Bruce Nauman is one of the most distinguished, powerful, and multitalented American artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Although, his work is not easily defined by its mediums, techniques, or theses, its figure is central to the artwork. His art channels Post-Minimalism, as it blends ideas from Conceptualism, Minimalism, performance art, and video art. The widened interest in Marcel Duchamp in the 60s obviously influenced Nauman. From Nauman’s wordplay to the infusion of mockery and ludicrous tone, Duchamp’s influence is quite evident. Nauman saw his art as more of a serious research venture, than as a playful project. It is shaped by his ethical and political beliefs.
A key idea of Nauman’s artwork came from how he viewed his own body, and the act of being repetitive. In Nauman’s neon displays the same sculpture will illuminate in many of his works, over and over again. Nauman was interested in the relationship between the viewer and his artwork. Nauman aimed for a crude
…show more content…
Nauman was appalled with the way words either succeed or fail with referring to objects in our world. Nauman’s comical and absurd touches to his artwork bring not only jokes and wordplay, but obsessive behavior and frustration as well.
The modernist belief of artists being able to express what they wanted clearly and powerfully was disappearing. Nauman’s work represents this perfectly. Art to Nauman is just another form of communication, it is a language. This encouraged him to use “readymade” objects that already had meanings and were understood by the world.
To this day, Nauman is still one of the most influential contemporary American artists. His ideas are spread through different sources of media and mediums, which makes it difficult to give Nauman’s artwork a style. Through sculpture and video, Nauman explores linguistics and the physical body, with his themes focusing on animal and human body
Coming from a family greatly involved in art dealing, Vincent van Gogh was destined to have a place in the world of art. Van Gogh’s unique techniques and use of color, which clashed and differed greatly from the masters of the art world of his time, would eventually gain him the recognition as one of the founders of modern art. Van Gogh’s early life was heavily influenced by the role of his father who was a pastor and chose to follow in his footsteps. Although he abandoned the desire to become a pastor, van Gogh remained a spiritual being and was strong in faith. Plagued with a troubled mind and poor health, van Gogh’s life became filled with torment and isolation that would influence his career in later life as an artist. In his late twenties, van Gogh had decided that it was God’s divine plan for him to become a painter. His works would express through thoughtful composition and vibrant color, the emotions that he was unable to manifest in the real world. Van Gogh’s perception of reality and his technique would face harsh criticism and never receive full acceptance from his peers as a serious artist during his brief career. In a collection of correspondence entitled The Letters of a Post-Impressionist, Vincent confirmed these thoughts while writing to his brother Theo, “It irritates me to hear people say that I have no "technique." It is just possible that there is no trace of it, because I hold myself aloof from all painters” (27). His technique would later be marveled and revered by the art world. Vincent van Gogh’s legacy would thrive as it challenged the way the world envisioned modern art through his unique brush strokes and profound use of color as seen in his works The Sower and The Night Café. A brief look into...
The neo-expressionist movement in America lasted from the late 70s and came to an end in the early 90s. The movement was a revival of expressionism, a style in which an artist portrays emotional experience into their work (Sandler, 227). It was also a response to the popular art style of the time called minimalism, which involved mostly blank canvases or lines. Neo-expressionism, on the other hand, was raw emotion and chaos. The main figures of the movement were Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Ada Applebroog. A pioneer of the movement, and also the focus of this essay, is Jean-Michel Basquiat. His art referenced many famous artists and art pieces, from which he found inspiration. This inspiration was one of the features that made the movement
Art is trapped in the cage of society, constantly being judged and interpreted regardless of the artist’s intent. There is no escaping it, however, there are ways to manage and manipulate the cage. Two such examples are Kandinsky 's Little Pleasures, and Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Both pieces were very controversial and judged for being so different in their time, but they also had very specific ways of handling the criticism and even used it to their advantage. We will be looking at the motivations for each artwork, what made the art so outrageous, and the public’s reaction to the pieces.
Pollock’s Flight of Man and Picasso’s Head of a Woman are two diverse pieces of art when visually compared to one another. However, both pieces possess similar qualities that together convey one universal concept; humans all contain a true self and a false self. Inspired by the studies of Sigmund Freud, delving into the mind’s underlying subconscious was of high interest to both artists. False selves can be considered façades, a non-permeable membrane that separates the inside from the outside. On the other hand, true selves are often buried deep inside under inorganic layers of turmoil and deception. Sometimes, humans lose themselves in their false self, but the true self always exists within. Often to uncover one’s true self, it is necessary
This act of creativity involves effort, toil, inspiration, failure, and is accompanied by the scorn and criticism of others who do not understand, as Arthur Koestler puts, the bisociative connection the artist makes in his inspirati...
