A Post-Modern W…

A Post-Modern World

Street Art: A Virtual Exhibit

 

My first (and only) personal encounter with street art was in Phoenix, Arizona. My Husband and I were back home visiting family and taking the kids to different tourist attractions around town, trying to escape the dreadful heat. We were in downtown Scottsdale where I experienced the 3D chalk art, and I was instantly fascinated. Of course, the image looked entirely distorted from most every angle, but when looking through a lens perfectly positioned, the distorted figure turned into an amazing three dimensional master piece. I find inspiration in street art. Talented artists took the non-traditional art form from illegal avenues and rebellion, to beautiful commissioned paintings in urban cities across the world. The three dimensional painting are the most remarkable; it’s amazing what the human mind can create. It takes a rare and talented mind to take a little paint and street corner and produce such stunning works of art.

 

Edgar Müller

 

http://www.metanamorph.com/

 

Edgar Müller was Mülheim, Germany in 1968. His passion for art and painting began at a young age and entered international street painting competitions when he was only 16 years old. He has traveled all over Europe and has left his mark, although temporary, in countless urban cities across Europe.

 

Where Do I Go

Tapic, Nayarit, Mexico

2010

 

What attracted me to this particular painting is its location; my Husband’s home town. We are planning to visit his family in Tapic in the next coiuple years, and I’m hoping to see this street painting in person!

 

Duality

Teplistan, Moscow, Russia

2010

 

The environmental conditions in which this painting was creating were devastating and dangerous. At the time Müller was painting this waterfall scene, which was inspired by his travels in Croatia, the area was overwhelmed by peat and forest fires, causing dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and sickening environmental conditions. Despite these conditions, Müller’s persistence and dedication held his commitment to the painting in Moscow. 

 

Kurt Wenner

 

http://www.kurtwenner.com/

 

Kurt Wenner of the first of his kind; he was the creator of the hyperbolic perspective, which would reinvent and transform sidewalk art into three dimensional optical illusions. Prior to his career as a street artist, he worked for NASA as a space illustrator. He left NASA for Italy to pursue his passion in Renaissance art. This is where his foundation in Renaissance Art was formed. The majority of his work are inspired by the Renaissance era, and he used similar techniques as the artists used then, to create optical illusions.

 

Dies Irae

Mantua, Italy

2010

 

Dies Irae is a story of Judgment Day, in which the unsaved souls are cast off to hell. Wenner’s three dimensional interpretation of Dies Irae is just stunning. It seems as though these souls are being sucked into the entrance of eternal damnation.

 

Run Away Stagecoach

Istanbul, Turkey

 

This particular street painting is actually a marketing advertisement for an LED television. And after looking through numerous galleries on Kurt Wenner’s website, I noticed that he does many non-traditional commercial advertisements in the form of three dimensional street art. It’s certainly a distinctive form of marketing, but it’s unique and eye-catching and ultimately, that’s what makes an effective ad.

 

Julian Beever

 

http://www.julianbeever.net/

 

Julian Beever was born in Cheltenham, United Kingdom in 1959. He began his career as a pavement artist long before it was popular. It wasn’t until the 1990’s that he began to explore his interest and exercise his techniques in anamorphic art. By the next decade, commercial companies commissioned his work for advertisement and marketing.

 

 

Politicians Meeting Their End

England, 1997

 

I love this anamorphic art, showing politicians falling into a deep, dark hole. It was completed in honor of the General Election in the UK. It is a demonstration of honesty, and it is a bold display of free speech in its statement against the corruption of government and its leaders.

 

Make Poverty History

Edinburgh, 2010

 

This anamorphic illusion was commissioned by a local news station in Edinburgh, UK, in support of the G8 Campaign; a movement to stop global poverty and hunger, and to improve the quality of life.

Harlem Renaissance: Lois Mailou Jones

Early Modernism: The Harlem Renaissance

Lois Mailou Jones was a noteworthy visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance movement. She was born, raised and educated in Boston, Massachusetts during a time of great racial bigotries. Despite the ethnic obstacles, her career as an artist thrived for nearly 70 years. It wasn’t her paintings in particular that were representative of the cultural divides, it was her story of success that was indicative of the African American influence during the Harlem Renaissance. During her early career, it was her success as a textile designer that brought her recognition as an artist, as well as a steady pay check. Her talent earned her a position as a Design Instructor at Howard University. But the time and place of her success – a time in which women were not greatly recognized and African Americans were not treated with equality nor were they respected with recognition – her personal success and artistic recognition is unique and impressive. I find inspiration in her fight against the cultural and gender divide.

Personally, I enjoy her paintings because they are bright, vibrant and full of life, even when they depict the hard truths of life. I really enjoy her portrait paintings, and one that sticks out the most to me is the 1929 painting, Negro Youth. Given the time and the cultural divide, this young boy must have faced the harsh prejudice and discrimination. I can see emotional anguish in his face and brow; yet he holds his head high and presents himself in confidence.

