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MD: Soul of a Nation

Michael DeGennaro

When entering the Brooklyn Museum’s soul of a nation exhibit, I was strikingly hit with emotion rooted in the history in the artwork surrounding me.  This exhibit celebrates the work of Black American artists from 1963 to 1983. During this period the dreams of the Civil Rights Movement were formed and black artists across America worked to create a range of art in response to the moment.  The Flag is Bleeding, 1967 by Faith Ringgold particularly spoke to me.  This painting is a questioning of the reality of what the American flag symbolizes.  It is interesting because a flag is intended to represent unity of a nation, yet here, it is blood shed and as a symbol for racial inequality and violence.  A black man is putting his hand over his heart, which is an American symbolization of unity when reciting the national anthem, yet his heart is wounded, yet he is holding a knife, preparing defense for future attacks.  The white male figure‘s dominating stance demonstrates his power in society, implying racial status and hierarchy. He is unwounded and standing with his arms to his hips, dressed in a suit which connotes as highly authoritative.  The female in the middle attaches both males at either ends and interlocks them, showing they are all connected under this unjust system, yet they are all unequal. The artists choice to have a flag oozing deep red blood, in a manner that is very blotchy and scattered depicts the reality of this long drawn battle.  

 

MD: Ancient World Blog Post

Michael DeGennaro

Choose one artwork from the ancient world (your choice, but the BK Museum has a good selection of Mesopotamian and Egyptian art), use formal analysis to talk about the work and relate it to some of the concepts we have discussed in class.

This cartonnage/mummy was particularly eye catching to me because when I think of ancient Egypt, the mummification process instantly pops into my mind.  As as a child, it is what mostly interested me when learning about the ancient civilization. Mummification and the preserving of the human body is an art form in itself, adding makeup, and trying to rejuvenate diminishing features is difficult.  Though this piece of art is titled “Mummy of an Anonymous Man”, features that the artist chose to include can indicate his level of importance. On the exterior, the artist depicted a human head, whose eyes are wide open, glaring at his viewer. This shows that although their physical body has died, they are still alive and watching closely and intently from the afterlife.  His skin is a dark red-brown skin color which in ancient egypt, represented outdoor life and pursuits of men. Red was also the color of precious stones which can indicate his value. The artist chose to groom the man very sharply and neatly, similarly to the neatly groomed, though much longer beards we looked at in class, which can indicate his status in society as well.  The faded burgundy patch on his shoulder is an ancient symbol for holiness, which the artist chose to include as a sign of his possible God-like value. The gold necklace, as well as the sold idea of being preserved alone indicated that you are apart of the upper class, and your legacy will live on in the after life.

Blog post: Unit Summary

   Upon entering this class I had no formal knowledge on art and how to define its hidden meanings. However, throughout Unit 1 we went over the topics of Formal analysis and critical pedagogy. This allowed me to understand how to look and define a painting/artwork not only on what I see but on how to look and interpret the artists techniques. After we analyzed the paintings of the 2 women. I bagan to see past the large picture and started to examine the different elements of the works. Whether it be their similarities or differences.

   Formal Analysis can be defined simple as exploring the visual effects the work has on the viewer and what the artist wanted to accomplish visually. This method focuses primarily on questioning the visual and physical aspect of the artwork. Focusing on lines,shapes,color schemes,texture, form,etc. It’s questioning the work and looking for the answer in the work itself.  In examine both paintings of women we learned on how the artists used different types of shading and colors to emphasize or deemphasize certain points in the paintings.

   In one of our readings the Pedagogy of the Oppressed we were introduced into the idea of the banking model of education . To Friere the banking model is a representation of the detached education system. He believed that the banking model of education simply states that a teacher has all the knowledge and therefore the teacher must “deposit” the knowledge they have into the students, who then memorize the information instead of fully understanding the information given. This sort of detached learning entails that education will not allow students to express their own interest or creativity.  

   Since learning these 2 topics my understanding for art has further expanded. I am now aware on how to appreciate art and how to interpret what the artist may have been trying to tell the viewer.

Brooklyn Museum Assignment: Soul of a Nation

In the Soul of a Nation Exhibit,  I came across so many great pieces of artwork from the Angela Davis and Malcolm X piece to the Wall of Respect mural. One of the pieces that crossed my eye was the “Blackboard” painting. The artist uses a variety of warm and cool colors from green and white to represent an actual blackboard to red and orange in the clothing of the two subjects in the middle. The lines are smooth and continuous. The artist used just the amount of scale to show both the writing and the subjects. In this painting, it seems as the two subjects are teacher and student. The painting reminds me of a  school setting. It could be Black History Month and for class the teacher is showing the student an alphabet acronym of African countries, African American pioneers, and words that come to mind when one thinks of black people and all that we’ve been through.

