ORAL PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Source #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs6GkV4SfWE (William Kentridge documentary)
Source #2: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/william-kentridge
Source #3: http://nladesignvisual.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/william-kentridge-1955/


ARTIST: William Kentridge 

START: Introduce William Kentridge's background
(Speak about the idea of apartheid)
-How his background is important & how it ties in with his work.

SLIDE ONE:  Explain the Kentridge's influence.
Expressionism, Propaganda, the political interest in Africa, political interest with African-American's.

SLIDE TWO: "The Pit" Series, Picture of MonoType (1979) early work.
Explain his influence by theatre, experimented with the notions of theatrical representation of space.

SLIDE THREE: "The Domestic" Scenes Picture of Etching, (1980) early work.
Explain the idea of self-identity.

VIDEO #1:  1987, William Kentridge's exhibition
Explain how this influenced his animation films.

SLIDE FOUR: (1998) Silkscreen of three themes introducing his animations
Art in a Stage of Grace, Art in a Stage of Seige, Art in a Stage of Hope.

(introduce)- - - - 1989, Kentridge made series of nine short films "9 Drawings for Projection"- - -

VIDEO #2: 
FIRST ANIMATED FILM: " Johannesburg. 2nd greatest city after Paris"
Explain the theme of: violent oppression.
Explain SOHO character

VIDEO #3: "Felix in Exile"
Explain the characters of FELIX & Neglected wife.

WRAP IT UP: Explaining the techniques of these animated films
Themes he discussed.

MOMA: ROBERT GOBER

       Few days ago I recently seen Robert Gober's exhibit "The heart is not a metaphor".  I was blown away. It was such a interesting experience, I should say. Robert Gober by the way is an American sculptor. Actually over the past years, Gober's sculptures have been known to become more complex in terms of both technically and iconographically. Gober as well uses cast of existing sculptures and combines them to create provocative hybrid just like this piece. What intrigued me was as soon as I walked in the exhibition I saw a man's leg protruding from the wall. Gober does create more realistic human pieces that you would soon see throughout the exhibition and kinda intensify's the room and can actually make you feel uncomfortable.

      Another part of the exhibition that I really enjoyed was these two rooms that consisted of two different wallpapers. One of the rooms consisted a wallpaper of a white man who appears to be asleep in a small bed who appears to be dreaming of a black guy hanging from a lynching tree. My interpretation was Gober was trying to bring upon the issues of gender, race, and really social injustice. Making it a background Gober shows how it's become a part our lives, it has become our background. And being in this room actually made me feel a bit uncomfortable and emotional but in a good sense.  

  

      The other room consisted of  male and female genital wallpaper. What was really interesting is that Gober really test's sexuality and takes something that is taboo and reveals it to the world. Something that is uncomfortable, he takes it to a another level. What was also interesting was analyzing people and seeing how uncomfortable people were to be in a room like this. But Gober shows how this is a part of us. And it shouldn't be hidden, but should be explored and re-examined. To think about this subject matter in a different perspective 

      Overall seeing "The heart is not a metaphor" was such a unique experience and lead me to many open questions. Robert Gober comes across the some themes of sexuality, religion and race. Robert Gober takes art to a whole different level and shocks the audience and even makes them feel uncomfortable. Besides that, I have never seen any sculptures like Gober's as you can see below. I am looking forward to more exhibiton's from Robert Gober and I recommend anyone to really go see it!

MOMA: SURREALISM

One of my favorite types of artwork has always been: Surrealism. I actually came across one of my favorite surreal artworks of all time at MOMA and that would have to be " The Empire of Light II" (1950) by brilliant surrealist Rene Magritte!  Now as you can see the top portion of the painting shows sunny day with bright sky with white clouds signifying daytime, while the bottom part of the painting shows dark lighting signifying night time. What I truly love about surrealism is it kinda reveals the irony of something that we can be so oblivious about. This is such a well-known and brilliant piece. Magritte takes something so simple and transforms it. This scene is subtlety surreal! It looks like a photograph (reminder this is a painting!!) yet it is surreal because of the sky.

POSTMODERN & GLOBAL ART

MARINA ABRAMOVIC

             If you know me Marina is actually known to be one of my favorite contemporary artist of all time. I was so estatic to see her first on the list among many other brilliant artists.. From ART 21 a segment of Marina Abramovic on "History", Marina discusses the insights into her artistic vision as well as her personal life and how that has affected her as an artist. If you don't know Marina Abramovic is Yugoslavian artist whose work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. What is interesting as an artist is her ability to create a relationship between the performer and audience. She creates a real life experimental experience which is completely one of the most breathtaking things to ever watch. Marina has used her own body as a vehicle, pushing herself beyond her physical and mental limits and at times risking her life in the process! Marina creates performances that challenge, shock, and move us in all different aspects. Emotionally, physically as an artist and person. 

