Postmodernism

A. Postmodern Art is an art movement that is the aftermath of Modernism, it emerged from this movement but keeps a lot of the same ideas. Just like the earlier era Postmodern Art doesn't have to have subject matter, or be "beautiful." Postmodernism can actually be rather controversial, a couple popular subjects with Postmodern artists are feminism and race.

B. Unlike some other movements in art history, Postmodernism art tends to be based on the  "uneasy" subjects in our country. Feminism is just one of them. Feminism has always been a problem somewhere. In the 1970's this was a huge problem in the art world. Women were not artists they were the models. In the book it talks a lot about "the male gaze", the way men viewed women. They saw females as sex symbols and had a tendency to use the nude body as satisfaction in their artwork.

C. Paul McCarthy has in my opinion the most shocking pieces of work in Postmodern history. I suppose that is what makes the work so popular with viewers, it definitely falls under the category of Postmodern art. McCarthy did most of his work on the dark parts of America, child abuse, insanity, rape and pornography were his favorites. He also did all of his artwork with everyday condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and chocolate sauce. They were  used for blood, sweat, sperm and feces. Not only did this work turn heads but it also crinkled many noses with the disgusting smell that arose from this work.

D. Melinda Barnes has a drawing that is quite a bit like the one I am doing for this project. It is an image of a house sitting alone. For mine I am doing a barn with a tree on one side and a windmill on the other. Her picture is very simple yet beautiful which is my goal for my project. She also says it has a comic art style not necessarily a realistic look on it just like how mine will be.

Formalism

a. Formalism is the theory of art that doesn't have to have a reason, it is simply art to be art. It isn't made to give the audience a certain feeling or that is meant to please the audience. It is visually appealing to some and hideous to others. It is generally non-objective but it doesn't have to be and uses line, shape, and color. 

b. Wassily Kandinsky's work fits the description of Formalism very well. He uses the difference in line, shape and color to make the art compositionally successful. Some of his stuff is abstract and others clearly have an objective such as the painting with the landscape of the house. His work in my opinion lets the viewer use their imagination to form an opinion about the composition in front of them. You can look at his work for a minute or you can sit there for 20-30 finding new objects peeking through the art. 

c. Piet Mondrain's work fits into this category, it is obvious that line and color alone make this work "artwork." I really like the picture of the Nike shoes because they go along with his theme of using primary colors but everyone, any age can recognize the Nike symbol on the side of the shoe. This one isn't quite as easy to sit and imagine different shapes and objects but still just as visually appealing as Kandinsky's art.

d. I chose Chris Burnside because our ideas are a lot alike. They are both abstract compositions of colorful random swirly lines. He enjoys how partial circles are made and that is exactly what my drawing is made up of, different circles and partial circles depending on where the line goes next. Our mediums are different though. He likes to use wood and acrylic where as I used paper, highlighter pens, pencil and colored pencil.

  

Expressionism and Cognitivism

A. Expressionism is defined as the tendancy of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect. Expressionism is exactly what it sounds like, it is what the art world considers art that is made by an artist with emotion. The artist takes thier emotions and puts them down on canvas or in sculpture so the viewers can relate to how they felt when they produced their work. Cognitivism is a lot like Expressionism, but it is more about teaching the viewer something new about the world through emotion. Expressionism is all about how the artist feels even if it isn't realistic but Cognitivism, the artist teaches us about reality using emotion.

B. Tolstoy believes there are three parts to the theory of art:the artist, the artwork and the viewer. He feels that art is the act of creating something hands on to express emotions or experiences he may have gone through in his life to share with the viewers so they too can feel these emotions. Tolstoy thinks that art made for a pleasure feeling isn't always good enough, it is there to make us more humane and see the world in another's eye's so we can be more sensitive to their thoughts and needs.

C. The viewer is the one that "makes" the art according to Collingwood, the artist can create a finished piece of art but until the viewer recreates it and reconstructs the work it isn't complete and isn't considered a "work of art". The artist creates the work according to their own feelings and then the viewer looks at it, maybe in a different way and sees his or her emotions in life reflected in the work therefore making the piece of work successful.

D. In Louis Bourgeious's work she uses metaphor's like her childhood, in her Cell series she shows viewers that she wants to depict her childhood because a cell is the beginning of life. It also symbolizes how sexuality played a role in her younger years. The different cells represent maybe certain people in her life that made her the type of person she is now. In Kiki Smith's work she also uses metaphors to show viewers symbolism. She uses things from nature to depict her feelings. Kiki uses the metaphor of the relationship between humans and animals to inspire her work. She does a lot of work with wolves and the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

E. My work is kinda like Karin Bos work. She does her work with colored pencil and uses childhood memories to inspire her art. Sometimes the objects and setting are random, like they are pieces of different memories not just one and that is a lot like my drawing. I took bits and pieces from my childhood and put them into one picture which is what makes it interesting.

