Art Appreciation/Fall Midterm Paper: Contrast & Compare Essay

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1 Midterm Paper: Contrast & Compare Essay For the last few weeks, you have been learning how to look at art in a general way. What kind of art is it? Historical Documentation? Propaganda by the State? Personal Expression of a feeling? Religious? Political/activist? Pure pleasure? You have also thought about the intentions of the artist Did they want you to see the world in a new and innovative way? Were they trying to give form to the immaterial? Or were they making an important record of the people, places and events of their time? We are able to tell these differences by the presence or lack of cultural signifiers. What things do we recognize in the art? How do they relate to each other? What might such imagery mean, considering the time, place, and by whom, the art was created? Now, with our recent focus on Line, Space, Light & Color, and the other elements of composition, we have begun to look at art in a more specific way: Formally. We are learning the formal vocabulary an artist uses to convey the mood/idea of their content. When trying to read the formal visual language of an artwork, you first break the art down into its parts, evaluating those parts, then putting it back together. 1) How is the artists using the value scale? High contrast with lots of tension? Minimal contrast? How does that affect the atmosphere of the work? 2) Are the colors bright? Subdued? A combination? Are they analogous or are they complimentary and bounce off each other? What kind of space/air is described or created with such a color combination? What kind of mood? Also, how dynamic is the balance of the composition? What kind of texture/surface is used? Does the artist use pattern? Is time and movement relevant to the work? Task: For your midterm paper, you must evaluate and compare the work of two separate artists. You must describe each in regards to their imagery, line, space, light, color and composition, and how these formal elements convey the CONTENT (what the work is about) of each artist s work. Obviously, you will have to address what kind of art you believe it is and the artist s intentions therein lies the idea of the artwork. You use the formal description of the art to support your interpretation. I advise you to analyze and interpret one artist s work, and then the other, separately. When you have understood each on their own, the last part of your paper is comparing and contrasting them. How is their content similar? How do they differ? How is their formal language similar? How does it differ? Requirements: words. You will most definitely not be able to do the work under 1000 words, and an A paper will likely go to 1500 in order to adequately address the content. Due 11/28 by 8:00am through Turnitin.com. Again, the Turnitin Identification number given to this class: The password for the class is Depth. Each of you have been assigned ONE of the sets of Artists/Art to compare. Please just analyze the one set and never you mind about the other two! Note: Although this paper is about art and requires interpretation on your part, it is not a touchy-feely opinion piece. It is a practice in using your deductive visual reasoning to make an intelligent assessment of another individual s visual statement. I can tell the difference between a legitimate analysis and the wandering fluff-filler of I feel sentences! There is, in fact, a right and wrong answer!

2 SET ONE: Mickalene Thomas vs. Debra Hampton Mickalene Thomas, Something You Can Feel, rhinestone, acrylic, and enamel on panel, inches, 2008

3 Mickalene Thomas, Baby I Am Ready now, 72 x 60, enamel paint, Rhinestones, acrylic on panel, 2007

4 Debra Hampton, Rapid Fire series, collage, 70 x 80, c. 2011

5 Debra Hampton, Rapid Fire series, collage, 70 x 90, c. 2011

6 SET TWO: Fred Tomaselli vs. Julie Mehretu Fred Tomaselli, Expulsion, 84 x 120, Resin Assemblage, 2000

7 Fred Tomaselli, Penetrators (Large), 72 x 72, Mixed Media Assemblage, 2012

8 Fred Tomaselli, Flipper, Leaves, photo collage, acrylic and resin on wood panel, 84 x 180, 2008.

9 Example materials embedded in resin: mushrooms, flowers, pills, yarn, beads, paint, pictures,etc. Anything goes!

10 Julie Mehretu, Ruffian Logistics, 66 x 120, Acrylic and Ink On Canvas, 2001

11 Mehretu, Stadia I, 107 x 140, Ink and Acrylic on Canvas, 2004

12 Stadia I detail

13 Mehretu, Stadia II, 107 x 140, Ink and Acrylic on Canvas, 2004

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15 SET THREE: Takashi Murakami vs. Takashi Murakami, Tan Tan Bo Puking, 12 ft x 24 ft, Acrylic on Canvas, 2002

16 Takashi Murakami, Tan Tan Bo, Acrylic on Canvas, 10 ft x16 ft, 2001

17 Above: Actual Graffiti, 10 x 14, on dumpster Graffiti Art by Banksy c. 2010

18 Banksy Graffiti, c. 2004, was done all over

19 Banksy Graffiti c. 2009, done all over