Art Inquiry

Art Curation Exhibition Process What's a Girl to Do? The title of my art exhibition is What's a Girl to Do?. I love the the art pop era and the work that was made during that time. I wanted my exhibition to focus mainly around that period. At first glance my exhibition depicts surreal cinematic images of women. However, upon closer investigation their beauty counteracts the ugly reality in which they face.  This exhibition aggressively confronts a darker theme of American pop culture's portrayal of women. I started with artworks by Miles Aldridge. I love his work, it relates to my theme and it was a good branching off point. I then looked into other pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton, and Rosalyn Drexler. I had a fun time looking for artworks to use for this project. My main goal was to include modern day pieces, which I did. The hardest part of this project was initially coming up with my theme. I had an idea o...

Video Reviews  Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art  Art curators help explain works of art and place them in a specific context of time and place. Philippe de Montebello was the art director of The MET for 31 years until 2008. The museum opened with 174 European paintings. However, under his leadership the museum's collection grew to represent all cultures and eras over the years.  Q&A with MoMA Curator Anne Umland  MoMA was founded in 1929 on the belief that the art of the present is just as worthy of the attention of famous works of the past. I learned multiple aspects of art curation in this video such as: A monographic, or retrospective, exhibition solely contain works from a single individual. They are often used today to highlight the career of a deceased artist Major historical exhibitions generally take 2-3 years to open to the public  A core group of 20 people are usually involved in developing an exhibition...

Video Reviews  Jacob Lawrence  The Harlem Renaissance was essentially an intellectual and artistic explosion during the 1920's. It had such a positive impact on people that left great legacies for black communities worldwide. Lawrence goes into detail about how important community involvement was.  Faith Ringgold   Grew up during the Great Depression in Harlem. She developed a new art form, story quilts. Her first one revolved around the story of Aunt Jemima. She then went and got involved with women's issues. Ringgold would paint eggs black and write "50" on them to symbolize a desire for an equal split of men and women to be included in prestigious art awards during protests. She also informs that there's no time to sit around and wait for someone else to say who you are. One must do it for that's where the art comes from. Romare Bearden  Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and later went on to tell the story of what was happening ...

MASP MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand São Paulo, Brazil I've never heard of this museum before. Its photo on Google Art Project intrigued me since I've never seen a gallery set up like this before. You can find their website here . The Gallery  I took a virtual tour of their "Picture Gallery in Transformation" exhibition. The space seems to be light by track lighting mounted on the ceiling. The space is quite long with multiple rows of this lighting. Floor to ceiling windows make up the walls of the entire gallery. All of the windows have shades that are down, but light still filters in. The only color from the space itself comes from the floor, which consists of black square tiles, and the ceiling which is just painted a bright white. The viewer is meant to start from one end of the gallery and make their way to the far end. Works of art are scattered on easels throughout the floor.   The Artwork  Artworks are arran...

Periods in Art History  Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the 50's & 60's The video starts off with first generation abstract expressionist artists such as: Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning. This movement was all about raw emotion. Artists moved away from European traditions by using abstraction to convey strong expressive content. First Generation Abstract Expressionism  Franz Kline's signature broad black brush strokes were used on a large scale. His powerful gestures across the canvas create evoke an immediate response. Willem de Kooning is known for his use of cross layering brushstrokes, and intensified colors. In his 1952 painting,  Woman I,  we again see broad brushstrokes used to showcase the expressiveness of de Kooning's fragmented figure of a woman. Second Generation Abstract Expressionism  Helen Frankenthaler, a second generation abstract expressionist, influenced a new generation of artists, the color field painters, ...

Mask Exploration  Inspo: Funerary Mask This mask dates back to the 9th-11th century in the Lambayeque region in Peru. The mask depicts a face with upturned eyes, a prominent nose and ornaments on the ears and below the nose. The gold seems to have been hammered due to various indents which create a bumpy texture all throughout the face. The raised elevation of the nose and the shadow below it emphasizes the center the face. War Mask This mask dates back to the 14th-16th century. The Tibetan mask uses color and pattern to frame the face. The flame like designs in gold are used symmetrically and act as eyebrows above the eyes. Areas of silver metal peek through the aged, bronze color on the cheeks and bridge of the nose, which emphasize those areas. Mask (Kavat) This mask created by Central Baining peoples was used for a night time performance lit by firelight. Compared to the other two, this one is quite long. The use of the red and black pigment creat...

Video Reviews Olmec Mask A small mask was found buried as an offering in an Aztec temple. However, this mask was from a far older culture than the Aztecs. It was actually from the Olmec culture which thrived more than 1500 years before the Aztecs. The Aztecs collected artifacts from ancient cultures before them. Feathered Headdress  Costume was a significant part of life to the Aztecs. The replica of the headdress featured in the video contained over 450 quetzal tail feathers. These feathers are a long, almost metallic green that only come from the male bird. This bird is found in Central America and they usually have about three tail feathers. Bundu / Sowei Helmet Mask  The Helmet Mask for Sande Society was actually meant to be worn on top of the head while raffia hung down and essentially covered the face. Their ritual is unique because women wore the mask. The entire ritual was made and performed by women. It was made to help young girls go through initiation...

Video Reviews  The Great Wave  I found Katsushika Hokusai's signatures on Fisherman (1849) and Woodcutter (1849) unique. Hokusai wrote about his desire to live up until he was 110. He created those paintings during the end of his career. Both of his signatures record his age and translate to "old man aged 90." "Mangi" was written below that which was a name that he went by later in life. The reading states he went by many different names. Beneath all of that text is a seal in red. It means 100 and is meant that Hokusai has more years to live since he was 90 when those paintings were completed. Early Photography: Making Daguerreotypes   Joseph Nicephore's invention of a light sensitive surface was the foundation for the basic principle of photography. However, his photographs required long exposure times which lasted about eight hours. There was also no way to stop light from further exposing the final image. The video describes how Louis Jac...