When I was around ten years old my older sister was asked to play piano at the Philadelphia Art Museum, obviously since I was so young my mother brought me along while my sister played piano in the mail hall of the Museum. At one point I became so bored that I walked off by myself. I ended up wondering into the European Paintings section. I was instantly hooked and found myself wondering and staring at the beautiful works lining the walls. Of course at this time I had little experience with painting, but I could not get myself to look away from those colors. They captivated me and I begged my mom to let me pick up paint’s later that day.

For this assignment, I chose to go back to my own roots and write about the artworks that brought me some of my first classical inspirations. To this day I love this style of painting, the way the brush texture and thickness of the oil paints leave a beautiful mark on the canvas to the point that you want to run your hand over the paintings and feel the dried paint. While also being able to create beautifully blended pieces at the same time is fascinating. Although these paintings are very artistically pleasing, they also present strong emotions that really connect with me. These paintings have always given me a sense of calm and peacefulness that I take great comfort in and have not been able to find in any modern art. Classic European artwork is something that most people could find stereotypical, but that does not diminish the emotional connection one feels to these artworks or their artistic beauty.

2.W.2 gallery1

When you take a look into the art of Louis Bourgeois you see a large array of expressionism. Her work is filled with emotion and intention that connect with Barrett’s description and overall idea of expressionism. You can feel the heavy emotions that are prevalent in her work. A lot of Bourgeois’ work is centered around her difficult childhood and her struggles with her father that you can easily and deeply feel represented in her sculptures. You feel the turmoil in the dark metal, dramatic lighting, and eerie sculpting.

3.M.3 louisbourgeois

When you take a look into the works of Louis Bourgeois you are met with incredibly intimate sculptures and paintings that leave you with a sense of life. You can almost feel the life and age that these works represent and show different emotions of her past and present. Her works are metaphors of the different eras and stages of her life. These range from the more obvious, to the more thought provoking but either way these works show the life of a wonderful and strong women.

3.M.2 xavierhufkins

In this video we see some of Bourgeois’ beautiful hand sculptures. They show hands holding each other, and you feel a sense of helping and community. According to Bourgeois they are supposed to show helplessness and how we are meant to help others. In these works you see a cluster of hands each holding one another in different ways, with a new arm being added each sculpture. I felt as though these hands were a symbolic sign of unity and community.

3.M.1 lbourgeios art21

In this reading we learned about the different types of tropes and how they relate to art in both a literal and figurative sense. We have four major tropes that we discuss in this reading. They consist of a metaphor, which relate different things together, metonym, which relate by connecting different things, synechdoche, which relates one thing instead of another thing and finally irony, which relates opposites within an expression.

3.R.3 mastertropes

In this reading we learned about semiotics, and it’s significance in our lives and how that significance relates to art. The three forms of signs that we reviewed in this reading were an iconic, an indexical and a symbolic sign. We see most of these signs within our daily lives. A lot of symbolic signs are seen on our daily drives to indicate how drivers interact with the road. The red on a traffic light means stop, just like a red stop sign. Indexical signs are also used in our daily lives through our texting and messaging. Most kids know what the different meanings of emojis are without having to have someone explain it to them. Lastly, and most abstract is iconic signs, that show things in ways that they are like, but not exactly ‘are’, we see examples of this on menus in restaurants and cafes, we see pictures of the food but we see the cleanest, and most appetizing form of that food, which often differs from how it actually ends up arriving.

3.R.2 semioticsforart

According to Barrett, expressionism is ” an eminent, popular and appealing theory of art”(pg.65). This idea of expressionism focuses heavily on emotion, and it is within that emotion that artists create their works. Barrett says that expressionism and cognitivism, which is the idea that “art provides knowledge of the world in unique and powerful ways”. that would be lost if not preserved in this format (pg.65). While both of these forms contain heavy emotions, expressionism and cognitivism they are created in two different emotional levels and intent.

3.R.1 feelthinkknow

Barrett, Terry. Why Is That Art?: Aesthetics and Criticism of Contemporary Art. Oxford University Press, 2017.

In Barrett’s Why is That Art?, we get a few different depictions of what “Realism” actually means. Barrett begins his explanations of Realism by discussing the concepts of two philosophers Aristotle and Plato. For them, Realism is “the real in its perfect, ideal form that is the object of beauty, a form of visual perfection”(pg. 22). This is the Greeks’ ideal form of Realism that was once seen as the true form of art in that time period. Many artists have since altered the original ideals of Realism to reflect a new idea of what is “real”. In this instance, Barrett describes Realism as “a picture is Realistic if a typical viewer tends to be deceived by it, thinking the picture is what it is a picture of” (pg. 34). This description seems to follow a more modern take on Realism, which stems from emotion and feeling rather than a photo-realistic artwork. 

