Kate by Shauno

Today I'm going to be blogging about the concept of Pop Art: A movement that uses influences of pop culture and sometimes advertisements and comic book style art to create something that is very brash, bold and colorful. Some people say that it is an expansion of abstract art, which I discussed in one of my previous blogs. Pop art was first called Mass Media Art and emerged in the 1950's in Britain and soon took hold in United States.

Take this painting using acrylics drawn and colored in the style of Pop art -- how is it different from for example, a regular/realistic painting of a girl? Look at the way the hair is drawn, using different levels of thickness in the lines. By doing this, it creates more of a comic book/cartoonish style of art. What makes this picture so interesting to look at is the way it's outlined with simple varying line thickness. The colors however, still are made to give off a "50's vibe", since that was when it began and is more recognizable.

Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol

Most people, if not everyone is familiar with this famous silkscreen rendition of Marilyn Monroe's portrait by Andy Warhol. And if not the painting, then you're probably familiar with Marilyn Monroe, a pop sensation in the 50's. Andy Warhol, influenced by pop culture, created a colorful and bold silkscreen artwork with the use of a simple picture and different colors.

The reason why Pop art was very popular was because it related to things that people in those days were familiar with. It was also very academic as well as easy to access and recognize. Pop art coincided with the youthful, modern age at the time, and was being used in various advertisements, covers, etc. because it was new, bold and fashionable. Pop art, as some say, was the beginning of modern art itself.

To see more of Shauno's artwork: http://www.shauno.ca/
Learn more about Andy Warhol: http://www.warhol.org/

Sunset at Ambleteuse Pas De Calais by Theo van Rysselberghe

Did you notice the gritty, bumpy looking texture? It would seem like this was painted on a bumpy canvas, but in truth it was the way it was painted.

This is by a Belgian painter named Theo van Rysselberghe who lived during the late 1800's to the early 1900's. This is what's called a pointillism painting. You're probably wondering, what is pointillism? Pointillism is using smaller dots or brush strokes of primary colors (red, blue, green) to create a bigger image of blended secondary colors when seen from afar. Those smaller dots come together and blend, creating an overall painting. This is similar to pixels on a computer, and how those small pixels blend together so that zoomed out, create an image.

To use a technique such as pointillism takes a significant amount of patience and skill. Creating a simple landscape painting with such a precise technique. Being able to know exactly where to paint your dots or squares of primary colors takes some planning in order to have them blend perfectly. In the painting above, a variety of colors are used to create a gradient of different tones and hues. When you squint from afar, you can't even see the dots used to create this painting. I think this is one of the really cool things about pointillism, and how smaller things come together to create something even bigger.


To learn more about Theo van Rysselberghe:
http://www.abcgallery.com/P/pointillism/rysselberghebio.html
To see where his paintings are shown, please visit this site:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/gallery/rysselberghe_theo_van.html

In The Sky by Jose Favian Sosa

What do you see when you glance at this picture? Most likely, your depiction of this watercolor painting will be different from any other. That is what is so freeing about abstract artwork -- you can have your own perception of it. It can either be a simple form of artwork, to a more complex even exaggerated one. It also helps remind you that everyone is unique in their own opinions and views of everything; no one is truly the same.

Let me give you a little bit of history and background information on the origins of abstract art. Abstract art started a little bit after the 19th century, where during the Renaissance, realism was at it's peak. No one responded or thought of abstract artwork as acceptable since they were so used to the detail with realism and not the barely recognizable colors and shapes in abstract works. Then up until the late 19th century did people start to give abstract artwork a try. They finally recognized that realism is not the only way of "authentically" expressing and doing things.

In my opinion, it looks like a floating castle in the sky during a sunset (hence the warm hues of orange, yellow and pink). The areas of this painting that helped me come up with that perception was the fact that the watercolors are shaped like castle towers at the top, and the colors cover more paper at the bottom -- making me think of the ground of the castle. As I mentioned before, the color scheme is the reason why I depicted the castle as a floating one and not just a castle on the ground.

Untitled by Jose Favian Sosa

What about this watercolor painting? Although it is less "abstract" as the first, it is still a blend of different colors that help give the viewer a different view of it. In this one, he used the colors in a more concentrated way, putting them specifically in certain areas. In fact, this looks like a blurred out watercolor painting compared to the first.

In my opinion, (and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this one) this looks like a watercolor painting of flowers, that has a little bit of an abstract touch. The fuchsia and purple-red blend of colors look like flower petals, the green splotches being the leaves/greenery and the darker strokes being the branches/stem. This goes to show that various artworks can have a differentiating level of being abstract, if that makes sense. What I'm trying to say is that compared to the first picture where the possibilities of perceiving that painting are endless, this picture narrows them down.

To view more of Jose Favian Sosa's works: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joses_artwork/

Part of the series "Eye Smile" By Marion Bolognesi

What does this painting say to you? What are the first words to come to mind when you see this? What kinds of feelings does it give off?

To me, this painting gives off the essence of mystery and sadness. The fact that only the top part of the faces are painted, specifically the eyes and the nose makes me think of masquerade masks. And of course when you wear a mask, you hide your identity either literally or symbolically, or maybe even both. When you stare into the eyes on the portrait, what do you feel? I feel a strong intensity and focus, since the eyes are looking directly at the viewer. It is almost as if the characters in the portrait know something. But what? Those are some of the type of questions that go through my mind. 

