Final Post

The artwork I’ve created is an attempt at modernizing the work of Paolo Veronese. When thinking of what to create, I followed his less manneristic approach using bright, vivid colors, which he later used throughout his career. I also deemed it as appropriate to incorporate a social trend that occurs within the 21^st century. The Protestant Reformation and Inquisition were social trends which inspired Veronese’s artwork. Both of these historical events influenced a movement from heresy within the Roman Catholic church. Although Veronese was Catholic, his most famous piece which reflects the Protestant Reformation was his rendition of the Last Supper. This less than biblical depiction became banned from the church because of his incorporation of German soldiers, drunks, cats and a minimal focus on Christ. Imagining Veronese in the 21^st century, I used bright paint colors to paint a church characterized by the gay flag. I also created a modern rendition of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden which depicts two men as the first couple on earth. Both of my artworks depict a modern rendition of how society has testified the classical beliefs of the bible. As seen by Veronese’s rebellious reputation, I feel these are an accurate postmodern attempt at depicting this. For the painting of the church, I chose to use paint as my medium because that was Veronese’s most used technique. The work’s focal point is the church surrounded by a background of blue. The connotative or implied meaning of the piece communicates a modernistic approach at religion. It is implied by the gay flag that I am either promoting or mocking the views of today’s church. For my Adam and Eve rendition, I chose both paint and the use of collage and Photoshop as my medium. I felt this was successful in attempting Veronese’s less focused approach on the religious aspect of the image and diluting it with color. Both “Adam’s” are the focal point, however, they are less centralized in the image and made smaller than their surroundings, just as Christ was created small in Veronese’s “Feast in the House of Eli.” The connotative meaning of the piece communicates a biblical piece whereas after a closer look, the denotative meaning becomes clear that this could also be a mockery of religion and modern times.

Reflecting on this past semester, I’m grateful for the respect I’ve acquired for art in general. It was interesting to learn the makeup of a visual analysis and all the little pieces that go into a work of art. Starting with the BMA, simply choosing a piece that stands out to me, I’ve self-taught myself on Paolo Veronese, the Renaissance and was taught about many different artists and styles from my classmates. Walking away from this class, I can say that I will now look closer at any given piece of art. Whether it be detecting if it’s a rule of thirds, or just being able to identify its color scheme, I now feel I’m capable to pick the brain of an artist and attempt to define their thought process. The only opportunity I see for this class to be better would be providing a more in-depth Photoshop tutorial for students such as I that have no background in it. This was the only difficulty I had when it came to the advertisement project which required skill in Photoshop.  

Postmodernism

The articles on postmodernism art were somewhat confusing for me. The writers talk about how places such as Disneyland is neither true or false. They draw contrast on the reality of these mystical places; these places that “make us believe that the adults are elsewhere, in the “real” world, and to conceal the fact that the real childishness is everywhere…” This brings question to me. I view this as saying we indulge in these imaginary worlds to forego the reality of the world momentarily. What does that have to do with postmodern art?

I enjoyed the article which talks about how technological influences have changed the way in which we see the world. Communications technologies have made what used to be viewed a ginormous world, small. We are so interconnected these days that things are viewed much smaller and more fragmented. There are so many more and new ways to express oneself and be your own person whereas back then, things were much less individualistic. I understood the definition of postmodern art best through it being summarized in this quote, “Postmodern artists, just like the explorers of past centuries, simply plunge into the unknown and then try to represent it.” I suppose we are living in a world of postmodern art, even when we don’t realize it, because every new idea is essentially a shaping of a previously establish concept.

The Shape of Time

Kubler's, The Shape of Time, discusses the limitations which come about when writing the biography of an artist. He finds controversy in the structure of a biography because it does not properly emphasize on the historical question in artists' lives. Kubler compares this analogy to a train; "railroads themselves are the elements of continuity and not the travelers or the functionaries thereon." I believe what he is saying is that we must focus in on the tracks of a railroads as an artist's life and disregard those that travel upon them. A railroad takes many twists and turns, and just as an artist's life does, it can travel in many directions.

Kubler also discusses "entrances" which I believe is the starting point for the artists recognition. People begin at both good and bad starting points which Kubler believes can be that of luck for the individual. There is a question of whether those that being at "bad" starting points are as likely to succeed as those beginning at good starting points with the same amount of talent. Would somebody with extraordinary talent but little wealth have the opportunity to succeed as much as those with great wealth and just as much if not less talent? Kubler identifies "genius" as the inheritable nature and inborn different of kind among men.

The shape of time comes from what anthropologists use to distinguish intangible items, ideas, apart from artifacts. What unites the two is the "history of things" under a visual form. This relates to the concept of visual data which we've been studying because as stated by Kubler, "in short all materials worked by human hands under the guidance of connected ideas developed in temporal sequence." In short, it is taking the concept of a thought or idea, and turning it into visual material. Whether we interpret it the same or not, it is the collective identity that then becomes art.

Data Visualization Reading

The YouTube clip on Data Visualization is a concept which I've never really taken the time to digest. In today's society, we are so often exposed to these laid out materials which depict a bigger picture. This include maps, subway grids, info graphics etc. What's most interesting to me is how important data visualization has become for our brain's understanding of bigger concepts. Our world is so digitized that it's become almost essential to make the information we process into an image. I know for myself, being much more of a visual learner, that I am constantly in need of graphics; that being either a chart, web or table to compare and contrast opposing points of views or information being compared. Visualization has the ability to take something that is complex and make it simple. I think that for the future of our society, with the ever-growing world of media, there will be major improvements in data visualization, leaving no room for confusion in the ways we are exposed to data. I like the point that Jer Thorp makes saying, "There's another purpose of data visualization. There's revelation-which is- show us something that we've never seen before." This quote kind of tests what we already know about data visualisation and challenges the future thinkers to top the development of cartography and sun maps.

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