I chose this painting because we need more teachers teaching students about black history. Black people have endure so much for years and are still enduring a lot. I know that there are many educators and parents who teach their students/kids about black history and its culture. There are many people who are unaware of the many people who helped us as a race to come together with other races as a society. This painting relates to the rest of the exhibition because it has aspects that relates to black history. The painting showed names of those who helped us from education to living in society with one another (such as Dubois, Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, Toussaint L’oeuvre, and more). This painting also had empowering words such as “victory, justice, freedom, black power…” which showed how far we’ve come as a race and as a community.

Blog Post 7: Brooklyn Museum-Soul of a Nation

In the Soul of a Nation exhibit, I saw the “Dan Johnson’s Surprise” piece of art. I chose this one because it stood out to me right from the beginning. Being that it is mostly an off-white color, with faded blue-ish gray circular figures, it stuck out as unique to me. The circular figures resemble stretched out human heads, so it makes me think that they are ghosts of some sort. The figure on the far right almost seems to have a body as well. This eerie element is why I chose it; it jumps out at my eyes, almost in the same way that the figures seem to jump out at the viewer. In fact, this aspect reminds me of those silhouette images of people reaching for help (view image below to see what I mean by this). The difference is these people are so twisted and morphed, they are almost beyond recognition of a representation of a person.

This is fitting with the theme of the rest of the exhibition. The theme behind the exhibit is the idea of racial violence and how to be empowered and uplifted against this. This image gives the heart of the viewer a pang that makes them want to fight against racial discrimination and violence, so that is how it relates to the entire exhibition. In fact, the idea that they look like ghosts relates to racial violence, in that the violence could have killed and mutilated the figures, leaving them as only what is seen in the image.

silhouette of a man
silhouette of a man

Blog Post 6: Brooklyn Museum-Ancient World

In the Ancient Near Eastern Art exhibit, I saw the “Winged Genie Wearing Fancy Bracelets” piece of art. I first noticed its very detailed wings. There is a strong level of realism to the wings that reminds me of the common depiction of an angel’s wings, although it is also similar to the wings of certain kinds of birds. One of the wings is slanted downward, most likely to show the other wing, although it looks as though it is broken because of this. The muscles in the arms and legs are a bit over-exaggerated although there is a certain animalistic aspect that makes it fairly realistic anyway. You can clearly see that they had an eye for detail in the ear of the genie since it looks very similar to our own real-life ears.

As we have discussed about other artworks, this genie also has the elegant, orderly, and long beard that is very carefully carved in. He also has a very elegant crown on his head, similar to those we have looked at before. He is wearing elegant clothes, so between this and the crown, I can deduce that this man is very important and highly worshiped in the Assyrian culture this work of art came from. As noted in its title, it has fancy bracelets in the shape of a sun (a central orb with triangular points coming from it). This symbol also appears on his crown, so I take it to mean that this symbol is highly valued and representative of nobility and high status.

Unit #1 Summary

The first unit of Art 1010 taught me a lot about the fundamentals of art and how one can interpret a piece of art work. The two main topics that we focus on throughout the unit were Critical Pedagogy and Formal Analysis. Critical Pedagogy was established in 1968 thanks to the publishing of Paolo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. Critical Pedagogy is the ideal form of teaching in which the students are equal to the teachers instead of being under them. This ideal form of teaching gives the students freedom to question their teachers about what they are being taught instead of them just sitting quietly without actually comprehending what they are taught, this improper way of teaching is known as the Banking Model.

The Banking Model is the complete opposite of Critical Pedagogy. The Banking Model is a form of teaching in which the teacher deposits information into the students who are empty vessels patiently waiting to receive, memorize, and repeat the information they have been given. Paolo Freire, along with others, believed that the Banking Model was an improper way of teaching because the students never actually gain any knowledge from the information they are given. Instead of actually learning and comprehending what they are taught they take the information they are given, memorize it and use it to get good grades on test. Once they are done with the test and no longer need the information they forget about it and instead focus on other information that they’ll need for another test later on, this is a cycle that is repeated constantly in the Banking Model. Although it has been half a century since Critical Pedagogy was established it is still important to me and others in society today since improper forms of teaching, such as the banking model, are still being used today. Schools and society in general still have the mindset that the higher GPA that someone has the smarter they are but in reality this isn’t true since someone’s GPA measures how well they do in school not how intelligent they truly are.