Through what we have studied of the artist, we know that he sees various things in his
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks states, “Art Hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home” which is true for many viewers when experiencing Bruce Nauman’s work. Nauman is classified as a contemporary American artist whose works also incorporate ideas of post-modernism and minimalism. He has been making art since the early 1960’s and has moved through many different mediums as his art progressed and his style changed. At first Nauman was a painter who soon ended that career and turned to sculpting, photography, film, and video. Bruce Nauman’s works of art have interested me and inspired my final assignment by his professional legacy, inspirations, and techniques.
Robert Motherwell unlocked creative forces during a time when Abstract Expression was frowned upon. Motherwell gave art a voice. He used raw emotional vitality during an era when American painting had become the prevailing force in international art. The role of Motherwell was quite distinctive. It helped to give the onlooker a sense of historical realization that such work can be perceived as not for what it is but what we think it is. It changed the audience’s awareness of reality. Robert Motherwell taught himself to paint and made friends with other surrealists such as himself. Just as psychoanalysts use the term free association, which is a mental process by which one word instinctively means another, Motherwell’s art expresses such
This marked the beginning of his inspiration to form a personal, expressive, and religious stance on his art values and style. He has found his process and content that will be apparent in his future work.
Art provokes oneself to express a feeling that one has encountered in their lifetime and allows the artist to display their masterpiece for an observer to connect to. Artist Berthe Morisot once said, “It is important to express oneself… provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience”. With the usage of movements, hues, sounds, shapes, or methods articulated in words, an artist can communicate his or her beliefs by making emotional connections to their audience. Art allows individuals to express themselves in creative ways that can bring many individuals closer by having a connection. In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, nearly everyone is conditioned in the modern world to show the impact of what art can influence
Everyone can be an artist in many different ways because all it takes is thinking outside the box and just letting everything come to you when you are painting. Anyone could be an artist by putting color on paper or drawing something, and people can really tell who a person is by looking at their artwork. I think his work is naturalistic because its nature and real life people do things like this outside. Overall he is a great artist he expressed his emotions and feelings by painting this artwork. When you look at it you should feel happy and joyful instead of sad and horrible. Artists create places for human purpose, and to create extraordinary versions of ordinary objects. Artist want people to look at the work and be able to get something out of it than just a
Parallel to the scientific, technological, and social changes that have taken place in the 20th century are the rich varieties of art styles that have developed. Notable are the number of “isms”, such as Fauvism, expressionism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, neoplasticism, surrealism, precisionism.
Paintings, like many forms of art, are very subjective—what one may find intriguing another may completely disagree. “Art is physical material that affects a physical eye and conscious brain” (Solso, 13). To glance at art, we must go through a process of interpretation in order to understand what it is we are looking at. Solso describes the neurological, perceptual, and cognitive sequence that occurs when we view art, and the often inexpressible effect that a work of art has on us. He shows that there are two aspects to viewing art: nativistic perception—the synchronicity of eye and brain that transforms electromagnetic energy into neuro-chemical codes—which is "hard-wired" into the sensory-cognitive system; and directed perception, which incorporates personal history—the entire set of our expectations and past experiences—and knowledge (Solso, preface)
The doctrine of the mean, as coined by Aristotle, describes virtues as lying between the vices of excess and deficiency (Aristotle 98). This middle ground of virtue is considered by Aristotle to be excellence, which is meant to say that the thing is both good and performs its function well (Aristotle 98). The application of these virtues is not defined in a specific manner by Aristotle, as he believed that actions depended on circumstances, so there couldn’t be a one-size-fits-all standard (Aristotle 96). In order to develop and master the application of virtues, we have to practice them in our daily lives until it becomes a habit (Aristotle 95). We develop a virtue only when our actions constantly display and follow the virtue we are trying
The mind creates the emotions and ideals responsible for art. The brain is capable of imagining glorious things, and art is the physical manifestation of these ideals. These ideals are usually intense emotions with aesthetic power (Wilson, 220). Art organizes these emotions in a matter that can easily express the ideals to...