Flavia Da Rin was born in 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and still currently resides there. She studied at the Prilidiano Pueyrredon Fine Arts School (IUNA) from 2003-2005 (artnet.com). Before that she attended artist work shops of Diana Aisenberg who is famous for educating professional and beginner artists in Argentina.

Her medium is photography and video. She uses Photoshop to manipulate her photos in to a fantastical fairy world. My favorite work of her is Untitled created in 2008 is part of an exhibit call Eyes Wide Open.  It is a piece in a series where she was hired to make 10  billboards for the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky. Instead of displaying her pieces inside a studio space the museum decided to make it part of the landscape off the highways in Louisville, Kentucky. I think that is such a great idea because it forces people to look at art. Its interesting to think that they are bringing the museum to you instead of going to them. Flavia’s art is so intriguing that I think her pieces are perfect for this type of display. I can see  conversations starting all over Louisville from peoples morning commutes, “Hey did you see that weird bug eyed billboard this morning? I wonder what thats all about”.

This photo is intriguing to me because I like the horses and her fretting look. I think there is horses because Kentucky is home of the Kentucky Derby. I feel like this could be a scene out of Alice in Wonderland or any of Tim Burtons movies.

An example of what one of the billboards looked like in Kentucky.

Sources:

http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2008/01/03/34829.html

http://archives.wfpl.org/2008/01/14/billboards-aim-to-drive-art-lovers-to-museum-and-the-web/

http://www.artnet.com/artists/flavia-da+rin/biography-links

When trying to find what area of the world I wanted to focus on Africa was not what I was first thiking. I loved Japan, the people, the art, the culture, but I couldn’t stop coming back the the first page I had seen when looking through this module. The work of El Anatsui is so unique and has such a profound story behind each piece that I couldn’t stop reading the meanings behind each one. [1] Between the rich African culture, often horrid history, and current state of the African continent Anatsui has a lot to say. My favorite part of his art is how he uses recycled materials or trash to create a beautiful piece that I could see on a runway piece in some fashion show (although that would be extremely uncomfortable) it looks like metallic glitter.

Another reason I was attracted to Anatsui as an artist was because I had the pleasure of visiting Accra, Ghana for a week when I studied abroad. El Anatsui was born in Anyako, Ghana in 1944 and was formally trained in central Ghana at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi. He later has made Nigeria his home after teaching at the Universtiy of Nigeria since 1975 [2]. Ghana was an incredible place with cheerful people. Although Ghana is known for being one of the more developed nations of Africa they are still very primitive in many ways of life. I was able to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in a village outside the city. We spent 6 hours literally moving 30 pound cinder blocks 50 ft from one pile to another and than moving some dirt using large metal bowls. Imagine what you could do with a little machinery? I also did some research into their electronic recycling programs that are popular in Africa. Basically all “our” (Americans) stuff is sent to Africa and they pick it apart and make some money off of it. This is very dangerous and hazardous to the health of the people who do this.

Watch this short video for more info:

Here is a close up of one of his pieces:

 

 

This is my favorite piece called Skin of Earth created in 2006 using aluminum and copper wire. In Nigeria, all the beverage companies have the same bottles so they can reuse each others bottles for new drinks. The only part that is not reused are the aluminum caps. Anatsui explains that this piece  “become loaded–‘charged’ is maybe the right word–with a lot of meaning, and talking about all the various states that they’ve gone through or the various uses that they’ve been put to–this is all written upon them.” [3] This is an example of how each piece has so many dimensions because of the materials he uses. Isn’t trash beautiful when reworked?

Skin of Earth
2006
Aluminum and copper wire
Ilene and Stanley Gold Collection, Los Angeles

Sources:

[1] http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/artworks.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Anatsui

[3] http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/artworks.html

It’s sort of a joke but once you actually look into how much Americans spoil their pets it’s actually kind of sickening. Joint custody of children was so yesterday, it is actually very common for couples who have shared a dog, once they split,to draft a joint custody agreement. They may all seem crazy but I am guilty as charged. I have two golden retriever dogs that I share with my girlfriend and have been exposed to pet art in the last year and a half because of the dogs.

Summer and Harding on a road trip.

You know whats even crazier? The amount people will spend on pet art. It is a niche market that has blown up in the last 5 years. I am going to showcase two of my favorite artists, Seth Casteel and Rebecca Rosman.