Formal Analysis was another one of our main focuses throughout this unit. Formal Analysis is when someone tries to understand what the artist is wanted to portray in their work. By using features of a piece of art such as color, line, scale, contrast, position, material, illusion, space and mass we can try to understand what an artist tried to convey in their creation. An example of formal analysis is when we observe the colors used in a piece of art. Artist use cold colors, such as blue and grey, to portray a negative/sad mood and them also use warm colors, such as red and orange, to portray a positive/happy mood. A different type of analysis that can be connected to Formal Analysis is Contextual Analysis. Contextual Analysis is when someone uses external resources such as articles, other works of art, journals, and artist writings to try and understand what a certain piece of art is about. These external resources can also be used to gather information about when a piece of art was created and what the artist wanted to convey to others about the era they in which they their artwork off.

Part II. Merton D. Simpson’s U.S.A. ’65

Seeing the Soul of a Nation exhibit for the first time at the Brooklyn Museum was such an inspiring experience. It was remarkable to see how artists like Merton D. Simpson used the power of art to stand up to the injustices that were happening in America at the time. One of the reasons that I chose Simpson’s piece, U.S.A. ’65 was because it was so dark and monstrous compared to everything else. Not just in the sense of his colors but his overall message of struggle and turmoil shines in his piece. I think his choice in using these dark colors help further his message, his grays and blacks help to distinguish the faces in his painting. Simpson also does a brilliant job of using his space and materials to his advantage, making his piece stand out from everyone else’s. He uses specific newspaper articles and pictures and places them in very specific places. He doesn’t let the articles take away from the main focus, being the emotion portrayed by the faces. I think another important aspect of Simpson’s painting is his use of the color white. He uses just enough so the viewer can make out the faces and be able to see the newspaper articles but doesn’t let it stand out more than the darker colors. Even though Simpson’s aesthetic approach to the issue was different than the rest of the exhibit it was still used to usher in the new political and cultural movement: Black Power.

Part I. Statue Of Metjetji

Walking into the Ancient Egyptian section of the Brooklyn Museum I was immediately fascinated by the numerous artifacts on display. It was really interesting to see that the artifacts varied from tombs to scriptures to the actual pottery they used. As I walked around the exhibit I found myself drawn to the Statue of Metjetji. I noticed that it was one of the few “human” sculptures in the entire exhibit and its representation of life development was very well depicted by the figures body structure and their traditional painted jewelry. When looking at the Statue of Metjetji one of the first things that captures your attention is the beaded skirt. Compared to all of the other colors painted on the statues, the color white still appears to have a stronger intensity. Then you have the pleaded part of the skirt that gives it some texture along with the colored beaded strands on the other side of the skirt, both going in a vertical direction creating a balance. As you look up at his chest the the colors become more desaturated but still manage to grab your attention by the use of lines and patterns. Once you reach their faces you can see there are differences between the two statues, specifically the eyes. In the Statue that’s supposed to represent an older man, the eyes are bigger and painted white. I think this is to show the wisdom and maturity compared to the other one. I think what makes the Statue of Metjetji unique is that it does a great job using color, lines, and texture to show the development of life.

Brooklyn Museum Assignment: Near Eastern Art

In the Ancient Egypt exhibit, I saw the “Eagle-Headed Genie Between Two Sacred Trees”. The first thing that caught my eye was the eagle’s head. As discussed in class, this relief reminded me of the “Lamassu”. We were told that in that time period, animals were portrayed a lot in paintings and sculptures. The relief has the head of an eagle and the body of a human where as the “Lamassu” has the head of a human, body of a lion/bull, and wings. In Near Eastern art, animals heads were a sign of divinity (the figure of being a god with qualities somehow related to the animal they are associated with). In Assyrian reliefs, the wings identified this figures as being supernatural. Both the human- and eagle-headed winged figures are genies, they were considered to be supernatural attendants to the king. The ones with eagle heads are considered to take more of a protector role, with their fierce qualities thought to frighten away evil forces.

The relief had many intricate lines to enhance the wings or the trees. Metal tools like chisels were certainly used to carve the initial shapes. Fine details are created with abrasives. The artist uses scale to emphasize the genie more than the trees.

In both of the  genie’s hands, he has a cone in one hand and a basket in the other. The eagle-headed genie was tending to a stylized palm tree which was a symbol of the fertility and prosperity of the king and his kingdom. By his arm, there are two daggers tucked underneath his garment. These daggers served more of a decorative purpose. In these reliefs, you can only see the handles which would have been inlaid with colorful stones. Some of these figures also carry whetstones, used to sharpen blades. These whetstones are carved with animal heads.  The first object from the left tucked into the genies clothing near his chest is a whetstone, the head of a calf poking out at the top.