Posts – Page 20 – Fall 2018 Art 1010 at Brooklyn College

padagogy and power

The banking model of friere is the idea that when a teacher teaches it is like a bank deposit where the teacher deposits information into the students and the students receive the information. This may seem like a fine way to teach a class but it certainly is not. it does not establish a dialogue between student and teacher which is terrible. How can students learn when their questions are not being answered. This form of education empowers the teacher at the expense of the students. Thankfully in all my years as a student i have never encountered a class that followed the banking model. in fact most classes that i have participated in, discussions between teacher and student we’re a key element in the course. I enjoy this way of education because it brings me in to the content and makes it somewhat enjoyable ( lets face it most of my course requirements aren’t all that fun). Another thing about this way of classroom instruction is that it gives you variety. Some people are visual learners and some people are auditory learners and some people are more hands on. A classroom that allows that has a line of communication between teacher and student can benefit all types of learners.

Humanism

Over time the word Humanism has managed to evolve into a relatively broad term. The various branches of humanism can vary from a literary to a cultural, to even a philosophical sense. Regardless, they each share the perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom and progress. Humanists believe that this intellectual movement highlights the power and value of human beings; holding humans solely responsible for the development of individuals by emphasizing concern for man in relation to the world. Meaning man must figure out their path using their intelligence rather than relying on divine or supernatural matters. As a result, most have used that forward-thinking to transcribe and artistically portray the humanistic perspective.

Today we have the opportunity to observe how humanism inspired the art in Greek and Roman culture. With sculptures like the Discobolus and the Doryphoros, we are able to see how the Greeks implemented their humanistic perspective into their artwork. The Greeks and Romans emphasized naturalism, anatomy, nudity, and movement as the progressive development of humanism. The human body was more than intelligence to them, the physicality of it was”divine” and something that should be glorified. The sculpture of Polykleitos, Doryphoros, is a perfect example of how the Greeks and Romans believed the human body should be artistically portrayed. It showed the athletic capability of humans and their beauty. They thought bodies should be celebrated for their beauty and no longer regarded as something sinful. Their sculptures were more about the human experience than paying tribute to their gods.

However, before Polykleitos’s great Doryphoros, humanism wasn’t always a popular opinion. In places like ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, the art was never meant to be seen by people other than the afterlife for when they needed them. Much of the surviving Mesopotamian and Egyptian art that we see today captures their religious beliefs, specifically, divine pharaohs and gods. The artistic portrayals of these deities statues were often quite stiff, straight up, and featured implementations of animal figures on the human body. Unlike the Greeks and the Romans, the ancient Egyptians, and ancient Mesopotamians weren’t as connected with the perspective of humanism. They didn’t expose the human body as the Greeks did because to them nudity was more of an embarrassment than a sign of power. Instead, they viewed humans as servants and protectors to the gods. Take the Lamassu sculpture, for example, a creature who served to protect the gods; is a celestial being from the ancient Mesopotamian religion bearing the body (and therefore strength) of a bull, but the head (and therefore intelligence) of a human. This sculpture is a perfect example that the artwork during this time didn’t scream human empowerment as it did for religious purposes.

The MET experience

This was my first visit to the MET Museum, after living in New York for over fourteen years. The experience as a whole was very overwhelming as there was so much detail to take in from the architecture of the building to the carefully displayed art pieces. The place was filled with large numbers of visitors but, the place didn’t feel crowded and most importantly didn’t take away from an observer’s experience. The museum seemed to be divided into different zones according to the setting and time period.

The first artwork that stood out to me from the Renaissance time period was called “The Miraculous Communion of Saint Catherine of Siena”. The artwork as a whole was very overwhelming, since there are so many details that catches the eye. It is a large altar piece and portrays the story of a Sienese mystic and a minister to the poor and plague-stricken. The work shows a divide in the middle in the forma pillar and the two worshipping the Christian Jesus while backs turned. There is so much warmth, mystery and high contrast in the artwork that invites the observer in. There is careful detailing in the Christ and the two people, showing the importance of deity during the Renaissance period.

An artwork that I drew to in the Baroque art section was the “Man Holding a Jug”. It first seemed very whimsical and without purpose, yet something so real that it seemed surreal. The artwork is a portrait of a man holding a jug. Like the renaissance art work, this picture also used a warm color to focus the portrait and showed high contract in the background with a darker color. The face of them man is the highlight of the piece for me because, it look very real and photo shopped. This is drastically different from the Catherine of Siena, since the work was very art-like, and didn’t have a real life portrayal. The faces of the subjects in the renaissance artwork was very dull, and unreal, for a lack of a better word.

