Art Gallery Visit

After days of looking at paitings in class and was able to see pieces of arts by famous artists through slides and understand different movements of arts, I thought that I have a feelings and knowledge of what art is about. However, after the visit to the art gallery, I was able to get the feeling of how it is to be looking at the works of artists in a museum or gallery. Looking at paintings in a classroom through a projector or pictures in book only give me an image of what the paintings look like through colors and concept of the paintings. On the other hand, looking at paintings in a gallery further my understanding of the concept of art through the detailed work done by the artists. Furthermore stepping into a gallery give me the feeling of realism and look at real pieces of arts by artists make me become more curious and examine the detail work done by the artists better.

I have three favorite pieces during my visit to the gallery. The first one is "Washing Away" by Trang Nguyen is an example of realism painting because of it detailed value, color, and subject along with the historical content of the castle in the background. My second favorite is "Youth Today" by Kevin Weines is an example of Impressionism and a bit of realism in it. It has the content that describes the youth of the 21st century and it's a satire of the 21st century. The last piece that I like is "shoes" I like this piece because of it detailed pencil work by the artist and it reminds me of Chardin's work, this piece has the still image of a pair of Converse shoes just like Chardin's (the artist who couldn't draw subjects that move) work.

Out of the three pieces that I like, the photographic piece is my favorite. "Youth Today" has the satire of the 21st century and a strong content. It has a lot of emotions in it. Simliar to Hogarth's Marriage Contract, which was the satire of the England society on the 1800s.

Degas Ballet Class

One of the famous artists of the impressionism movement. Edgar Degas, a French artist who even though was an aritst of Impressionism, he refused and preferred to be a realist. This "ballet class" by Degas was preferred as the most realistic piece which has the movement of the ballet dancers even though it lacks the balance of the subjects in the peice. This relates to the 21st centutry through its realism and the movements were so real which shows emotions to the viewers. It also has the realist feelings through the baclground and the subjects that connect to the 21st century.

Boating at Argenteuil

One of the earliest artist of the movement of Modern Realism was Edouard Manet, French artist who adopted the philopsphy of Baudelaire's and used it in his paintings. Boating at Argenteuil, done by Manet with the idea to shows the society of modern life. Painted in the 1870s, Manet painted a well dressed woman with a man who is dress like an ordinary person is talking with a woman in a place for rich people. Manet's goal was to show a connection of how people should face the reality, that is the beginnning of a mixed society between the rich and poor.

In the modern society, especially in the US, people can work for the whole year and will have money to spend their vacation anywhere they want. This is the connection between the society back then and the modern society. Before the poor were not allowed to be with the well off people and step into wealthy places. Manet had shows a new society in this painting and this represents Baudelaire's philosophy really well.

Monk by the Sea

When talking about Romantic arts, most people would think of dynamic movements and colorful values being used in a painting. However, to Caspar Friedrich a German Romantic artist a Romantic piece of art doesn't have to be colorful or have a lot of emotions. One of his famous piece Monk by the Sea painted in 1809 was just showing a picture of a monk staring at the sea.
This represents the movement of Romantic Landscape.If an individual stare at this piece for the first time, it doesn't have anything special to it. However, the eerie color and the foggy atmosphere gives people the feeling of sadness and perhaps lonely. There are people today who are really scare of ghosts, monsters or blood, but once a while they'd still like to watch a scary movie. Similarily, people back then were used to look at exotic and colorful paintings, but if they look at this piece by Friedrich they'd still able to have the feeling of lonely through the colors and the foggy atmosphere painted in this painting.

Monk by the Sea

When talking about Romantic arts, most people would think of dynamic movements and colorful values being used in a painting. However, to Caspar Friedrich a German Romantic artist a Romantic piece of art doesn't have to be colorful or have a lot of emotions. One of his famous piece Monk by the Sea painted in 1809 was just showing a picture of a monk staring at the sea. This represents the movement of Romantic Landscape.
If an individual stare at this piece for the first time, it doesn't have anything special to it. However, the eerie color and the foggy atmosphere gives people the feeling of sadness and perhaps lonely. There are people today who are really scare of ghosts, monsters or blood, but once a while they'd still like to watch a scary movie. Similarily, people back then were used to look at exotic and colorful paintings, but if they look at this piece by Friedrich they'd still able to have the feeling of lonely through the colors and the foggy atmosphere painted in this painting.