Seth Casteel                                                                                                                   Rebecca Rosman

Seth Casteel is an award winning pet photographer made famous for his underwater dog portraits. He is based out of Los Angeles and Chicago but travels all over the world for shoots. He has been showcased in National Geographic, New York Times, EXTRA, CNN and many more.

 I picked three of my favorite to share with everyone. Each one I liked for different reasons and would love to try to do this on my own with my dogs.

This one I like because of the action and movement with the picture. I also like the color contrast with the bright pink ball in the middle. This photo is also comedic in a way, I find myself smiling and then letting off a little chuckle when I think about how excited the dog is.

This one is also my favorite because it is a golden retriever, and I am partial to those dogs obviously. But what really makes this interesting to me is the calmness of the dog. Its almost like he/she is posing and just as interested in the camera as playing in the water.

I feel like this picture makes me feel like I am floating or weightless just like in a swimming pool. I also feel like the dog looks like he is in space on a mission to fix something.

But in general I love the different colors of the pool water in all of his photos and the personality of each dog shines through each portrait. Can’t wait to get on the lake with my dogs this summer after looking at these.

Rebecca Rosman is a Seattle resident who started her company Modern Pet Art off a New Years Resolution a few years back. She has been working in the industry now for 14 years after she got her degree in Landscape Architecture from University of Washington. She works in the medium of oil pastel painting. Here are a few of my favorites:

I like this one because of the red color that pops in the background, in contrast with the black and white coat. 

I like this one because of the off center placement of the dog face and the big wet nose.

And of course this one is my favorite because its a golden retriever with the iconic golden smile.

I think that pet art has been around for many hundreds of years but now it is more accessible to the common man. I think this niche market will continue to thrive as Americans choose to pamper their pooches.

Sources:

http://www.modernpetart.com/#!

http://www.littlefriendsphoto.com

Dorothea Lange in 1936

The Great Depression was a time of hardship and hopelessness. My Dad grew up after the Great Depression and to this day reminds me how lucky I have it. Its his hard work and determination to put food on the table for his family that makes me understand what it was like to not know where the next meal was coming from or to not be able to find a job. The photos of Dorothea Lange also give me a punch to my stomach and in one picture make me understand the hardships of this time. Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken, NJ in 1895 and started her career as a commercial photographer. She started in San Francisco and would hit the streets with her camera and take in the bread lines and poverty that were products of the Great Depression (1). In 1935, she started working for the Farm Security Administation documenting the mass exodus of people to the West in search of work.

Her favorite photo of mine is the one below.

Oregon, August 1939. “Unemployed lumber worker goes with his wife to the bean harvest.” What makes this interesting to me is that although these two are experiencing poverty and have very little possessions, they look like they take pride in their appearances. The contrast between the dirt floor, makeshift tent, and the beautiful model wife and rugged husband is what makes this photo so interesting to me.  You can see on his arm is a Social Security number tattooed which was determined by public records that it was Thomas Cave, who would be 27 years in this photo (3). He died in 1980 in Portland, Oregon, I feel like his look would fit in very well at this time as a Hipster.

Sources:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange

(2) http://alafoto.com/?p=821

(3) http://alafoto.com/?p=821

When looking at art, knowing what era the art came from can help you understand the piece and the artists perspective of the time. Each era of art has its own characteristics that are unique and special. I throughly enjoy learning about how one style came in and then was out the door less then 100 years later. I am going to compare Impressionism to the Renaissance art to show the similarities and differences between the two. I have chosen two pieces each from these particular times in order to give examples of what each style offers and doesn’t offer.

Raphael’s: School of Athens

Location: Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

1509-1510

The School of Athens by Raphael. This Renaissance painting depicts a made up scenario in Greece, where many famous Greek influencers meet. Such people include philosophers, writers, artists, and mathematicians. Some of the famous faces depicted in this painting are Plato, the guy with the white beard in the center. At the time of the Renaissance, the rebirth of intellect was important to society, so it is no surprise Rahael included such great academics. Therefore, the content of this painting is highly characterized by the time of the Renaissance, what society felt is important Raphael painted about.

This painting also introduces an aspect of visual art that was new and popular during this time, linear perspective. This painting is full of crisp lines within the architecture of the great hall but also shows off the perspective off the hall continuing back very nicely. This technique is called foreshortening (1) in which the painter shorten lines to create an illusion of depth.

