Andy Warhol

I really like the style of Andy Warhol.  The picture in the textbook of Marilyn Monroe is what I always picture when I heare the name Andy Warhol.  This same style of painting has been used to paint portraits of many other famouse people like Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Bridgette Bardot and John Lennon.  Yeah, it's just a portrait, but Warhol creates unique and unheard of by incorporating color.  I really love these crazy colored prints.  It makes the picture so much more interesting.  I don't think Andy Warhol would have become as famous and he is now if he had just painted a portrait.  By switching up the color scheme he created art.

Betye Saar

     I really like Betye Saar’s The Liberation of Aunt Jemima.  The sculptures over exaggerated features that could only belong to an African-American woman make her look almost ridiculous.  I think she was trying to get the point across that these stereotypes are unreasonable.  The “mammy” stereotyped that implies black women are only good for housework and rearing children is portrayed through the broom, crying baby, and apron.  However, this image also shows that she can be tough and stand up for herself.  This is shown through the guns and the fist symbolizing black power.  I really enjoyed this piece of art.  I think Betye Saar does a good job of getting her point across.       

Robert Colescott

Robert Colescott’s Les Demoiselles d’Alabama is hilarious.  I really like this parody of Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.  I like Colescott’s painting a lot better than Picasso’s; it’s a modern twist on Picasso’s prostitutes.  The whole parody thing takes away the seriousness.  Maybe Picasso didn’t have a hidden message when he painted his picture.  This really lets you just see it for what it is.  Perhaps if Picasso was here today he would have painted something close to what Colescott did. 

On a more serious note, I think Colescott did a good job of incorporating all of the important elements of Picasso’s painting into his parody.  He positioned the women the same awkward way, used the fruit, and the blue background.  Overall, I like Colescott’s interpretation of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.        

The Beatles

     The Beatles have become one of the most influential rock bands of all time.  Their growing popularity in the United States became known as “Beatlemania.”  I, personally, am not a fan of The Beatles.  I don’t think they have very good singing voices and none of their songs interest me.  In the song,” Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” I think it is awkward the way the incorporate psychedelic instrumentals with the monotone vocals at the beginning.  The chorus gets a little better but I still think it’s terrible.  They do the same thing with the song “Strawberry Fields Forever.”  The Beatles’ hit “Here Comes the Sun” is probably the only song of theirs I can stand to listen to.  It actually has a beat and rhythm you can follow along too.  I honestly don’t know what people were thinking when The Beatles first came on the scene.  I guess back in the day they were doing something innovative, but I think if they came out with that know they would get laughed off the stage.     

Edward Weston

Edward Weston was briefly mentioned in the textbook on page 15.  I took a “History of Photography” class here at ICC and we discussed Weston a great deal.  I think he was strange and at least to me, not the greatest photographer.  The majority of his photographs are either of fruit or nude women.  I don’t think these two have anything to do with one another but it seems that he tried to relate them.  The picture titled “Two Shells” is shown on page 16.

 The text says that this picture evokes the ideas of a magnolia blossom and a female.  I don’t see either one.  All I see is a shell that is propped up and he took a picture of it. 

A lot of his other photographs just look like he found the weirdest shaped fruit he could and took a close up picture of it.  Or he would cut open and artichoke and photograph it.   

There are a few pictures of landscapes that I actually like and can actually admire his work.

I think Edward Weston would have been a much more recognized photographer if he would have taken more pictures of landscapes and less pictures of strangely shaped fruit. 

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater” is absolutely gorgeous.  I’ve never seen a piece of architecture so beautiful.  I love how the house blends in so well with the natural surroundings.  I’ve admired Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture for some time now.  When I was in grade school we took a field trip to Oak Park to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio and also Ernest Hemmingway’s childhood home.  It was great to see his architecture up close and personal.  There are many buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright’s in Oak Park.  One of these that I was able to visit is the Unity Temple. It was really neat inside.  There are a lot of windows and sky lights that let so much light in and make it feel more open inside.  There is also very detailed woodwork.  It is really beautiful to see.

The Robie House shown in the textbook seems really familiar to me.  I’m almost positive that was the other place we visited.  I like the sleek design of this house.  The glass in the house has detailed designs within it and some of it is stained.  It really fits in with the look of the house.  I would love to live here but that will never happen because it is open to tours.  If you are ever in the area it really is something you should see.   

David Smith

The structures that David Smith created are intriguing to me. I think his use to industrial materials and they way he molded them together by welding them is something innovative of his time. I looked up some more of his pieces and I like them a lot more than what is in the textbook. The sculpture in the book is very harsh with its sharp edges and boxy appearance.

The piece I really like is called Australia. I’m not sure what it has to do with Australia because to me it looks like a grasshopper or some other insect. I can see a head with antennae and a body. There are also legs and possibly wings. This piece has much more flow to it and I just like it all around.

Another piece I liked is called The Forest. I can definitely see a forest here. The so called “trees” look like there are birds perched on them and there also could be flowers. The thing that is wrapped around one of the “trees” with arms stretching out looks like a person. I really enjoyed this piece. I thought it looked like trees even before I knew the title of the artwork. I think it is really neat how Smith can create something so beautiful out of things that you would never ordinarily think of .

Pollock

                Jackson Pollock has an interesting style of painting.  I really don’t see what is so special about it but I guess maybe that’s just me since he is in our textbook.  I like his artwork but it’s nothing that I would take a special trip to a museum to see or pay a lot of money for.  I could easily replicate it on my own.  I do think that it represents abstract expressionism but that’s about it.  I think that what I like most about it is that there is no meaning to be gained from it.  At least from my point of view I don’t get any meaning from it, I think that it is just something to look at and admire. 

                Pollock’s new method known as action painting interested me.  I like the fact that he is able to view his work from all angles and directions.  He could also walk all the way around the painting which puts a new spin on things.  On page 87 of the textbook is shows one of his paintings Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist).  The description says “compositions like this one anticipated some of the photographs of outer space taken in the mid 1990s by the Hubble space telescope.”  I don’t believe that Pollock had any intention of trying to depict outer space.  I honestly think he was just splattering paint on a canvas.