because we got to
see a good chunk of the 1984 film The Razor’s Edge starring Bill
Murray as Larry Darrell and Catherine Hicks as Isabel. I enjoyed this
movie and think it is inspirational for dreamers that don’t care what
anyone else is doing. The movie starts with Larry returning from the
battlefields of World War I to America a changed person.  His fiancé,
Isabel His fiance (Isabel) leaves him due to a delay in the wedding
plans when Larry heads off to Paris. In Paris he prefers a similar
existence and begins to read, a lot. A certain book inspires him to
visit India and then on to Nepal where he finds spiritual help from a
lama. Returning to Paris Larry finds Isabel and some old friends.
Everyone has changed.
At the start of the movie Mr. Z recited the opening “He had everything
and wanted nothing. He learned that he had nothing and wanted
everything. He saved the world and then it was shattered. The path to
enlightenment is as sharp and narrow as a razor’s edge.”
I really like that quote and find that it qualifies in every walk of
life and I find it especially relates to the lecture about Maria
Abramović, an artist that takes risks.
Maria Abramović is renowned as the grandmother of performance art. She
pioneered the use of performance art as a visual art form. The body
has been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and
mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and
grave danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation.
In her interviews shown in class she says that something isn’t worth
doing unless it scares her. In my opinion, her path to enlightenment
has been as sharp and narrow as a razor’s edge, and it has rewarded
her life greatly.

Ch 4 Raoul Dufy's Regatta vs. Samuel Fosso's The Chief He Who Sold Africa to the Colonists

Raoul Dufy’s Regatta is a very vibrant and color painting of what
looks to be boat races. Dufy was a French painter whose paintings of
open-air recreational events, such as boat races, horse races,
concerts, and parades, stunned art admirers’ and critics alike. This
piece is best known for its colorful representation of the boat race
along the French Riviera. Dufy painted this masterpiece when he stayed
at a famous resort on the Isle of Wight. At this time, he witnessed
many small yachts gearing up for the race. This spectacle inspired
Dufy to use his brilliant brushstrokes and create the masterpiece.
Raoul Dufy painted the randomly organized yachts, possibly fluttering
in the light breeze, in a bold blue backdrop, capturing the energy and
the 'Romanticism' of the sea environment. For his use of colors here,
Dufy is referred as the 'Painter of Light,' as his skies and seas are
bluer than normal. This colorful painting depicts Dufy's pursuit of
joy, enthusiasm, and emotional rendition without making a social
statement. This masterpiece truly portrays the artist's love for
depicting everyday scenes as still life.
Samuel Fosso’s The Chief He Who Sold Africa to the Colonists is a self
portrait of the artist sitting in a chair surrounded by a plethora of
patterns. The use of bright colors and patterns makes this painting
practically jump off the page. The use of different patterned squares
in the background reveal some of the various African settings that one
would come into contact with when living there. Fosso is wearing
leopard patterned cloth, futuristic glasses, and lots of jewelry. He
also has a purse and is holding a flower. He dressed as a ridiculous
parody of a traditional African ruler and is clearly mocking the Chief
who sold Africa to the colonists. This painting exhibits the visual
delight and spatial ambiguity that patterns can produce.
Some similarities between the paintings are the use of many objects,
many bright and vibrant colors, and the use of either texture or
patterns used to give the paintings to life. In both paintings the
artists create a visual texture, even though not all visual texture
may be seen as a pattern.

Ch 4 Judy Pfaff’s Cirque, Cirque vs. Jennifer Pastor’s Sequence 6 from Flow Chart for "The Perfect Ride" Animation

Judy Pfaff’s piece Cirque, Cirque took 3 years (1992 to 1995) for the
artist to construct. It is made up of automobile paint, steel and
aluminum tubes, hand-blown glass orbs, primer, cable, and other
materials. This is Judy’s Pfaff’s most famous piece, and it is
actually nine miles of metal tubing spread over a huge span of 70,000
square feet of space.  It is permanently installed in the Pennsylvania
Convention Center in Philadelphia. I think the piece as a whole gives
a feel of some sort of sci-fi adventure in space. The twinkling blue
and yellow shaded glass spheres and the great looping lines in the air
used in "Cirque, CIRQUE" give you a strong feel of being on an ocean
bed, with light and life on land forming the layer far above, near the
water's surface.
Jennifer Pastor’s Sequence 6 from Flow Chart for "The Perfect Ride"
Animation was created in the year 2000. There is a still shot in the
Living with Art book drawn in simple black lines. The bull undulates
and torques against a bright void white background, while the cowboy,
hat on, arm waving, is holding on. The lines in the piece are flowing
through the rolling motion of a generic cowboy on a furiously bucking
bull. A perfect ride in a rodeo, or for that matter in surfing and
skiing, combines recklessness, danger, power, elegance, and beauty. In
the perfect ride, one finds the point of dynamic equilibrium just at
the tipping point into chaos and loss of control.
The similarities I find between the two pieces are that they both rely
on lines to give life to their artworks. The reason I decided to
compare these two is because I thought it was an odd coincidence that
Judy Pfaff’s Cirque, Cirque has a large piece of a copper metal
flowing through the sky that is almost the exact shape as the lasso
shown in Jennifer Pastor’s The Perfect Ride Animation. Both of these
shapes center the pieces and when you look at the two together it
makes the very different works show a resemblance. The differences are
the artists use of color, materials, and space.

