Pictures from Home "My Mother Posing for Me"

Larry Sultan.
American (Brooklyn, New York, 1946 - 2009, Greenbrae, California)
This piece of artwork is interesting because it looks like a normal photograph that anyone can take haphazardly during the day. However, this photo tells more than you think at first glance though. The photographer is obviously older because the woman has white hair and that is his mother posing for him. He was born in Brooklyn but died in California and it looks as though they are in California here because of the clothing that they are wearing. The television and lamp are older models so we can tell that this photo was not taken very recently. The man who’s back is towards us (who I assume is the photographer’s father) sits very relaxed so we get the feeling that this is his home. The woman wears a long sleeve shirt yet the man wears a short sleeve shirt. They both are wearing white pants so I assume that it is warm out and probably the summer time. The man is watching a baseball game and the woman is tense and probably nervous. This picture is from a series of pictures from home so she must have been doing quite a few poses around the house for a while. From this picture we can assume many things because of what we typically see and how we perceive and make judgments of what we see. This photo has many possibilities of different scenarios but I’d like to think of the most reasonable one from what I can observe in the picture.

Blue Girl With Wine

Tim Burton's "Blue Girl With Wine" (2009) which is now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is a very interesting piece. The girl has a tattoo of a heart on her left arm. The girl also has stitches all over her body conveying the idea that she is broken inside. Also on the table you see a glass of wine and a wine bottle with a symbol on it representing poison or death. Now what does that tattoo represent. It may represent love, or lack of it. So is this girl broken inside because she is in love, or because she has not found love. Furthermore why is she trying to do harm to herself when she is already feeling so much pain. Does the wine make her feel happy temporarily, or does it make her feel worse. The look on her face would make you believe that she does not seem happy. So maybe she has lost all hope, and that is why she is killing herself by drinking wine. Maybe she is already so broken inside that she feels impervious to pain. Or she could be feeling so much pain that she wants it all to come to an end? There are a lot of questions in this piece that I don't have the answer to. It really makes you ponder, but also makes you aware of the ambiguity that exists in this piece. You can look at this piece for weeks and still not know exactly what is being said. That to me is artwork.

Firecrotch

Rita Ackerman's piece "Firecrotch" (2008) is a new addition to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Florida. I chose this piece because at first the title really grabbed me. As I looked close I saw that Ackerman used printed paper, yarn, cardboard, tape, spray paint, charcoal, and tempera to create this image inside two pieces of plexiglas. I found that very unique about this piece. I also really liked how the red hair stands out in this piece. Ackerman uses a mixture of red yarn and spray paint to display the red in this piece. The piece as a whole is very interesting because it is completely out of proportion. The head on this being in enormous compared to the body and the hands. And when you look at the face in this piece the eyes are really large. There also appears to be more than two hands in this piece, and a third leg as well. Now the title of this piece is firecrotch but you can't even see the crotch. The rest of the hair on around the body is red, but you can't see if there is red hair on the crotch. I found this interesting because it feels like I am making the assumption that this person has a "firecrotch", but I don't know if that's true. Overall I really enjoyed this piece because it is original and made me think.

This composition from the U.K Tate Art Gallery caught my eye for a few reasons. The first reason is its wide variety and usage of bright pronounced colors. These colors make the painting jump off the page and force the viewer to have a continuous circular view throughout the piece due to his brush strokes. Secondly I found myself trying to compose an image in my head by connecting all the heavy brush strokes. This was a unique feature that I felt gave every viewer the option to make this their own painting. Overall I would recommend people to see this exhibit if they ever have a chance to attend one of the Tate Art Galleries.

Fighting Temeraire:

This image is from the Tate Art Gallery. I chose this composition because of the vast array of colors and strong lighting. I believe that Fighting Temeraire is the title of this piece because it depicts a battle on the sea. The sun to the right is the first point of the painting that caught my eye and made me choose it. In addition the fact that it is on the ocean in my eyes is a great painting to compose.

Slides in Tate Modern Art Gallery

I chose to post a video of not just artwork from the Tate Art Gallery but the other experiences visiting the gallery has to offer. This video shows a large and unique slide placed in the middle of the gallery making it the first focal point when guests enter. This slide appeals to both adults and children making it a great addition to the already stunning gallery.

And Still We Gather with Infinite Momentum

On the 20x200 website, I found a very interesting photo by Justin James King from Saratoga, NY. He became interested in landscape at a very young age, particularly for its history and connotations. In May 2009, Justin was awarded Best Personal Work as a Series in the New York Photography Awards. He was a 2009 Second Edition Hot Shot and will be exhibiting his work at Jen Bekman Gallery in 2010.

From this photo, we see a blank, black landscape that is filled in by our own preconceived notions. We see first things that come to mind, experiences, memories, emotions. These manifestations of our culture and experiences allow us to fill in the black landscape we look out into.

Robert Hughes: "The Curse of the Mona LIsa"

Hughes gives us a very traditional perspective on the contemporary art world with his award winning documentary - "Curse of the Mona Lisa." Though Hughes has a pre-conceived outlook on the art world today, he still offers his audience with powerful arguments. He doesn't drive us to think one way about contemporary art, but provides us with enough to understand his bias and realize the effects that the contemporary art world has upon us. After viewing the documentary, you can't help but sympathize with Hughes and his traditional views.

The Australian art critic, born in July of 1938 has resided in New York since 1970. He has tons of publications and works in writings/documentaries. This documentary, however, really exploits the contemporary art world. Hughes understands that we now live in different times, but this documentary is like a last attempt by Hughes to revitalize people back to the emotions art used to drive out of them. All he sees now is an eratic art martket that frenzies over the money art can bring in. Hughes blames the Mona Lisa for it all.