Disclaimer: I wasn't actually able to visit this museum as I was on a field trip for a different class at the time of this field trip. But I visited the VMFA website to view the artwork online. Howardena Pindell is a woman of color who grew up in an unforgiving time to be both, and she is expressing her experiences and feelings regarding her life. When she got into a car accident in 1979, and experienced short term amnesia, some of her work evolved into collages in an attempt to reconstruct and piece back together her memory. She has applied many of the artist habits of mind, such as Developing her craft, Engaging and Persisting, Envisioning, and Expressing, to her work. She has obviously developed her craft, one can see this simply in her changing of style as she ages, and she has most definitely engaged and persisted by fighting sexism, racism, and discrimination as well as making them themes in her artwork. She has applied the Artist Habit of Mind of envisioning through coming up with the concepts and compositions of her artwork, and she has expressed herself through her art work, sharing her opinions and ideas. Since her accident, there is more of a vibrant color scheme and more of a collage base. It shows to me at least, a new found optimist, probably stemming from a desire to live life too the fullest after her brush with death. From this exhibit I have gained a newfound appreciation for non-objective art. It annoys me because I usually can't see the effort, skill, or creativity that goes into the artwork. However, in this exhibit, the description illustrated the work that went into the pieces, such as her making hundreds of hole punches and meticulously fixing them onto the canvas(as pictured below to the left). Honestly what I am creating in my sketchbook is the opposite of what Pindell is making. I like drawing faces and people and I attempt to make them as realistic as I can, but I still feel as though I can draw some inspiration and motivation from her, mostly from her color palettes. I like the combination of colors that she uses and the emotions she is conveying through said colors, especially her painting I have shown in the bottom right. I could also incorporate some of her chosen themes to make my work more interesting and purposeful rather than "sketch-dumps" whose purpose is simply to work on refining my skills as an artist.
A. Abstract v. Non-Objective: I draw the line between the two based on my ability to identify a subject. If I have a pretty good guess of what the subject of an artwork is then I am going to label it abstract as opposed to if I can't identify a subject and then I am going to label it Non-objective. If I am looking at an artwork and it is toeing the line between abstract and non-objective, then I would consider it to be abstract, because non-objective is simply a sub-category of abstract art. In the painting below to the left, there is a clear subject of people preforming in the circus, but in the non-objective painting to the right, there are panels of color and black lines without any clear idea of the subject.
B. Abstract Expressionism: It is a type of abstract art that originated in New York in the 1940s-1950s. It focuses on creating a sometimes unique emotion within the viewer, and strove towards creative spontaneity. There, Jake Berthot, 1980, oil on linen, Unframed: 70 × 60 in. (177.8 × 152.4 cm), VMFA C. Mark-making:
D. Use of art elements, design principles, and specific compositional choices:
2 Comments
11/28/2018 11:31:26 am
I was really interested in the comparisons you drew between your work and that of Howardina Pindell. I think your goals of incorporating similar themes in your own work despite the extreme differences in style is an excellent idea, as is the possibility of including similar color themes.
Reply
MM
11/29/2018 09:51:32 am
"From this exhibit I have gained a newfound appreciation for non-objective art." Well, wow! I know how you feel about this topic, so I consider this comment to be pretty earth-shattering. NOT that you will change what YOU do but that you may simply take something from it that you may not have taken before. I found it interesting that my random pairing of you and Alex ended up as such a good one! You both have similar opinions about abstraction and so I think this was a great experience for both of you. The remainder of your post was thorough and thoughtful - thank you for your great work, even though you were not there :(
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI am a sleep deprived artist trying to make ends meet. :) Categories
All
Archives
April 2021
|