Who Am I? What is Art? Response to Video Blog Lecture.

My name is Nichole Eddleman. I am 23 years old, a proud army wife, I
work full-time in finance and accounting at a manufacturing company,
and this semester I am also a full-time student attending Fullerton
College and Cypress College. After working on it for too many years, I
will be receiving my AA in Business Administration from Fullerton
College at the end of this semester, and then  beginning in Spring of
2012, I will be a full-time student at Cal-State Fullerton pursuing my
bachelors degree in business administration with an emphasis on
accounting. This is the first art class I have ever taken in my life,
and so far it isn’t what I had expected from an art class.

When I thought of art class before I would think of walking through
the art halls and seeing amazing sketches, photos, sculptures, and
paintings created by students of the art department, but our class has
been focused much more on the history, concepts, and appreciation of
art. Last week we were doing video blogs in class. I was excited about
the video blogs but unfortunately I was unable to make mine during
class because Cypress’ internet connection had too many things
blocking me from accessing the internet, so my 1st video blog will
have to wait.

Mr. Z asked us to write –What is Art? There is no single answer, and
not everyone will agree on a definition. In fact, art lacks a
satisfactory definition. It is easier to describe it as the way
something is done – "the use of skill and imagination in the creation
of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared
with others” (Britannica Online) -- rather than what it is. An object
regarded as Art today may not have been perceived as such when it was
first made, nor was the person who made it necessarily regarded as an
artist.

Ch 3 Jeff Wall's A sudden Gust of Wind vs. Hokusai Ejira in Suruga Province

Jeff Wall’s A Sudden Gust of Wind was created after Hokusai’s Ejira in
Suruga Provice in 1831.  I noticed that A Sudden Gust of Wind has a
scene that looks a little less windy and that Wall’s version of this
work ignores the spiritual center of Hokusai’s work, Mount Fuji. Mount
Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan on Japan’s larges island. I am
very surprised that Wall left out this part of the piece because
Hokusai’s Ejira in Suruga Province is from his Thirty-six views of Mt.
Fuji collection completed in 1831.

When looking at Hokusai’s Ejira in Suruga Province I notice that
although Mount Fuji is supposed to be the focus and center of the
work, but it is hardly catching my eye. It is barely a line, so slight
that it could be a late addition to the work.  Mount Fuji is a sacred
mountain, steeped in history and ringed by lakes and forests and has
for centuries been the traditional goal of pilgrimage.  On the other
hand, the blades of grass, the scribes clinging to their hats, and
their modesty are much more detailed. Mount Fuji is in the distance,
and seems like a benign influence on the composition, like it could or
could not be included in the work.

The differences I notice between the pictures is obviously that Wall’s
work does not have Mount Fuji. I also noticed that Hokusai’s work is
drawn more like a cartoon while Wall’s is made of real life pictures
and although many different pictures were taken and arranged to make
this work come together, Wall’s work seems much more lifelike to me. I
think both works have a strange composition in many ways. It almost
seems, at first glance, that the works are too subtle.  The trees are
off to the side so it is obvious it is not the center, and the paper
that the wind has ripped from the hands of the people and scattered
over the sky does not balance the canvas. The scene that both artists
have manipulated seem to suggest that we are seeing a snapshot in
time. A moment of real contemplation captured in a moment as time
itself stood still.

Ch 3 Robert Rauschenberg's Windward vs. Shahzia Sikander's Hood's Red Rider #2

Ch 3 Rober Rauschenberg’s Windward, 1963, is not a just a regular painting

but was constructed from several photographic images. The artist
worked with the photos over time until he created the arrangement that
we see, making this brilliant work that I think is bursting at the
seams with bright colors, patriotism, and wonder. The book does not
say who took these photographs, but they seem like they could have
been picked from post cards found randomly throughout the United
States and then put together in this intriguing manner. The photos
represent many facets of American life including the statue of
liberty, the eagle, rainbows, buildings, trains, and one section even
has what looks like a water tower and a building on fire.