Pity the Sorrows of the old man

This piece marvelously painted by Gericault during the movement of Romanticism in the 1820s is differently expressed in terms of texture and color. Compare to other Ronamticism artists Gericault is a genious because he was able to show and bring emotions to the audience in this piece with the absent of colr. In this piece, the subject is the wealthy old man depressingly sitting in the street with his dog.

This painting shows a connection to the twenty century by proving that no matter how wealthy someone is during any period in history, money sometimes can't bring happiness to people. Gericault proved this by illustrated a well dressed wealthy man sitting on a street in a neighborhood that isn't so rich. This is an irony because a rich man depressingly sitting in a poor neighborhood. This is symbolically similar to rich people in the 21st century who feel lonely after they work their whole life and in the end these people are the only ones left alive when their family all passed away.

Raft of Medusa

One of the most famous piece by Theodore Gericault, a French Romanticism painter; the Raft of Medusa was a popular icon for the Romanticism Art. It shows both, the importance and the concept of Romanticisn which was the break through of Neoclassical Art. This magnificent piece painted by Gericault was telling an adventure of the crews on a French warship that was struck into the Bank of Aguin in 1816. There were 150 people on board and only about ten survived. It was told that the people survived consumed the corpses of the dead in order to survive.
This painting by Gericault was published in 1819, three years after the tragic event. Gericault wanted to paint this piece to shows and publicly remind people of the horrific event that happened to the crew members of warship Medusa. People in the 21st century are able to get news and can see the events through media or the internet. However, back then people were only able to get the news through storytellers, because of this, The Raft of Medusa was the piece of art that portrayed the tragic event to the crew members on the ship to public.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps

This piece of art, painted by Jacques Louis David shows one of France's most popular ruler during the 18th century. Unlike the Baroque or Rococo period of art, this piece was painted with the ruler of France looking at the viewers. This was the time during the France Revolution and everyone in Europe was questioning the authority about the purposes of life using the idea of the philosophers during the Enlightenment period. This painting was painted as a Neoclassical piece, but it also has another important purpose it it; the other purpose was to use it as a propaganda to shows the might of France ruler and to illustrate to the world the powerful France.
Many leaders show their power through propaganda and media. Adolf Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini all of these three fascist leaders were able to put the feeling of fear to its people through propaganda and media. It's sadly to see the world today still has the same problem, terrorism, and dictators around the world are still able to threaten people through media just like the painting of Napoleon. He was able to hide the fact that he rode a weak donkey across the alps and changed it to become a strong horse.

Fragonard's The Swing foreshadows 21st Century society

Painted during the Roccoco Period of art by one of the famous artists of that time Fragonard. As a student of Boucher, another famous Rococo artist Fragonard's paintings were approximately forty years after his teacher Boucher. However much of Fragonard's works were rather popular than Boucher's. Boucher's works brought the fsentiment of nature and expressed the playful feelings within his paintings to the audience.
Boucher's paintings were much different than his student Fragonard. Although the viewers can see the nature within Boucher's, people can sense the sexual theme in Fragonard's art style. One of Fragonard's magnificent peice of art " The Swing" illustrated to the audiences a scenery of two men and one woman grasping a rope swinging from a tree and one of the two male individuals in the painting was peeking under her dress while the other man pushed the rope to go higher to give the other person a clearer view. This relate to the 21st century as sex is just a normal subject in our everyday's life. This picture was painted in the 18th century which was just before the Victorian period. The woman in this picture represent the female individuals in our society today. The women in our society today are more open to the subject of sex which the audiences can see through " The Swing" by Fragonard during the Rococo Period.

5 images represent me #5

This photo shows the scenery of sunrise in the morning. This represents my style of living. No matter how long night is, morning will comes. Everytime I face conflicts in life, i think that time will eventually lead me out of conflicts in life

5 images represent me #4

This painting of the soccer ball, at first glance it's a normal picture. There's nothing special about it, but to me, I have a love for soccer madly. Whenever i look at this paiting, it represents me because it shows my love for this sport.

5 images represent me #3

This painting shows the calm river and the forest in autumn. It shows my love for nature really well, and I just love outdoor activities. I'd love to go camp somewhere like this.

5 images represent me #2

This piece of art was drew by Leonardo Da Vinci, the famous Italian artist. This picture shows the relationship of art and science. This image represents me in terms of my interest, I love to study art and science and this image amazed me the first time I saw it.

5 images represent me #1

This ancient piece of art was scultped into Buddha, the founder of Buddihsm. This picture represents me because I'm a Buddihst and it reminds me of a big statue of everytime i step into a Buddhist temple.