Exploring Modern Day Artists: Jean- Michel Basquiat Jean- Michel Basquiat also known as SAMO, is an amazing and inspirational modern day artist known for his neo-expression graffiti and paintings which consist of distinctive symbols, diagrams and a series of imagery which symbolized his heritage, struggles through life, and a new youthful movement which inspired experimental artist to express themselves. Being the descendant of Haitian and Puerto Rican ancestry, Basquiat’s diverse culture is a main factor behind his creative tactics and his artwork. Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 22, 1960. His father was Haitian-American, Gerard Basquiat with an occupation of an accountant and his mother Matilde Basquiat was Puerto Rican As his fame continued to grow, his art work developed a sort of sophistication and prestige. Basquiat began to expand his work by attending art festivals and events in other states and countries than just New York. One of his favorite places to visit was Africa.“This expansive work of the 1980’s compresses together the relationship of Egypt to Africa, with reference to more local centers of African-American music within southern culture (www.theartstory.org). Instead of displaying his work with the streets of New York, He exhibited his artwork in various places throughout the world, especially at the Kestner-Gesellschaft Gallery in Hanover, Germany.“His work and style received critical acclaim for the fusion of words, symbols, stick figures, and animals. His painting came to be adored by an art loving public…”(biography.com). The expansion of Basquiat work had become world wide topic that gained many art observers and critics The composition of the piece is combined with pictures of President Kennedy, geometrical shapes and superheros such as Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. The piece itself does not really show movement, but the images all relate because of the viewing of media, politics and social awareness that Basquiat wanted to express to the art world. The color variation of this piece embraces a bit of pop art, which indicates the huge influence that Andy Warhol had on Basquiat at the time. A Lot of the clip pictures are bold but their color schemes are different such as the President Kennedy's picture contrast with the superhero clippings contrast within dark red and light red with Kennedy’s picture .The mood of the painting expresses sadness and despair, but eagerness for hope. During the 1960’s, President Kennedy was assassinated. Basquiat viewed him as an idol which shows why his picture takes up most of this art piece.. At the time, Kennedy represented change and hope, something that Basquiat had difficulty coping with with heroin
Wayne, transforms this painting into a three dimensional abstract piece of art. The focal point of the painting are the figures that look like letters and numbers that are in the front of the piece of art. This is where your eyes expend more time, also sometimes forgiving the background. The way the artist is trying to present this piece is showing happiness, excitement, and dreams. Happiness because he transmits with the bright colours. After probably 15 minutes on front of the painting I can feel that the artist tries to show his happiness, but in serene calm. The excitement that he presents with the letters, numbers and figures is a signal that he feels anxious about what the future is going to bring. Also in the way that the colors in the background are present he is showing that no matter how dark our day can be always will be light to
Basquiat was a creative, self-taught artist who thought outside of the box when it came to painting. Most of the pieces he made were a collaboration of different ideas and constructed them together into a collage. During the 1980’s, Basquiat’s art used the human figure to portray Minimalism and Conceptualism. His target market that was in many of his pieces was on suggestive dichotomies that focused on the lower class versus the higher class. Even though Basquiat's work was remarkable, he was criticized and faced some challenges during his journey because of the symbols and words that were used in his paintings.
When you put all these aspects put together with my interpretation of what is happening in the painting, a sense of calmness and security was constructed for me. No matter what this couple may be going through at the end of the day they still lean on each other for support. The complementary colors symbolized a sensation of strength between them, the balance of the composition created a stability characteristic, and the smooth and fluid brush strokes created a tranquil energy between the
..., the broader feel of the scene. He wants us to take in the entirety of the painting but have a moment to catch the individual scenes within it, like the couple dancing, the man in the corner rolling his cigar, or the women in the front talking to the man. We do get places where our eyes can rest, but in general your eye takes in the swirl of modern life and pleasure.
Each of the artists mentioned here met Andy Warhol at different phases of his career. While the majority of them were seen at the infamous Factory, some came both before and after. Regardless of where they met and knew Warhol, they each had their own individual lessons and impacts. Jean-Michel Basquait was perhaps the last artist to come around and really know Andy Warhol. Julia Warhol was certainly the first. In between were very many amazing artists, almost too many artists to talk about. The most important, of course, have been mentioned in this paper. Andy Warhol is a man still impacting art long after his death. His visionary style changed forever the face of both commercial art and gallery art. Hopefully this paper communicated a bit of that genius.