Shahzia Sikander Hood’s Red Rider #2 was created in 1997 in an attempt
to express the artist’s heritage and her multifaceted unique
experiences and beliefs. Now living in the United States, Shahzia
Sikander grew up in Pakistan in a Muslim family, but she is also takes
an interest in Hindu art and belief, the other main spiritual
trandition of the South Asian subcontinent from which she ascends. The
painting has many facets of her life including a hindu woman, camels,
mountains, her country’s flag, and a turtle on a stick which I’m
guessing symbolizes a religious belief. The floating Islamic woman
with many arms wearing a veil to me is kind of odd but in many ways
expresses the artist’s individuality, and how she is floating between
cultures and not rooted in just one belief.

The most significant similarities I see between these two pieces is
that they both consist of many small pictures within one, creating a
theme, and both also pay a tribute the individual artist’s heritage
and beliefs. Both paintings also have several different colors and
have images of animals.
There are many differences between these works including the theme
behind the collages, and that Rauschenberg’s work is bright colors
with a lot of blues while Sikander’s piece is composed of darker and

sort of dull colors with a lot of browns and reds.

Response to Lecture "What is Reality?"

Tuesday’s lecture “What is Reality?” really go me thinking about the concept of what is real and what is perceived to be real. When you look up the word reality in the dictionary there are several definitions. The definition of reality that I believe to be most accurate is the philosophical definition that reality is the totality of real things in the world, independent of people's knowledge or perception of them.

In the production of Matrix 1999 the main character Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity has been captured by a race of machines who imprison human minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to exterminating Neo and the entire human rebellion. This movie puts an emphasis on the importance of knowing and accepting the truth, even an unpleasant truth, over lies or illusions. 

Inception 2010 is set in a world where technology is capable of entering the human mind through dream invasion. Dom Cobb, a highly skilled thief is the best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state. Cobb’s skill has made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Cobb is given a single chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception. Cobb and his team have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one.

The similarities I see between the two films, as Mr. Z said, is that they both make you question your reality. Inception makes you wonder if you are in the real world or a dream world while Matrix makes you wonder if you are in the real world or a machine-induced dream world; both throw you for a loop. Also in both movies the main characters, Dom Cobb and Neo, are both considered fugitives to the authorities and are constantly on the run in pursuit of their mission.

Ch 2 Van Gogh Wheat Field and Cypress Trees vs. Claud Monet Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengville

Van Gogh’s Wheat Field and Cypress Trees was painted in 1889 and was first shown in The National Gallery, London.  Although Van Gogh was a great artist, he was also a man with many strives and I think it shows in his art. I believe he saw life as a struggle. In a letter to his brother Theo he wrote that "paying a hard price to be a link in the chain of artists, in health, in youth, in liberty, none of which we enjoy ... " (Living with Art pg 18). I find this painting interesting for two reasons. The first is that it has a lot of color and is a fantasy like image; maybe he wanted to escape from his everyday life and paint something beautiful.  On the other hand, I also find it fascinating because when I look at the painting I see a bit of loneliness and sorrow.  The skies are blue, but they have swirls of grey, and the field looks windy; as if a storm may be coming in.

Claud Monet Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengville was painted in 1882, 7 years before Van Gogh’s Wheat Field and Cypress Trees. Unlike Van Gogh, Monet lived a long, prosperous life and I believe he painted the world as he saw it.  The fact that he lived a long, successful, almost “normal” life may be the reason he is not as well known as Van Gogh because to many normal lives aren’t as interesting as the abnormal. Like most people I find the painting very easy to like, and think it gives a serene feel.  

The similarities I see between Van Gogh & Monet’s works are that they both show us nature’s beauty in a colorful way and the artists’ unique brush strokes have a way to make the painting come to life.  Some differences I notice is that Monet’s painting seems more realistic and has more depth while Van Gogh’s piece seems fantasy-like or perhaps cartoonish. I also notice that Van Gogh’s strokes seem to be “swirled” while Monet’s seem to be kind of “sponged”.

Ch 2 Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa vs. Andy Warhol’s Thirty Are Better Than One

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.was created between the years 1503 and 1505 and was not put on display until 1797 in the Musee du Louvre, Paris. This portrait first became well-known because in Da Vinci’s time the painting was incredibly lifelike, and viewers were mesmerized by the mystery and apparent mockery in the woman’s smile. When I look at the Mona Lisa I see mystery in this woman that is hard to pinpoint.  There is mischief in her smile almost like she is only smiling to mock the painter, but on the other hand it could be construed as a masked sorrow. It is hard to believe that at over 500 years old; it is now considered to be by far the most famous work of Western art in the world.