My favorite part about this piece is figuring out who each person is in the paiting. its kind of like a ‘Where’s Waldo?’ of the Italian Rennaisance. Below is a close up of each character and who Raphael was depicting. I found this very interesting and actually looked up some of these guys to see why they were important to Raphael and the general public at the time.

1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus Possibly, the image of two philosophers, who were typically shown in pairs during the Renaissance: Heraclitus, the “weeping” philosopher, andDemocritus, the “laughing” philosopher. 3: unknown (believed to be Raphael)^[14] 4: Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles? 5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great? 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon or Timon? 9: Raphael,^[14][15][16] Fornarina as a personification of Love^[17] or Francesco Maria della Rovere? 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? 11: Parmenides? (Leonardo da Vinci) 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato (Leonardo da Vinci)(Archimedes) (thought to be an amalgamation of the three) 15: Aristotle (Giuliano da Sangallo) 16: Diogenes of Sinope 17: Plotinus (Donatello?) 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) 19: Zoroaster (Baldassare Castiglione) 20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti) (2)

In contrast to Raphael’s School of Athens, I picked Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand-Jatte  by Georges Seurat because it reminded me of what society felt was important at the time of Impressionism. Although each Impressionist artist has their niche, most subject matters of the Impression era were of leisurely activities and pleasant landscapes.  Although this painting is filled with people just like Raphael’s painting, they are not of great importance, just regular middle class people enjoying a Sunday afternoon.

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand-Jatte  (1884-1886) by Georges Seurat.

The style of the Renaissance is very rigid lines versus the soft edges and technique of Pointillism popular in the Impressionism era. Both paintings have a variety of colors but the second painting has more vibrant tones to catch the attention of the viewer.

A big difference between the art in the Renaissance and Impressionism is the variety of style you will find. In the Renaissance artists were classically trained and it was sometimes hard to tell who did what because the characteristics of each artist were muted. While during the Impressionistic era one look at a  Monet vs. a George Seurat you can point out who’s piece is who’s without a second glance. I personally find this more interesting than the Renaissance era because you get more variety.

Although both styles are beautiful in their own right, I prefer Impressionism over the Renaissance era because of the variety of styles within the art form and subject matter is more interesting to me. Pointillism is my favorite style within impressionism, I would love to see this piece up close at the Art Institute of Chicago to see how big the dots are up close and than slowly back away to get the whole picture.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_art#Techniques

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens

I failed miserably at learning the piano after two months of lessons I knew “Mary had a Little Lamb” and I still know it to this day. However, I don’t think that was my Moms intention when she enrolled me in lessons. From there on I failed at drums and clarinet, so is what I am trying to say is that music reading, writing or listening was never my thing. But I cannot, just because of my own missteps ignore the incredible transformation music went through in this short period of time. I have decided to focus on how the power of the middle class during the 1700’s greatly influenced the way music was written and played in a span of 85 years.

During the Baroque era, society centered on God, therefore the music was non-secular in nature. Also, at this time aristocrats and royalty alike were the main patrons of the arts.  When the audience shifted in the 1700’s to the middle class the music changed as well.

In the book Music In the Classic Period, the authors support the idea that the rise of the middle class had a great influence on music at the time:

“The middle of the eighteenth century witnessed perhaps the most comprehensive change that has ever taken place in the history of Western music. The change in music was a natural part of the change that took place in Western civilization generally, a change that may briefly be characterized as involving the rise of the middle class, the bourgeoisie, to political power and the concomitant decline of the aristocracy — in short, the formation of political and social life as we know it today” [1].

The three most influential composers of the time were Mozart, Beethoven, and Hayden. Let’s listen to some of their pieces and help tell the story of the interaction between music and society of the classical period.

Mozart’s Sonata No 16 in C major, K545, is one of his most recognizable pieces. Mozart entered this sonata in his work catalogue on June 26, 1788 “as a little Piano Sonata for beginners” [2].

 

This piece is melodic and playful something that the middle class of the time would recognize and enjoy. The concerto and sonata underwent significant transformation of the time [3]. The predictability and simplicity of music compared to the Baroque Era is what stands out to me as being the biggest change in the way music was composed.

