The Subconscious Symbols and Imagery Belonging to the Modern Art Era - Article Example

From Realism through the Postmodern Era Assignment Type:1- 1300 words Realism is a style of art in which the subjects are depicted as they appear in real life. This style was prevalent in mid 19th century. Most of these images were ordinary and common things in contrast with the Romanticism and neoclassicism. Grafton Tyler Brown( 1841-1918) was an African American artist from this period. He was born in Harrisburg Pa. He came to San Francisco later and worked as a lithographer. He soon gave up lithography to pursue art. His works are mainly consisting of landscaped and mountain scenery. His interest in these subjects grew after he went on a geological survey in 1882. he painted the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone many times over from 1886 to 1891. One of his works is View of the Lower Falls, Grand Canyons of the Yellowstone. This was done in 1890. This is a typical representation of realism. The work shows a small water fall in the valleys of the Grand Canyon. The style is as similar as taking a photograph. The colors used are also as close to the actual colors of the scene as possible. Even the texture of the land has been recreated painstakingly. The background shows sky and the clouds as they must have been in the real life. Realism is a style , as told before, of recreating the images as they are seen. Modernism was the style in the early twentieth century. This style is said to ‘use characteristic methods of a discipline to criticize the discipline itself’(Greenberg, 1960). This was shift from realism. As the technique of photography developed the realistic depictions became redundant. Modernism believes in creating art by using color and form and not by recreating the natural world. Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was an American Modern artist. He was born in Harlem, New York City and learnt art from Charles Alston in Harlem Art Workshop. In 1937 he enrolled in American Art School. Ha also worked for the WPA Federal Art Project as a painter. His earlier paintings were historical works about African American figures like Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman. His subjects changed after he served in the Coast Guard in World War II. After this he started painting to support civil rights movement. His later works became more abstract in nature. His work New York in Transit, done in 1996 shows expressions through colors and form which is the characteristics of modernism. This painting uses the colors of the American flag- red and blue that are offset by light blue, grey, brown and black. The work has multiple images of daily life. The colors are used in linear columns and are flat. This depicts various facets of life in New York with different figures showing different activities and different mental states. The work is divided into two with a vertical column. On one side is a set of scenes which form a different world of fun and joy while the other side has a male and a female figure pulling at the vertical column that represents the division in the society. There is despair on their faces while some activity is going on in the background. All the figures are devoid of real features and are just flat colors but still they are able to convey the feelings of the subjects. Late twentieth century saw the advent of Postmodernism. It was a reaction to the modernism’s purity of form and technique. It was an effort to remove the divisions between art and other mediums of expression. It also tried to remove the tags like high and low art. Postmodernism had a great influence of disillusionment after World War II. Fred Wilson is a post modern artist born in 1954 in New York. He did his BFA from SUNY/purchase. As a typical post modern artist he does not like creating art just with his hands. Post modernism rejected all kinds of tools and techniques along with the subjects. He believes in manipulating objects existing in the world in spatial arrangements. As a post modern artist he wants to put things in the way he wants to see them. He creates exhibition contexts for the displays. Through this he wants to give a direction to the interpretation of the works. In one of his most famous interventions called ‘Mining the museum”, he projected the history of slavery in America. He works in a variety of mediums like installations, sculpture, printmaking, glass and video. He derives inspiration from the things around him and makes something from it. In tune with the vanishing distinctions of fields in postmodern era, he brings his works close to philosophy. His ultimate aim is to create visual beauty that has beauty but hides the beauty. He also finds beauty and ugliness as similar things that people like to put separately. He treats beauty as a complex feeling. According to him a work of art has a matrix of idea, structure, texture and context at the same time. But he insists on the visual appeal of his works and does not want to be considered as a conceptual artist who is only focused on the idea. One of his works is “Exchange”, done in 2004, which is Spit bite aquatint with direct gravure. The dimensions are 30 1/2 X 34 inches. This is printed by Case Hudson, assisted by Rachel Stevenson in Crown Point Press, San Francisco. In this work there are many blobs and according to Fred they are talking to each other. They are all different characters and their personalities and voices come out from the blurbs. Some of these blurbs are blacks. According to Fred these are black characters written by white writers. This