The MET museum is definitely a place that pushes observers to critically think with its overwhelming portrayal of distinct works from distinct periods in time. I was able explore outside of these two exhibits, and it was amazing to witness the power of art. I think there is so much history that can be seen by simply looking at a piece of art.

Outline Background Art History

The theme for my artwork is Egyptian Art. I would like to take inspiration from the following art pieces and create my own artwork with a twist with the modern era artwork. A lot of Egyptian art has been created a very long time ago. Some of these pieces are made out of things that are not accessible to a student. So to create Egyptian art work using common things that are found will be a take on my Egyptian art. These art piece relate to my artwork because based off of these pieces I will recreating my artwork. These pieces of artwork is suppose to lead me to the road of creating “authentic ” Egyptian art. These pieces of art work highlight very small details which distincts Egyptian art work from other artworks. Such as most of Egyptian statues or paintings that consisted of people have really voluminous lips, cat eyes, and a thin nose that gets bigger at the end. Egyptian art work also has hieroglyphics and vibrant colors to make the art work stand out. Also, it is somewhat hard to tell the difference between a man and a woman when it comes to Egyptian art. When I will create my art piece I will make it very noticeable if the artwork is a man or women. Shabty of Sati. Egypt Saqqara. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, circa1390-1352 B.C.E. Brooklyn Museum, Charle Edwin Wilbour Fund

Mummy Mask

Period: Roman Period Date: A.D. 60–70 Geography: From Egypt; Possibly from Middle Egypt, Meir Medium: Cartonnage, plaster, paint, plant fibers Dimensions: l. 63 cm (24 13/16 in); w. 33 cm (13 in); h. 53 (20 7/8 in) Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1919 Accession Number: 19.2. Met Museum

Figure of Isis- Aphrodite , Met Museum

Period:Roman Period ,Date:2nd century A.D. Geography:From Egypt, Medium:Terracotta painted brown, black, red, and pink on white engobe Dimensions:h. 49.5 cm (19 1/2 in); w. 12.5 cm (4 15/16 in) Credit Line:Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1991 Accession Number:1991.76

Brooklyn Museum, Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere.Egypt, probably from Thebes. Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Brooklyn Museum, Coffin and Mummy Board of Pa- seba-khai-en-iept. Egypt, From Thebes, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Met Visit

Visiting The Met is probably one of the most visually pleasing things you can do! The Met is huge and it features a bunch of different exhibitions such as “Art of Native America,” “Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art,” last but not least, “Japanese Arms and Armor from the collection of Estuko and John Morris.” My favorite part of the museum was the “Dress to Impress” collection. It consisted of so many beautiful and elegant outfits. The colors and the patterns on the outfit were absolutely vivid. You can really tell someone took their time to create these pieces. On the outfits there was detailing on the collar which made it seem like it was handmade. At the Met I looked at some renaissance and baroque pieces of art. The art piece from the renaissance collection that piqued my interest is a footed beaker. Although it looks like a vase it’s called a beaker. The cultural background that it is imported from is Hungarian, Nagyzeben. The art piece is a medium size art piece (Height: 9 13/16 in. (24.9 cm) that is silver and partially gilded. The art work is made out of metalwork- silver. The art work itself looks like its dripping in gold. It has a really cool semi silver finish which contrasts against the gold designs. There is a thick band at the bottom which creates an illusion of two pieces rather than one whole piece. The Baroque artwork that I picked is a footed beaker with a cover. It was easier to compare two pieces of artwork which were similar in shape and design. It’s originated from Hungarian, Brasso. The artwork is a medium (15 3/4 x 6 11/16 in. (40 x 17 cm) size of gilded-silver, metal-work. The art piece had a dull gold and silver finish to it. This art work has a man in the middle with flowers/leaves around the art piece. The art piece also has a cover to this beaker. The cover has a very shiny finish to give an illusion that it is glistening. The difference between Renaissance and Baroque art is that most people understand that if a painting or sculpture is made in Europe between 1300 and 1600, it’s likely a Renaissance work. And, if it’s a European work made between 1600 and 1750, then it’s Baroque. … A good word for Renaissance art is “stabilize,” while a good one for the Baroque is “dramatize.”