Lois Mailou Jones

Negro Youth

1929

Impressionism: Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas

Girl Drying Herself

France, 1885

The Impressionist style reminded me of a vague dream; the kind of dream that you wake up from and can’t remember much of the details, but only the faint emotions that you felt in the dream. It was a good dream, but you don’t really know why, you just wake up happy and refreshed.

I wasn’t exactly impressed with Impressionism. None of the paintings that I looked were eye catching or inspiring or unique, compared to the art work of prior eras. But I think that was the intention. These paintings typically depicted the ordinary, everyday moments in life, and that’s where the beauty lies.

There was one painting that did catch my eye, but not for it’s uniqueness or extordinary  beauty. It was it’s familiarity that stood out. This painting was hung over my Grandmother’s cast iron, claw foot tub. I love taking baths in that tub as a child, because it was such a unique bathtub. Taking a bath was so ordinary, but that bathtub made it the experience unique. And as I soaked in the hot water in the cast iron tub, warming up from a day at the windy beach, I would stare at this painting, along with several other Degas paintings in my Grandmother’s very unique bathroom.

http://www.edgar-degas.org/

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0118063/critique/c_degas.htm

Classic Era – Ludwig van Beethovan

Sonata quasi una fantasia 

Sonata quasi una fantasia (Moonlight Sonata)

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Vienna, 1801

 

During the classical era, the middle class was on the rise, and they wanted access to the same music as the upper class citizens. So composers and performers broadened their audience to include the middle class and began to hold public performances. Ludwig van Beethoven was the first composer to remain as a freelance composer ₍₁₎; he did not relying only on his commissions of the Aristocrats and Royalty, but made a comfortable living through the teaching, composing, and performing of his music.

What is attractive about his compositions is that it is simply music; no lyrics. So the listener can create their own story to the music, and this attracted a wide array of audiences.

 

What drew me to Moonlight Sonata is that it allows me to turn my mind off and simply listen to the graceful, fluid music. It is so relatable to many different moods and also creates different emotions throughout the song.

 

Works Cited:

(1)   http://amtf200.community.uaf.edu/

Baroque Architecture: The Palace of Versailles

 

The Palace of Versailles

Jules Hardouin Mansart

Building Phases: Three and Four

Versailles, France 1678 – 1697

The Baroque era left a HUGE impression on the arts for decades, and inspired artists and architects for years to come. For me, the most impressionable of the arts from this period was not the visual arts, or theater, or even music. The architecture of the Baroque era has left the biggest impression me, for obvious reason… its utter magnificence and grandeur.  I have always wanted to travel through Europe to take in the majestic architecture of France and Italy. The majority of Rome’s famous architecture is the product of this era, as well as many Palaces throughout Europe.

In my opinion, the Palace of Versailles is the mo st stunning representation of Baroque architecture. While it’s original architecture began in 1661 by architect Louis Le Vau, the Baroque style architecture of the current Palace is credited to Baroque architect Jules Hardouin Mansart, during the third and fourth phase of the building campaign.

King Louis XIV commissioned the Palace to be built, with the intent to move the French Royal Court to Versailles. Versailles soon became the center of French Government, and King Louis XIV, as well as his successors King Louis XV and King Louis XVI, would maintain the French Governmental reign from Versailles for the next century. During the French Revolution in the late 18^th Century, The French Monarchy began to crumble, and March on Versailles would ultimately force the Royal family out of Versailles, and back to Paris. King Louis XVI was executed in 1793,ending their French Control.

Resources:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/52.184

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

Renaissance

Anonymous, Satire on the Popery, Germany 1555

This etching is a great representation of criticism of the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation.  Thanks to the newly designed printing press, artwork such as this one could be mass produced and dispersed throughout Europe and used as a tool of propaganda to help spread the Reformation.  The figure on the left represents the highest earthly authority of the Catholic Church, The Pope. He appears as a three-headed fictitious character, buying protection from the Roman Army, represented by the Soldier on the right. During the Reformation of the 16^th Century, leaders such as John Calvin and Martin Luther, and their reformist followers, had many doubts of the validity and integrity of the Catholic Church. There was much corruption within the church, and the Reformists didn’t feel the Doctrines of the Church were valid, but mostly, they felt as though a relationship with God is a personal relationship; not a relationship that needed to be mediated through an authority such as the Pope.

I was raised Catholic and at an early age (probably right around the time of my First Communion) I began to have my own doubts about the Church. Even as a child, it seemed silly to me give an 8 year old a piece of bread and then wash it down with a swig of wine, and call it the body and blood of Christ. But hey, who was I to turn down wine?

As an adult, I’m somewhat of a critic of religion, not just Catholicism but Religion in general. I have my own doubts about the stories of an Almighty creator; the Universe seems much bigger than one being could create. So I think I was initially drawn to this picture because it’s fairly similar to my own opinions of God; a bolstered, if not fictitious, character who is used by mankind to generate fear and gain authority over the masses.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/53.677.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation

 

Hello World

Sara Robles:

Wife. Mom. Student.