In 1963, in respect to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Andy Warhol painted the cleverly titled Thirty Are

Better than One, which features 30 small pictures of the Mona Lisa in black and white.  I think that because the painting is in black and white it makes the woman appear more timeless, and it also gives the painting a more modern feel. Like many of his other paintings, Warhol depicts the woman in the picture to be a celebrity, the woman in the painting may not have been a celebrity in her time, but because of the multiple time’s it’s circulated through the media this image is now recognizable to people all around the world.

The similarities I see between the two paintings is that they obviously both feature the same woman sitting in the famous painting, and both have an indefinite mystery that is impressed upon any onlooker.  To me the famous Mona Lisa is more famous for its name and its impact on culture and history than for the greatness of the painting itself. I think it’s history is what has made it worth what it’s worth today. Thirty is Better Than One was inspired by Da Vinci’s painting but is an artwork in itself and has a more modern appeal.  I personally think that Andy Warhol’s painting is more pleasant to look at, and it is the type of painting I would hang in my own home.

3 Million Years of Art in 150 Minutes

Tuesday’s lecture briefly covered the vast progression of expression
and application of human creative skill and imagination over the past
3 million years.  The art forms that we went over were in visual form
such as painting or sculpture, and producing works to be appreciated
primarily for their beauty or emotional power.   I really enjoyed the
art map Mr. Z used  for lecture vs. the power point lectures that most
other teachers use because the map allows you to put a plethora of
information together on one map, and you can go into as much depth on
a certain subject as you want to.  The art map started out simple with
just the four main eras in the history of art: the Ancient era, Middle
Ages, Renaissance, and Modern era.
This is my first art class ever so I am very unfamiliar with art
history. I was very surprised and somewhat fascinated to learn that so
many great artists suffered mental and physical conditions and that
those conditions may have contributed to their individual artistic
style.
To me the most interesting era of art would be the prehistoric era
because the intricate details put into the art from ancient times is
similar to what some artists do today. It amazed me that people had
such skill and aesthetics thousands of years ago even before the
inventions of electricity and plumbing. Although the prehistoric or
“ancient” era is most interesting I enjoy the art of the Renaissance
most, especially the Gothic era.
In class Mr. Z asked what our favorite type of art is and I responded
that I like Gothic Art, but I later realized that my favorite
paintings are by Victoria Frances who paints modern gothic fantasy
art, and that is a bit different from what we went over in class. It
was interesting when he showed the comparison of modern “Goth” vs.
“Gothic” art because although the two are different they have a lot of
similarities and you can see that the modern “Goth” style was mostly
inspired by the Gothic Art of the Renaissance era.

Ch 1 Artists Van Gogh vs. Tim Hawkinson

The first set of artists from chapter one that I would like to compare
and contrast is Van Gogh’s Self Portrait and Tim Hawkinson’s Emoter.
Vincent van Gogh’s chief symbol of expression is color. Van Gogh
suffered from seizures which doctors believed to be caused by temporal
lobe epilepsy. Medications and treatments related to temporal lobe
epilepsy has been known to cause patients to see yellow spots and have
a hallucinations and doctors today attribute that to his use of bright
colors and yellows in his paintings. Van Gogh also suffered from other
mental and physical conditions that doctors today believe to be manic
depression and or bipolar disorder. Van Gogh created his most famous
work The Starry Night while staying in an asylum in
Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France. Vincent Van Gogh took an interest in
art at the age of 27, and in a short period of ten years he made
approximately 900 paintings. Vincent only sold one painting during his
lifetime and only became famous after his death. Vincent shot himself
in a wheatfield in Auvers, France but did not die until 2 days later
at the age of 37.
Tim Hawkinson’s “Emoter,” is a 2-D mechanical facial puppet whose
expressions are dictated by random patterns of light from a
television, suggests a struggle with self-knowledge. In this altered
self portrait Hawkinson attributes the appearance of consciousness to
the firing of electrical impulses. The artist’s expressions, which are
familiar signs of consciousness, are dictated at random in an
unpredictable manner. From what I read Tim Hawkinson is obsessed with
life and death and time passage, and in my opinion that may be the
reason that there is something of an underlying morbidity in his art.
In Van Gogh’s self portrait he seems to be an introverted and somber
kind of man that doesn’t smile often. Tim Hawkinson’s Emoter which is
also a self portrait shows a man that I think is a bit lost or pulled
in so many directions by different things that he can’t keep things
together. In my opinion both portraits show a man that is somewhat
disturbed and or in sad state of mind. Some differences in the two
pieces are that Van Gogh’s self portrait is completely emotionless
while the Emoter has so many warped expressions that you cannot
pinpoint just one single emotion. Another difference is that Van Gogh
uses a lot of color and the portrait is somewhat easy to look at while
Hawkinson’s work has a plain background and is the grisly photo is
hard to look at for too long.