work represents the thought that the characterizations of the blacks should have the voice of the black people. When we compare the three works described above, we can see a clear demarcation of styles depicting their eras. Grafton Browns work of the Grand Canyon is as close to the real life as possible. It uses traditional techniques of painting and used the colors close to the actual colors of the scene. The work does not have any hidden meaning but it is just an attempt to portray a beautiful scene in a realistic way. Jacob Lawrence’s work on New York maintains figures but does not attempt to portray them in realistic forms. They are only suggestive of the real form and the emphasis is more on the expression than on details. The work tries to capture a period of transition in New York and expresses it with symbolic colors and drawings. The title of the work helps to understand its theme. Fred Wilson’s work is totally different and does not have any figurative depiction at all. It uses the print media as a declaration of diffusing boundaries of art and media. It simply has two clusters of black and grey blurbs surrounded by voice bubbles. Although one can guess what the artist is trying to say through this work but the explanation given by the artist makes it clear. When placed together these studies and the works themselves present a journey of art from Realism to Post Modernism. Brown Grafton, View of the Lower Falls, Grand Canyons of the Yellowstone Jacob Lawrence, New York In Transit Fred Wilson, Exchange. Reference: Francis F and Charles H ed., (1982)Modern Art and Modernism: A Critical Anthology. Brown, Grafton T. (2007) In Student’s Encyclopedia, Retrieved December 17, 2007 from Britannica student Encyclopedia: http://student.britannica.com/comptons/article-9310409? Work of art, View of the Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 1890,Grafton Tyler Brown ,Smithsonian American Art Museum 1994.56 http://americanart.si.edu/search/search_artworks1.cfm?StartRow=1&ConID=6300&format=short Art History, Realism, http://wwar.com/masters/movements/realism.html Lawrence, J. http://wwar.com/masters/l/lawrence-jacob.html http://student.britannica.com/comptons/article-9310409 Assignment Type: Individual Project 2: 250 words Discuss a minimum of two reasons why Jackson Pollock"s style of painting, as exemplified by Convergence (p. 510, Figure 734), is considered an important, innovative development in the history of painting. Pollock belongs to the era of modern art and this era is known for defying the norms. This era had done away with the forms of figurative depictions. Modern art expressed the abstract thoughts in a figureless way. It is supposed to create sense from senselessness. Since Pollock used to put the canvas down on the floor and paint from all directions, it does not have the top and bottom dimensions. This is typical of Native Chavin Art (Naifeh et al, 1989). Jackson Pollock is known for his unique style of painting, referred as ‘action painting’. Convergence by Pollock is a typical example of art of this period. It has spatters of black, grey, orange, yellow blue and white. Among all the splatters, white stands out which can be symbolic to convergence of all the confusion and rising up of purity or divinity. Many critics have found different influences in his style and tried to find the possible sources but according to Pollock all he did was unintentional. Still it can be said that the ‘unintentional’ style of any artist has the back up of various factors that have influenced his subconscious. Since Pollock had spent his childhood in Indian environment, the effect of Natives America is apparent in his works (Frank, 1983). His style follows no rules. This has wildness similar to the Natives. He uses all kinds of tools for painting and discards the traditional tools for painting. This represents discarding all traditions and accepted norms. It is the conceiving of a thought in the artist’s mind and expressing it by colours. Convergence represents the subconscious symbols and imagery belonging to the modern art era. Reference: Frank, E , Pollock, 1983, Cross River Press Naifeh, Steven and Smith, Gregory White, Jackson Pollock:an American saga, Published by Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.1989 Assignment Type: Discussion Board Deliverable Length: 150 words Contemporary artist Trenton Doyel Hancock is a contemporary artist born in 1974. he grew up in Paris and Texas. He completed his BFA from Texas A&M University and MFA in Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia. His style has been drawings, collages and prints. The main theme of his works is the story of Mounds. These are mythical creatures that are half plant and half animal. Hancock’s each work takes their story forward. His style is influenced by Abstract Expressionism. He uses colours and patterns to create symbolic meanings. One of his works is “I See Things”, done in 2002. it is Graphite and acrylic on paper. The dimensions are 11 ¼ * 11 inches. This is a typical mounds painting in which the mound is depicted with black and white stripes holding a multi colour flower in his mouth. The background is of a garden. It conveys the story that the mounds were born in a garden. The black and white stripes represent the politics, race etc. Pink flowers have contradictory meaning of the colour of the flesh under the skin. This is a perfect usage of a mythological concept to convey contemporary concerns. I See Things, Trenton Doyel Hancock. Reference: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/hancock/clip2.html Read More