Josesph Haydn was also influential in the evolution of the sonata [4] and one of his most famous pieces is known as the Surprise Symphony or Symphont No. 94. I and my dogs now understand why it is nicknamed the “Surprise Symphony’ because of the sudden much louder chord at the end of a soft piano opening. This is an example of music appealing to the middle class because Haydns music often contained many ‘jokes’. His biographer George Griesinger, even asked whether he wrote this “surprise” to awaken the audience [4].

The third composer to come along at the end of the Classical Era was Beethoven, a music genius. One of these very famous classical pieces includes his 5th Symphony. I choose the 5^th symphony because it exemplifies how fast music was changing in such a short period of time. Sonatas are known to have three parts but Beethoven often added a fourth. This symphony I find more complex and less predictable then music of the beginning of the Classical Period. I think this shows the power of the middle class and that they wanted to have predictable and simple music but not be bored so Beethoven gave them the 5^th Symphony. I feel like I am watching a movie full of suspense and then…something pops out. This is my favorite piece from the Classical Era, enjoy.

I hope by showcasing these three famous composers of the Classical Era and my analysis of the political and social influences of the time showed how the Middle Class economic power of the time changed music.

[1] Music In the Classic Period (Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995) taken from (http://www.u.arizona.edu/~douglast/Pages/The%20Classical%20Period.html)

[2] http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=499

[3] http://www.all-art.org/history700_classical_music_4classical_era.html

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._94_(Haydn)

The story of David and Goliath is great because the idea of overcoming obstacles that seem impossible can transcend to any area in life. Whether it be your 21credit semester from hell or training for the Equinox. The moral of the story is with God’s help you can do anything. That’s why I picked Berninis David, because in contrast to Michaelangelo, and Donnatellos, David, I have never felt emotion from a piece of rock i.e. sculpture.

The Catholic Church (David) in reaction to the Protestant Reformation (Goliath) convened the Council of Trent to regroup and set decrees going forward in order to keep their faithful.

The Council of Trent convened in Trento, Italy from 1545-1563 in 25 sessions for three periods [1]. The council came of with a strategy to counter the Protestant Reformation and this had an important impact on the visual arts. As part of the Councils recommendations, art was directed to be simple, emotional, and easy to understand for the layperson. This was a counter to the Mannerist style, which was often complicated and hard to understand [2].

What interests me most about this statue is the emotion that you feel from David’s facial expression and physical composition. The squinting of the brow and the biting of his lip brings me back to times when I felt that same as he had to feel in that moment against Goliath. I also like that you feel like the rock he is about to sling might hit you. The position of the torqued abdomen really makes you feel like the rock is about to spring right into your face. This is how the Catholic Church wanted their patrons to feel when looking at art of this time, the simple emotions from God through art.

 

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_trent

[2] http://amtf200.community.uaf.edu/2009/05/10/31-objectives-baroque/

 

During the time of the Reformation, a great divergance arose between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformers regarding the content and style of art. The church felt that most religious art in Catholic countries (especially Italy) had lost its focus on the religious subject-matter, and became too interested in decorative qualities. However, this all changed after the Council of Trent, according to an excerpt from Art in Renaissance Italy:

 

“The decrees of the Council of Trent stipulated that art was to be direct and compelling in its narrative presentation, that is was to provide an accurate presentation of the biblical narrative or saint’s life, rather than adding incidental and imaginary moments, and that it was to encourage piety.”[1]

 

I find this clash between the two interesting because it plays out so blantently with in the art of the time. The piece of work I chose to show case this was by Scipione Pulzone (1550–1598) from 1591 called the Lamentation. This picture was painted for the chapel of the Passion of Christ in the Jesuit church of the Gesù in Rome [2].

 

I believe this is the perfect example of the effect the Protestant Reformation had on art. This piece shows Jesus free of any decorative distractions and in a vulnerable state. He is only wearing a simple clothe and seems to be very weak. The people surrounding him are dressed in plain clothes and their faces protray realistic wrinkles and tears. The painting also has a darker tone surrouding Jesus as the focal point. With the focus of the painting giving direct attention to the crucifixion of Christ, it complies with the religious content of the council and shows the story of the passion while keeping Christ in the image of the ideal human.

 

[1] Art in Renaissance Italy. Paoletti, John T., and Gary M. Radke. Pg. 514. 

 

 

[2] http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110001790

This is what I dream about every night