    

Realism

A. Realistic art is a realistic depiction of the world. It can be seen in a number of ways, normal everyday objects like Koon's work. He does sculptures of vacuum cleaners and basketballs giving viewers real objects they can recognize in a beautiful way. Realistic art could be the view point people see of the world, how we think it is supposed to be which is how Plato's work is done.  He makes art of the "perfect"body, "perfect" car or anything that we believe has to be a certain way to be accepted. It could also be realistic in a way that we may not want to believe like how Aristotle draws pictures of the world really is, not sugar coated in a way.

B. Plato defines good art as emotionally powerful and appeal to people's emotions not necessarily have a reason behind the artwork. He believes that art is meant for the people not personal to the artist. There are certain moral values and that is how the work must be made, the artist can't invent, or alter those ideas.

C. If Plato saw Koon's work, he would hate it, absolutely hate it. Mostly because the sexual pictures and sculptures are of him and his wife, which are personal to him and his life. In Plato's opinion he would probably say that no one cares about his sex life or sexual fantasies. In his other exhibitions, Koon had drawings and sculptures of everyday objects that could be considered boring in Plato's eyes. There is no emotional value to them.

D. Aristotle thinks that good art comes from the natural world, not heaven or from another life. Good art shows the depiction of our world, where we are in today's culture. According to Aristotle, " one criterion for a successful work of art is that it presents subject matter  in a  way that invites the viewer to think about it because of the way the artist has presented  it for perceptual experience." 

E. I don't think that "obscene art" contradicts itself, I think that art is a lot about expression and just because a piece of work is obscene or shocking doesn't mean it isn't art. It is very expressive and it makes you have strong emotions. A drawing of dead bodies or people having sex may not be my favorite thing to look at when walking through a gallery but it is real, it is true. We are going through a war so dead bodies are pretty common, and I think that is it gets a reaction out of the viewer then it is pretty successful.

F. No, I don't think sexual images are any more obscene than violence or poverty. Like I said before it's all real, everyone knows it's out there. I do think that sexual images are more shocking just because we all have probably seen violence or poverty elsewhere, but most people wouldn't expect to see sexual images because that is generally something personal and behind closed doors.

G. My project is about stress, there are many layers of Post-It notes with things to do on them. In the middle surrounded by the list, there is a Post-It note with an anxious looking face on it. Caoimhghin O' Fraithile also uses many layers and writes text on the paper in little writing so the viewer has to concentrate on what it says causing distress. 

Beauty vs. Repulsion

A. "Good" art can be anything that catches the viewers eye and keeps their attention. This picture is a great example of "good" art. All of the different colors make the viewer interested in the design and the repeated rubber duck image brings the whole composition together.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/NYG/76027~Pop-Art-Ducky-Posters.jpg

     "Bad" art just doesn't keep your attention like good art does. It can be because of the composition, the color choice or just the quality of the image. This painting has a pop art look to it which is nice but the way the two girls are drawn and painted are just poorly done. They don't look 3-D or anything. It's a good start but needs a lot of work.

http://www.seattletwist.com/category/art/page/3/

B. Honorific Art is creations that people of the art world have classified as honorable. Honorific art generally falls under one of the four categories: Realism, Expressionism, Formalism and Poststructuralism.

C. Classificatory definitions of art are reasons or classifications why one design is considered are and why something else might not be considered art.

D. I'm honestly not really sure just yet what makes me the most uncomfortable with aesthetics and ethics in art. 

E. My drawings relate most to Heimir Bjorgulfsson's work. He likes to use nature in  his work, he says his work is about his personal relationship with nature and how it affects him. My drawings reflect the emotions that certain things in nature make me feel. Some things such as butterflies show beauty and other things like centipede's just give me a disgusting feeling showing repulsion.

www.bjorgulfsson.com

Define Beauty & Repulsion

Beauty:

Beauty is something natural, something unique and excellent, a quality present in a thing or person that gives satisfaction to the viewer.

Repulsion:

Repulsion is a feeling of unpleasantness the someone or something gives the viewer.

When I first saw this image I thought WOW that's kind of gross and creepy but then once I took a closer look it's actually pretty cool. All of that is made from yellow Legos, but still a bit repulsive.