This piece is and is 218.4 centimeters in height and 172.7 centimeters in width. I was not able to find the medium of this artwork but I am assuming it is either acrylic or oil on canvas. The style is also abstract and features what looks like random painted figures and shapes positioned all over the canvas with patches of red, yellow-green, mustard yellow, white and beige as the background. There are a couple random objects painted on this piece that are recognizable, such as a red cup with sugar cubes next to it, but there also many unrecognizable shapes that are more open to interpretation. It is my least favorite because I do not find the overall color scheme of the painting very appealing. Personally I feel as if the colors in this piece do not go well together, especially the shade of green and yellow in the background. Compared to Basquiat’s other pieces that are richer in color, this piece falls
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, located in the Art Institute of Chicago, is one of the most recognizable paintings of the 19th century, a painting made by Frenchman Georges Seurat. Finished in 1886, it has gained much of its recognition over the time of its completion; the pop culture of today has played a pivotal role into the popularity of it. An example of that is being apart in one of the most recognizable scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where one of the main characters is solely staring at the painting until he can’t even recognize the artwork. This painting also gets much attention because it was an early example of the style of pointillism, at the time; pointillism was becoming a new way of expressing one self with the new technique. It also brought upon about the way we saw paintings, and what we gained from the artwork as whole. In all this painting has become an icon in the art scene, due to the technique it used, and how much of an impact it has had in today culture.
images in this painting, all of which have the power to symbolize to us, the viewer, of the painter’s
Pablo Picasso, a man with no inspirational limits, which has been portrayed throughout his art pieces. He was not only an amazing influential artist, Picasso was also a peace advocate. He brought new techniques and styles to the world of modern art. Political views and his desire for peace were shown throughout many of his now very famous pieces of artwork. Pablo Picasso influenced the world by changing the ways of art, and showing us that paintings can have a deeper meaning which can impact the lives of many.
The composition of the painting takes place with the square of the canvas. The square is approximately 5' x 5'. A black frame surrounding the painting protrudes approximately 4" off the canvas. There is a 1" inlay between the canvas and frame. From this square, Reinhardt breaks the composition into six equal squares in three even rows. Texture is no where to be found in the painting. No visual indication of the artist's brush stroke is present. No varnished glare is given off by the piece. The entire work, including the frame, is completely matte. The squares take up the entire canvas in a checkerboard type arrangement. Each square is a slightly different shade of blue-black. It almost becomes impossible to see the difference between each square. The middle squares in the top and bottom rows shift more towards blue than the rest of the squares. The division of these middle squares become more obvious than the others. When the painting is looked at from a distance, it is almost impossible to see any of the squares at all. When looking from a far, all a viewer can see is a blackish blue canvas. As you stare longer into the painting, a halo begins to form around the corners of the canvas, creating a circle inside the square. Once you look away from the canvas, the circle is gone. With this observation in mind, we could say that the painting most definitely relies on the viewer. A viewer is required to look at the piece for its full affect. We could say that the squares in the painting are self-contained.
This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, in the Impressionism exhibit. There are many things going on in this painting that catch the viewer’s eye. The first is the piece’s vibrant colors, light blues and browns, bright greens, and more. The brush strokes that are very visible and can easily be identified as very thick some might even say bold. The furniture, the objects, and the setting are easy to identify and are proportioned to each other. There is so much to see in this piece to attempt to explain in only a few simple sentences.
Art is a very important part of humanity’s history, and it can be found anywhere from the walls of caves to the halls of museums. The artists that created these works of art were influenced by a multitude of factors including personal issues, politics, and other art movements. Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh, two wildly popular artists, have left behind artwork, that to this day, influences and fascinates people around the world. Their painting styles and personal lives are vastly different, but both artists managed to capture the emotions that they were feeling and used them to create artwork.
Philippe Petit changed numerous peoples’ thoughts about the Twin Towers when he performed his high wire walk between them in 1974. Before Philippe Petit walked the high wire between the Twin Towers in 1974, people weren’t certain how they felt about the construction of the World Trade Center. After Philippe performed, people began to warm up to the idea of the towers. Philippe Petit walked the high wire between the Twin Towers on August 7, 1974. This event prompted Andrew McMahon to write the song “Platform Fire” about this event for his band, Jack’s Mannequin. This song was not a hit for the band; however, fans of Jack’s Mannequin seem to have a special place in their heart for it.
Georges-Pierre Seurat was a French Impressionist whose works included; Bathers at Asnieres, Circus, Eiffel Tower, Gray weather, and his most notable and largest piece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
...ere was a very particular exposition of some of his work, called Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks. It consisted in pages of regular notebooks, but with observations, sketches, ideas and poetry fragments, either from popular culture or from world history and races. These pieces were very unique and the sketches had a special touch that I had never seen before in any other artwork. Basquiat’s work was very simple, but with strong ideas and a clear message. That was the beauty of his work.