Final Project: Topic

For the final project I have decided to explore the use of children in art works and what kind of significance they portray. For example, in the Roman era we begin to see the use of children in different sculptures in order to bring the viewers gaze to the lower portion of the artwork. I would like to explore children’s significance in each era in which they begin to appear.

SN: Final Project (Creative Portion)

Above are images of my artwork at different angles that I created for the creative aspect of my final project in this art class. The artwork that I have chosen for my project was Egypt’s architecture, more specifically, Egypt’s Pyramid of Giza. I chose this topic because I am fascinated by how this pyramid is one of the longest lasting pyramid to date today and its structure is very intricate. By recreating this pyramid, I wanted to focus on the bright color the pyramid contains, its dimensions, reflections and structure. Although the pyramid is 455 feet tall, I created a miniature version of it. The Pyramid of Giza is made out of almost 5 million blocks of limestone and was casted with agglomerated limestone concrete. Because I do not own those materials, I chose to improvise and use cardboard, and then draw many lines to represent the bricks. The Pyramid of Giza insists of tawny tones, which match the Desert it is located in, and the sparkle it has gives the pyramid a polished look. The shine comes from slabs of highly polished white limestone and stones were plated with gold, contributing to the sun reflection upon the limestone. In order for me to capture the exact architecture layout of the pyramid, the looks mattered, which is where the paint comes as an essential aspect. I chose a golden yellow paint to replicate the real pyramid. The shine in the paint shows the shine when the sun reflects the Pyramid of Giza and the sparkle the stone releases. In addition, while making this pyramid, I focused on the elements of composition: line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space. These elements were vital in depicting a smaller version of the pyramid because when all of them are used together and are organized neatly, it determines what the outcome would be of my art piece. Knowing this, I made sure that the bricks are approximately evenly spaced and the lines show the formation the bricks took to form a triangular prism shape. Although the texture is difficult to portray through cardboard, I made sure to use the color to show the shine and bright colors that the Pyramid of Giza exhibits. Antonio Beato’s, “Giza, Family of Tourists” art piece accurately displays the bricks, dimensions and texture the pyramid has, which helped me choose how to outline the bricks. It is noticeable that the limestone bricks reflect a dark shadow, which shows the distinction and space between each brick and using a marker, I was able to define the dark shadows and arrangement of it as well. Antonio Beato’s other art piece, “Pyramids at Giza”, shows the pyramid in its original location, in the outskirts of Cairo, and its dimensions as well, which I took into consideration. Successfully, I was able to create the exact artwork using many materials to create what I had in mind. With doing so, I made sure that it was a true representation of Egypt’s Pyramid of Giza, an important structure that holds a lot of history for Egypt.

Annotated Bibliography

“Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hollywood Africans, 1983.” Hopper Drawing | Whitney Museum of American Art, whitney.org/WatchAndListen/1326.

The Whitney’s website offers a high resolution picture of the painting along with a recording of Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, explaining the origins of the painting. She explains that Basquiat painted this after he took a trip to California with a few other artists. She says that it was Hollywood’s racist portrayals of African Americans, such as in the film “Tarzan” that inspired this painting. This supports my thesis as it elaborates on Basquiat’s of American culture, both the racism that existed behind it, and the power structure dynamics of Hollywood.

Laing, Olivia. “Race, Power, Money – the Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Sept. 2017, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/08/race-power-money-the-art-of-jean-michel-basquiat.

This article chronicles Basquiat’s life and origins as an artist. It explains he first started as a graffiti and street artist, directly relating to my thesis. Then it discusses the themes present in Basquiat’s work, such as racism and hierarchies in America. The article then discusses the artist’s rise in the art world and his eventual relationship with Andy Warhol, again relating directly to my thesis.

Teeman, Tim. “The Whitney Museum’s Andy Warhol Show Is More Than His Greatest Hits.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 7 Nov. 2018, www.thedailybeast.com/the-whitney-museums-andy-warhol-show-is-more-than-his-greatest-hits?ref=scroll.

This article discusses the new Warhol exhibit at the Whitney and chronicles the artists life. It writes of the themes present in Warhol’s work, such as advertisements, hero culture, celebrity culture, all relating to my thesis. The article writes of Warhol’s collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is in direct relation to my thesis.

“Warhol and Basquiat: The Art World’s Most Notorious Bromance.” Sleek Mag, www.sleek-mag.com/article/warhol-basquiat-bromance/.

