Art Institute Tour

Myself in front of the Art Institute

This particular piece was in the Modern Wing, titled "Reminiscence of a Cathedral" by Frantisek Kupka.     The piece is oil paint on canvas, using colors in the range of blues, violets, and reds, with lighter colors contrasting the dark central focus of violet.  In the piece, there is a feel to it that reminds me of the stained glass images that make up the windows of the various churches and the national cathedral, which flank the many rows of pews which I can see being represented by the dark blue forms to both sides of the violet structure.

This piece is a bust cast in bronze by the artist Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier, titled "Bust of an African Woman."  In this work, the piece comes almost to life with the high level of detail created by the varying textures of the clothes, adornments and hair in contrast to the smooth skin of the woman.  The piece used the varying textures to create the realistic look of the piece, and the expression caught in the piece is rather captivating, almost making the woman appear mysterious and elegant.

"Water Lilies" by Claude Monet, is created on canvas in oils, using the brush and layers of paint to get the impression of the lilies while giving the piece texture which is smooth yet not a straight out gradient.  The piece is composed to draw the eye down through the piece by using the reflections in the water to darken the top of the piece and hi-light the brighter colors of the lilly pads in the foreground of the piece. The piece gives a feeling of tranquility that comes with the simple viewing of flowers on the water.

Art Gallery

Outside of the Zhou B Gallery and Cafe

  

The gallery itself was rather quiet, and not many people were really about in any one place.  This room was the largest, and most of the rest of the site was spread across 5 different floors of thin winding hallways, so you would only occasionally meet other people as you passed.

This particular piece was a Mixed media tri-fold panel, given the title "Celebration", unfortunately without the artist's name or contact info on it.  It is a multimedia piece that is made with what appears to be a combination of oil paints, metal, and a kind of clear resin gloss that was used in a large quantity of the works shown by them.  The metal and the paint were most likely layered on alternatively, and then a final coat of the clear resin was applied to the piece as a topcoat.  the piece follows the use of asymmetrical balance, and applies the use of vibrant hues of cool colors in the negative space and gray tones for the shapes which are the main focus for the piece.  In regards to the concept, it almost appeals to me as if the shapes were of people, and that the vivid and almost happy colors alongside of the title  suggest that there is something joyous occurring, indeed worthy of being remembered through "Celebration".

This particular piece comes out of a concentration done by Robin Monique Rios, titled "The Road To..." and worked digitally.  This particular piece follows in the theme that it is created based off of a collective of images, mainly focusing on the use of medical scans, combined with natural images.  In craft, this is a piece which uses the abilities of photoshop to combine together images taken by the artist through a combination of layering, cutting out sections, and varying the opacity of the layers being used.  The use of the natural images inside of the the different lines of the brain used in this piece seemed to suggest to me that on the person's mind is the natural world, perhaps that the brain is drawn to the beauty that is the nature.  In regards to composition, it is a large piece that is meant to draw attention, centered in the frame and using the dark of the negative space to draw the viewer into the details within the brain.  I personally found it amusing that the artist used the same butterfly in their work as the one that I used recently in my own piece, "Butterfly".

These two pieces were both mixed media collages created by Frances Temchin, and labeled together as "Untitled."  The pieces both appear to be a layering of paint over images that are torn and cut from various sources.  In regards to composition, I enjoy the yellow emphasis placed in the left image and the splash of blue in the right image, which both serve to draw the eye for the pieces they refer to.  In regards to concept, I am unsure of the theme, but they both caught my attention despite both being only about 5 x 7 in size.

Week 10

Phoenix

Craft

this piece was rendered using acrylic paint over the base layer of watercolor and sharpie.  the original image was copied so that the shapes could be crafted based off of the curves and lines used in the original bird, and then the image was transfered over using graphite onto the piece and painted.  The many colors on the bird, namely the yellows of the body and the red-orange tint on the start of the wings was due to white acrylic mixing with the watercolor to form the colors, and on the extended sections of the wings a hint of magenta was added.  

Concept

The idea of this piece was to render a shape designed by another person in to my style, while keeping hold of the colors used into the piece.  As well, the lines used to create the bird's feathers, head, and body were used to crete the parameters of the shapes which were created.

Composition

This piece used the dark navy backdrop which gradients into white to help contrast the warm colors used inside of the bird itself, and to give it the feel of truly being a phoenix, with fire illuminating darkness.

Week 8

Ursa

Craft
This piece is a mixed medium work using oil pastel, watercolor, acrylic paint and 3 different photographs.  The images were used as references for the backdrop and the bear image itself was worked over in oil to help recreate the realistic nature of the bear.  The wash was created first with watercolor, then the rocky backdrop was laid out in pencil before being worked over in oil pastel.  The white marks on the bear were added after it had been pasted onto the piece, and are created in white acrylic paint.

 Concept
In this piece, I wished to further experiment with my use of tribal designs over a more realistic backdrop. The shapes are used to define the bear's features, and hi-light the splash of brown on the face, rather than to completely dominate the creature.

 Composition
In this piece, I sought to use more realistic colors  in the image, while still calling out attention to the tribal designs on the bear.  I used light colors i the sky to balance out the white of the design, and the darker colors of the oil pastel over the foreground rocks and on the bear to make the ground and bear pull away from the wash of sky.

Week 9

Craft
This piece began on paper as a pencil drawing, with references to a photograph taken in 2010 by myself.  The image was then uploaded into photoshop and the shapes were redone to be the flat black color and better defined fro the original sketch.


Concept
With this piece, I wanted to create a work that not only would work well within my series, but also be still open to any form of manipulation or recreation by another artist for the art collaboration swap.  Additionally, the piece tries out a different use of the tribal style which I use, by instead of isolating the pieces, they are all connected at some small point, though not overlapping.

Composition
When creating the piece, I knew I wanted to keep the image in black in white to contrast all the color images that I have been creating, and to create a design that would wrap around the edges of the piece, and to try and get the eye of the viewer to move from head to tail through the piece without distractions from the backdrop.

Week 7

 Butterfly

Craft

This piece was created using acrylic paint on top of oil pastel, working from a photography taken in the summer of 2010.  The oil pastel was applied onto standard computer paper and allowed to dry before applying the  tribal designs using the acrylic paint.  The prior idea of the piece was to apply acrylic directly onto glass, but then transformed to

Concept

When creating this piece, my intention was to work the tribal designs in to a more realistic styled backdrop.

Composition

For this piece I positioned the butterfly so as to create an asymmetrical format, and used the black, red, and gray colors in the butterfly to contrast to the vivid greens in the backdrop.

Week 6

craft

This piece began as a sketch drawn off of a photograph taken in 2010 of a great horned owl.  The designs for the tribal patterns were drawn out, then scaled up through the use of a grid onto watercolor paper.  Watercolor paint was then applied in designs that mimic various colors in the sky throughout the day and night.

concept

The concept behind the piece was to incorporate designs inside of the tribal designs outside of the usual, and taken from nature.  The intent behind the piece was to use images from the sky that a bird flies in to create the form of the owl.

composition

The composition was meant to rely on an asymmetrically balanced image, with the owl placed on the left side of the piece.