Author: Alex Zhao

Humanism Blog Post

Humanism is perspective of which an era of time valued the body’s capabilities. Most prevalent in the Ancient Greek Art era, the various sculptures carved had defining features only found within Ancient Greece. The idea that Man’s most valuable properties was their body’s structure and abilities became the main common feature among the large stone sculptures recovered from the area.

Ancient Greek and Egyptian Art share and differ in various ways. Among both groups of statues, both share similar human qualities like body structure and some forms of poses. They also differ in the way the body structure was modelled. In Egyptian Art, human figures were often sculpted and picture in a sideways view with some third dimension properties. This portrayed the figures to have their left foot in front of their right forming this semi-stable but uncomfortable position. In Ancient Greek Sculptures, male figures were sculpted in a form that they counter-balanced their weight with their limbs in different positions. This portrayal signifies the idea that humanism was highly valued. The body language of the male sculptures developed the form described as Contrapposto.

Brooklyn Museum Formal Analysis

Painting Name: Black Children Keep Your Spirits Free (1972)

Artist name : Carolyn Lawrence

On initial sight of the painting Black Children Keep Your Spirits Free,1972 by the artist Carolyn Lawrence, it jumps at you with a bold range of colors. The acrylic paints provide vibrant edges and help separate the painting into sections without breaking off of the bigger image. It looks to be a compilation of six human figures doing different actions. Attention can be drawn to the most frontal positioned girl using a drum-like instrument. The various bright colors along the clothing bring the eyes toward the face. One can describe the colors to move from left to right. Many of the brighter colors can be seen more towards the right side of the painting compared to the left side. This could be on purpose judging by the palette of colors from one side to the other. The text spread  out through the background say “Keep Your Spirits Free” move around the figures like a stream of water filling up the empty space. Along the top-side of the painting, there are stripes filling in the “sky” and what can be described as North America and Africa. This plays into the composition that could imply the influence from both countries. Each figure is performing a different action and seem to reflect off of “black” culture. The varying colors of the text is like a riot of something. If it were in a more plain text, the words would’ve probably lost it’s eye candy from repetitiveness. The artist most likely only painted the words  “Black Children” once in the center because it draws the least amount of attention yet the most when observing the different elements piece together when stepping back for a bigger picture. The painting spans 48 1/2″ x 50 1/2″ x 5 1/4″ and is displayed with the Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. The scale of the painting helps bring out the colors as well as the text for a greater comprehension. The smaller details are easier to spot and the artist did a good job filling in the what would have been empty space with color and subtle meaning like the colored silhouettes of two countries.

Overall, this painting brings various elements together with color mainly. As observed, the palette of colors move slowly over the painting as the figures stand out yet blend into the words of “Keep Your Spirits Free” In the description of the exhibit, the artists step out to tackle on unjust social conditions by making art. This painting particularly show some insight that black people have culture and are just as human as everyone else in the world.

Unit 1 Summary

Unit one was interesting because the basics were not as boring as I thought it would be. Formal Analysis took me by surprise because I learned a bit of art history in high school and it took me to a whole new perspective on how to critique a piece of art. It was intriguing to break down a painting to small pieces of information. Although I followed through an art class for four years of highschool, the teacher did not cover the roots of art pieces and where some of the original concepts began. Critical Pedagogy is a striking topic because I did not really think about why it mattered to me until I saw how relevant to real life situations. We are all engineered to follow a hierarchy of position through grade school and it got me thinking more about how I took in information from various peers and other influencers.

The class itself holds my attention because I felt that having learned how to make art, it wouldn’t hurt to learn where art came from thoroughly. Although some bits of the lessons were less interesting than other bits, I felt like I could become more jargon for my own good and inspire others to not overlook a decent class that looked boring on paper.

What is Formal Analysis?

Formal Analysis is a form of critiquing an art piece from any era. In other words, this is when someone who writes a description and a study on a piece of art of any form and pinpoints the various areas of attention that the artist (deceased or alive) intended and unintentionally implemented into the piece. The text provides more concrete evidence than most descriptions because it dives deep into the smaller elements of the art. This includes components like line, shape and form, space, color and texture. Through each component, every little bit of the art is broken down and further examined for their purpose in the literal and implicit meanings.

As mentioned, Formal Analysis is composed of various components that build up to a completed conclusion of a piece of art. Of these components, the subsections build each part of the core subject and makes the picture easier to consume by section. Each section compiles different approaches and further breaks down why it was made this way. Works of art are often unique and some artists have a continuity of details they exploit to make each work different yet theirs when it is observed down to the roots. Details like this can be explored much deeper when looking specifically for a class of structures like the way some lines are drawn or painted and the posture of the drawn figure. Hence, it can be said that Formal Analysis strives in the need to observe a work of art down to its core for the most meaning full explanation.

Pedagogy and Power

The banking model, described by Friere, is a system of which the teacher “deposits” information into their predecessors. This system isn’t perfect but is implemented into everyday life in other places other than a classroom setting.

The system empowers the voice of the “teacher” position. The one who leads or provides the guidance and successfully imprints their information into those students is in the place of power because they have the ability and unchallenged credibility to make statements whether they are one hundred percent factual or not. This disempowers the students because they go on to repeat what they have gained from that person and could be told misleading information they are told to believe in.

This model is very common in my education route. Almost every teacher follow the guidelines in which society dictates they are the one who can’t be disputed through pure authority. Certainly, this method has worked when my teachers took on a creative approach to ease the loads of information conveyed through the daily work. There are clear disadvantages to this method as well. Some of which I have encountered was that the teacher wasn’t clear with the information they tried to teach and also they didn’t seem very well educated in the subject themselves. They sometimes would side track and end up costing the whole class valuable notes that were very significant on a final exam. Other times included the teacher with a lack of interest and engagement to connect with the class and thus left the class uninterested in focusing on the class; many put their focus elsewhere like playing on their phones and angering the teacher even more.

How to post your fantastic posts to Art 1010 Fa’18

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My Art Story

Art is a form of expression in which words can’t describe. As evident through the many eras of art through the years, this form of self-expression is usually unique to the interpreter no matter the age or being.

Art to me is a way of venting certain internal dilemmas most people can not understand unless they were in my shoes. As a introvert in most spaces, taking a step back from a scene to get a larger picture of what is really going on opens up new observations and flow of ideas. Through high school, I attended an art class that gave a lot of freedoms to design our own pieces and provided materials and advice to bring the ideas to life. Although I didn’t keep a lot of these pieces and left that at the school, It was a great experience and a great atmosphere of idea bonding with others who shared the same interest. This also help spark and interest in pursuing some career with artistic elements down the road.

The ideal takeaways from this class are that I learn more in depth in the different ages of art and a better understanding of how some great artists came to be with much less resources unlike the present day.