This article focuses on the relationship that existed between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It traces the artists relationship from the highly notarized moment when the two first met when Warhol was out to lunch and Basquiat sold him a few postcards, took their picture together, and would paint the photo immediately after it was taken. When he completed the painting he gifted it to Warhol who was impressed by Basquiat’s work and their friendship began. The article stays with the artist’s relationship to the end, when Warhol dies and Basquiat is devastated by the loss. This article relates to my thesis as it gives me a clearer understanding about the two artists featured in my thesis.

Warhol, Andy. “Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 1967.” Lee Bontecou. Untitled. 1959 | MoMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/61240.

The museum’s website offers a high resolution photo of the painting along with a brief explanation of Warhol’s history and process for how he made the painting. Since this painting focuses on Warhol’s exploration of celebrity culture it directly relates to my thesis. The website also quotes Warhol about his multiple prints of celebrities, “The more you look at the exact same thing, the more the meaning goes away, and the better and emptier you feel.” Again highlighting Warhol’s themes present in his art that create a unique American identity.

Image List and Thesis Statement

These works relate to my final project because they demonstrate the themes present in Basquiat and Warhol’s work that I will be working with –Warhol’s use of celebrity culture, crude advertisement and Basquiat’s exploration of power structure dynamics and racism– all taking place behind an American backdrop. These paintings highlight Basquiat and Warhol’a unique American identity they created within their art. While both artists traverse the American landscape, what their art represents, or brings to life, is something entirely idiosyncratic.

Thesis: Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat create a uniquely American aesthetic through the themes present in their artwork. While both artists explore and work in the medium of American culture, how they represent that culture differs greatly. Warhol focuses his work on crude advertisement and celebrity culture, while Basquiat’s explores themes of power structure dynamics, institutionalized racism, street art and graffiti art. Basquiat and Warhol offer a unique American identity behind both their individual work, and their joint collaborations.

Andy Warhol – “Marilyn” 1967 MoMA

Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol- “Ailing Ali in Fight of Life” 1984

Jean-Michel Basquiat – “Hollywood Africans” 1983, Whitney

Andy Warhol – “Uncle Sam” 1981

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat – “Bananas” 1985

SN: Final Project Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

“The Great Pyramids of Giza.” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/the-great- pyramids-of-giza/.

This article gives a history of the famous Egyptian pyramids and how they came to be, along with the meaning it has for Egyptians. Each pyramid built takes part of a royal mortuary complex that also contains a temple. It provides a detailed description of the Pyramid of Giza’s structure, methods used to make it and close up images of the pyramid that I could use to help create a replica of it for my project.

Roehrig, Catharine. “Egypt in the Old Kingdom (Ca. 2649–2130 B.C.).” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oking/hd_oking.htm.

This article tells the history of how during Egypt’s Old Kingdom era, artists began to express their culture’s worldview as architects mastered techniques needed to construct monumental structures made out of stone. Their structures were important to the culture because they preserved life after death. This offers my project insight on Egyptian history and how their monumental structures came to be, as well as helping me understand Egypt’s background and the importance of their monumental structures.

“Giza Pyramids.” Civilization.ca – Haida – Haida Art – Masks, Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/egypt/egca14e.shtml.

This article specifically focuses on the Pyramid of Giza and how it is known to be built by the three pharaohs, Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus. According to the article, this pyramid is one of the only ones that survived the passage of time and it provides images of the pyramid iteself. The insight this article gives helped me learn more about the pyramid, especially because I recreated it myself for this project.

Forman, Werner, et al. “Standing Tall: Egypt’s Great Pyramids.” National Geographic, National Geographic, 24 Jan. 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/01-02/egypt-great-pyramids-giza-plateau/.

The National Geographic article focuses on pharaohs and their placements in the pyramid after death, as well as how inscriptions in the pyramids have helped scholars discover new facts about Egypt. Not only does the article offer new information, the images included have helped me define the color, shape and texture of Egypt’s pyramids, which helped me define that in my project.

“Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture.” Scholastic.com, Scholastic, www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753871.

The article states that Egypt’s temples have been built as palaces and daily rituals, along with seasonal festivals, have been placed as artwork inside the temples. Beliefs of life after death was an important practice to them and it was believed that in order for a spirit to continue living, the body had to be preserved and buried with valuable possessions along with food and water. Due to the fact that my project is about Ancient Egyptian Architecture, this article helps me understand Egyptian civilization, what tombs and temples have provided to Egyptian life and more insight into Egyptian religion and beliefs.