I also love how the painting makes the watercolors drip down from the eyes, making it look like tears. This is where I got the idea of sadness or mourning. I thought, maybe the mystery and sadness are connected somehow.

This painting is actually part of a series of watercolor paintings called "Eye Series" by Marion Bolognesi. They are all mainly focusing on the eyes, nose or the mouth; the more prominent features of the face. Those features are what makes you notice and recognize different people. Here is another example of a painting from his collection.

Part of the series "Eye Smile" By Marion Bolognesi in collaboration with Zach Johnsen

You can immediately tell that this painting is very different from the one above. Here, he collaborates with the artist Zach Johnsen to create more of a cartoon-ish, surreal and deathly looking portrait using the same materials and style of painting. Compared to the top one, which uses a variety of brighter colors and a simple portrait of two eyes, this painting uses skulls, a man's eyes and nose, as well as a masked cartoon character. The colors are less vibrant and bright, and there are not only watercolor drippings, but there are also splatters. As you can see, there is more going on in this picture compared to the other.

It gives off a totally different feeling than the first one. There is less mystery and intensity since the eyes of the characters in the portrait are not focused on the viewer. It gives me the sense of heroism, bravery and risk despite chances of death. I used the different pictures in this painting to think of those words. The man looking at the distance and parallel to him is a masked character. What if that is his alter-ego? The mystery of these type of portraits and the theme of hiding yourself could be the focus. The skulls remind me of death that maybe the man and his masked persona could be facing.

Of course, that's only my idea of what this portrait could mean. Everyone has their own idea and story of different paintings, and no idea is considered wrong. This is what I mean about the freedom of artwork and expression and their relation.

What do these paintings say to you?

"Corner Storage" by Tail Flower

This picture is different from my previous posts because it's not a piece of photography, but a drawing. I was browsing pictures online and this one caught my eye instantly. It's called "Corner Storage" drawn by the user "Tail Flower" (Full name not given) on Pixiv, a Japanese/Asian photo source similar to Flickr. You might be wondering, why is the title "Corner Storage"? Although there is a possibility of a translation error, my guess is "corner" is referring to a street corner. I have no clue what to make of "storage" though.

This drawing is in the style of manga/realism. Manga/anime is a very popular style that originated in Japan and has been the inspiration for many styles of art all over the world. For example, the movie The Matrix was inspired by Japanese manga action scenes.

What I love about this drawing is that it shows the suburban side of Japan that not many pictures show. It gives off the feeling of a normal, innocent afternoon where two students are coming home from school or a day in the city. I love how the angle of the piece and the color choices of gray really help make the orange afternoon sky pop and stand out. You can tell by the style of the artwork and how close it looks realistically that the artist took his/her time with every detail and every shade. Instead of everything looking flat and dull as well as 2-D, the coloring, outlining, shading and highlighting done make the picture look less cartoon-ish. What's great is that all his/her artworks take that style of careful shading and highlighting to look relatively realistic. Browsing through his photos, he mainly focuses on anime/manga looking characters and landscapes. The way he/she colors is a soft, watercolor-esque look that a lot of manga/anime artists use.

"Untitled" by Rosemarie Buenrostro

This picture is another from Flickr by the photographer Rosemarie Buenrostro. It's a beautiful photo that unfortunately has no title. In addition, it's not a professional picture that requires crews of people doing lighting and hair and makeup. Rather, it's a natural spontaneous picture that was taken of her friend while they were together.

I think this picture shows many emotions such as the definite feeling of freedom and being carefree stated before in the previous photo. I think it also symbolizes that we should appreciate everything because nothing lasts forever, such as the sun going down or the confetti falling to the ground. Sooner or later everything will come to an end. This picture gives me the warm feeling of being appreciative of everything around me as well as being positive. I love the way the sun hits the tree at the right spot and makes the picture even better. This shows that even the smallest things can have such a huge difference overall. The colors are another thing that makes the picture so pretty. The warm tones and the balance of oranges and the light blue sky gives the picture a warm, summery atmosphere.

"Lauren and Dean" by Lauren Farmer

For my first post, I decided to use this picture taken by Lauren Farmer on Flickr titled "Lauren and Dean". This is a photo of two people, a girl and a boy sitting on the rooftop of a building at night, staring at the view of the city all around them. This piece of photography can be expressed and described in different ways and with many feelings. From this picture, these words are the first to come to mind: “Freedom”, “Adventure”, “Carefree”, and “Adolescence”. The overall mood this picture gives off is an urban, carefree and “top of the world” feeling, a place where you can truly believe your problems are gone. The two in this picture must have the feeling of adventure and somewhat of risk because of their body language. From the way they are dangling their feet over the edge seems like they are enjoying themselves and they are having fun, carefree time while they are up there. The picture also gives off the feeling of adventure, because the two people in the picture are doing something that seems brash, daring, venturesome and something that many people don't have the time or liking to do. From this picture I can instantly imagine the sounds of the city, the cool summer air, and the glowing city lights in the distance. What’s interesting about this photo is that it feels really composed, serene and peaceful despite the busy, bustling city location that surrounds them.