Artist Jeff Koons is a modern Realism artist who has been known to create works that spark up massive debates on what is art. A majority of Koons work is often described as pornography, kitsch or mimesis, and is often argued that his work is not ‘art’ but instead a way to bring in money and fame. Koons has often been branded as controversial in the art world. In Koons Made in Heaven series, he created paintings, and sculptures that depicted him and his wife having intercourse. This, like most of his work is heavily debated and scrutinized by critics and fellow artists, yet revered by the public for being raunchy and real. Koons work is known mostly because of the controversy that surrounds it, it attracts viewers and is the main reason why his work is able to be sold for a ridiculous profit. People love a scandal, people love drama, and people love to discuss controversies and argue over irrelevant topics that spark interest and Jeff Koons works that system like a New York stock broker. 

The only reason Jeff Koons is as popular as he is, is because he was born in the right place at the right time. His work is far too controversial to have ever been accepted in Ancient Greece where the main art critics were Plato and Aristotle who saw Realism as a form of beauty. One could argue that the sculptures do depict beautiful forms of the human body. Barrett wrote that “Made in Heaven might provide Plato with an interesting test case as a work of art, it would be difficult for Plato to deny the beauty of the bodies of the subjects” (pg. 39). but when you see what those forms are performing you would surly second guess if Plato would approve; you would know that Aristotle would be absolutely appalled. 

(2.W.1 Module 2)

Work Cited 

Barrett, Terry. Why Is That Art?: Aesthetics and Criticism of  Contemporary Art. 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 2017.

After reading chapter two of “Why is That Art”, Barrett brings up interesting ideas on the realism aspect that Jeff Koons art resides. After reviewing Koons works from Puppy to Made in Heaven, you can argue that his works, although over the top, all have a form of realism. Barrett explains that in Puppy, the overall feel of a puppy is there. It is created using flowers; which the rough texture gives off the impression of fur, while the entire sculpture leaves you with the same feelings of joy a puppy would. In Made in Heaven, although the poses and depictions are graphic, it is a realism-esqu form of the human body, which in Plato’s own definition would most likely fall under the category of realism, no matter what the pose and connotations of the work is present.

2.M.3 Jeff Koons

When I was around 7 years old I saw a movie called “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki and it changed my view of art forever. I remember seeing the main character and noticed how smoothly she moves, and how magical the creatures and dragons made me feel when I saw them gracefully fly across the screen. I became obsessed with Miyazaki movies. I would beg my mother to find more of his movies and I would sit and practice drawing the characters I saw. It was then that I decided that I wanted to follow in his footsteps and become an animator. However, as the years went on and life got in the way my goals changed; it took me a few years and hardships to bring myself back to the realization that doing what you love in life is worth it. Miyazaki, along with other animators and cartoonists, gave me a type of inspiration that no other artist could truly achieve. These artists brought me back to my passion so for my Artist Tree, I dared to place myself among my actual heroes. 

I love the art of animation, I admire the skill and patience it takes to simply create an animated episode. Animation is an extremely delicate and time consuming artwork but it creates some of the most beautiful works of entertainment. So when I decided to place myself among them in this tree, I sadly realized I knew less names of these wonderful creators than I thought I did. For my tree, I decided to create it in the classic Tree-House style of Winnie the Pooh, one of my favorite Disney animations. This tree is composed of thick branches that taper out thinner and thinner. I decided to write the names of my favorite animators larger and slowly follow the branches with names that either followed them in my animated journey, or followed them in succession of success. 

I placed the names on this tree on two main sides. The left starts out with my absolute favorite, Hayao Miyazaki followed by names of relatively famous animators but still in a niche category. On the right I placed  Disney, followed by the names of other “Disney” branded animators along with some of the classic cartoon-style animators and pioneers of the industry. Towards the bottom of my tree I placed animator James Baxter, a well renowned and incredibly talented animator who has worked on numerous projects that I deeply admire. Finally, and most terrifying, I placed myself right underneath my current role model Rebecca Sugar, the creator of “Steven Universe”. 

Over the years my goals and career choices have fluctuated. When I was a teenager I lost faith in my artwork, and thought that my art would never become as beautiful as those whom I admired. I was frustrated that my art was not as good as the image in my head and would be angry at myself even though I never received any artistic training. When I finally went to college and attempted to be in different fields and corporate worlds I felt isolated and deflated. I had always been working on my art in my free time and slowly realized that if I had to be in a corporation for my entire life, I would be miserable; so I took my life back into my own hands and decided to simply do what I enjoy. One of my biggest goals I have set up for myself is to create my own original story. Something that I can be fully passionate about, and be able to create into a graphic novel with hopes of eventual animation. I would love to be able to find a working environment where I can hone my skills and still feel inspired to work on my own projects.

After some consideration, I realized that I would love to be an art teacher by day, and graphic novelist by night. Being in a teaching environment is exciting to me, I love children and remember how much I enjoyed my art classes, so being able to teach kids to follow their passions, while following my own is exactly something I would be happy doing for the rest of my life. Art is something that everyone should have access too, and being able to teach children how to appreciate and enjoy their own works is something that I needed in my life. I am  a very practical person and I feel happy with the choices and goals I have set out for myself. I know that I still have a long way to go before I am comfortable and happy with my work; but I am excited to see where that work and effort brings me. I have a wonderful imagination and I am ready to work hard to bring those ideas to life through art.