         Marina Abramovic believed that solitude was important for an artist. To have solitude away from the studio, home, family, or friends. That an artist needs to allow silence to enter. Marina felt performance was a tool that she used to express herself. She embraced repetition and challenges. Marina states every performance she tries to challenge herself more and more. To reach new levels and play around with our human-spirits.  She felt it was important for an artist to have a tool. Marina abramovic also believed being an artist is a huge responsibility. Marina always believes in three groups that she has to always accomplish as an artist. The first group is: the artist body: which is where she performs infront of  an audience. Second: The public body:  This is where the public can perform for themselves and get experience. Third: the student body: which is where she transfers knowledge for the younger artists.

 -" An artist should look deep inside for inspiration" Marina Abramovic has never ceased to amaze me. She inspires artist, including me, that we can reach these kind of levels within us if we only cease to believe. Because she is one of my favorite artists, I always recommend to watch " The Artist is Present" a documentary that Marina Abramovic has made and I promise it will take your breath away!

BEAUTY VS YOU (DADA COLLAGE)

Early 20th Century

1. DESCRIBE A DADA ARTWORK?

"MONA LISA"

                         -LEONARDO DA VINCI                            

                                                          "L.H.O.O.Q" -

                                    MARCEL DUCHAMP

During the early 20th century, after World War 1, a strong movement started to happen. This huge event started to changed millions of peoples lives, including artist and their views on politics. This started the Dada movement.  Dada artists both embraced and critiqued modernity. This included critiques about our new technologies, films, newspapers, even advertisements. Dadaist's believed in subversive and revolutionary ideals. According to Art Factory, " Dada or dadaism was also a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political, and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theater, dance, and politics" Dada was more of protest movement that was happening during this era. A perfect example would be this art piece called" L.H.O.O.Q" which is a work of art by Marcel Duchamp. Now this piece is known to be " Mona Lisa" which was originally created by Leonardo da Vinci. However Duchamp creates his own version of it. As you can see Duchamp drew a mustache and a goatee. This is actually one of the well known act of degrading a famous work of art. Actually if you pronounce the title in French, it spells out " She has a hot bum" very odd right? Duchamp's goal was to lead his contemporaries to challenge the usual standards set out for artwork in the public eye. Referencing to this piece, he wanted to continuously challenge what the public perceived as art. He expressed his notion by creating this piece to show that art does not always have to be beautiful. Duchamp took this piece of beauty and transformed it into something unconventional. Not only did Duchamp create a piece that shocked viewers visually, he created something that forced his audience to think about what they were seeing. Just like this piece! What do you think it truly means? 

2.WHAT WERE THE INFLUENCES OF JACOB LAWRENCE?

Jacob Lawrence is known be one of the most important artist of the 20th century. His influences came from the African American history. He is known for depicting important moments in African American History by using narrative paintings. He as well created such a unique American vision that affirms the place of ANY individuals in our society and honors the struggle for true independence. Jacob Lawrence was known to be a " Expressionist". This work by Lawrence is called Builders Number #1. We see a male sitting on a workbench surrounded by so many tools and fasteners.  He is alone and reflective, weighing the projects ahead.  If we look closely at his expression we can really picture his emotions. In this piece Lawrence really captures the labor lifestyle and the social struggle. Overall Jacob Lawrence did call his work dynamic cubism, meaning he was interested in simple shapes, bold colors, and patterns. And we can actually see a bit of these qualities in this piece. 

Impressionism & Post Impressionism

IMPRESSION

During the 19th century, a art movement started happening. Artist during this time created a new visuality, a new way of seeing the world. Started to see about the nature of fugitive light falling on surfaces. Artist started to convey the passage of time, changes in weather, and other shifts in the atmosphere in their canvases.  And these type of artists were happened to called  "Impressionists" and their paintings became known as "Impressionism." Impressionism is about modernity: its faster pace and various improvements in the quality of daily life. It's about the little middle class activites. Such as shopping, vacationing, strolling, waiting, or even walking your dog. Impressionism is about life lived in bursts of brief encounters in the city. It's about faster speeds, quickly moving clouds, the nature of fugitive light, daytime/ night time settings. And impressionist George Seurat shows a perfect example by this painting called A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. If we take a look here we can see really the nature of fugitive light just by the shadows he's painted. As well as we can see a  real day-to-day activity in our everyday lives. We can see a patch of beautiful vibrant colors and scattered sunlight oozing from this painting. We really see a change of art and how artist such as impressionist started to break from the normal traditional european paintings. By re-analyzing tone and color, capturing the ever-changing effects of light on the canvas.

POST IMPRESSIONISM 

During the late 19th century, impressionism started to pave it's way for post-impressionism. Now post impressionist painters started to explore different directions and approaches to painting without concern about the appearance of their subjects. It started to pave it's way for the development of modern art!  Compared to impressionist painters,  post-impressionist painters were not concerned with the objective appearance of their subject matter or how it looked at a different time of the day. Post impressionist painters started to largely concentrate on the personal emotions and concepts of the individual artist. It was a slower process and more of an involved methodical process. Post impressionism started to use geometric forms to portray its subjects while impressionism used small thin brushstrokes that gave the painting softer edges. This painting is " Portrait of Doctor Gatchet" painted by one of the most brilliant artist Vincent Van Gogh. If we look at his eyes they're drooped with sadness. As well as his skin tone appears to be kinda abnormal and shallow. We as well see lines of colors swimming around and through the doctor which was also a unique a technique Van Gogh had.