Art 21

	Theme	Artist	Work	Comments
S1/ 2001	Place	Barry McGee& Margaret Kilgallen	Indian folk art	influenced by graffiti art like handmade things
S2/ 2003	Time	Martin Puryear	Ladder for Book T. Washington	36 feet long wooden ladder struggle, progress for the race, long, slow
S3/ 2005	Power	Cai Guoqiang	Inopportune	--gunpowder, explosive power,  destruction, danger  cut paper, lay down,  explode,poppy flower -- father, ink painting  art is not about the things you see,art is about anything you don’t say --car bomb, stuffed tiger pierced by arrows,imperfection, pain, visual impact
S4/ 2007	Ecology	Robert Adams	Turning Back (1999-2003)	illustrates deforestation in the West, involved an exhaustion of resources and spirit
S5/ 2009	Fantasy	Cao Fei	Hip Hop series video Fukuoka (2005) New York (2006)	--see the world with a sense of humor --street culture, natural, wild,free spontaneous form of expression,make different kind of things together, music itself becomes a very emotion part of  the work
S6/ 2012	Change	Catherine Opie	Lake Erie	spring, summer, fall (4 pictures), winter (5) during different seasons, same location sunrise, sunset work had potential to convey time
S7/ 2014	Fiction	Joan Jonas	Mirror Piece I: Reconfigured (1969)	--mirror, perfect vehicle --all works, involved dealing with space --the visual of the mirrors in the space, how they reflecting and how they look, to learn how to move in public audience uneasy, seeing themselves in the mirror, so the mirrors reflecting the audience, space and other performers,  the artist like the dimensionality of this

DePaul Art Museum

   Last week, we did a museum project, Ava, Hailing, Chaoran and I went to DePaul Art Museum as a group to explore the exhibits and do some interviews.
   DePaul Art Museum is not very far from HWC, so we decided to take CTA to go there.When we arrived, the museum still closed, so we took this time to discuss the interview questions.
   Although there is two floor, the museum is not very big.We spent about three hours there to take a close look at the exhibits which are basically contemporary art, and strongly represent art of Chicago.
   We did some interviews with some employers and visitors. Most of the visitors we interviewed were from the closed neighborhood, and some of them worked in DePaul University. The interview went smoothly, and we were happy about that.
   After finished this project, we did a presentation in class, and we also listened other groups presentations that impressed me a lot. Not only the big museums like the Art Institute of Chicago, but also the small museums like DePaul Art Museum could open our eyes.

Art Institute Trip Reflection

    Since I've just migrated to Chicago for half year, this is the first time I went to The Art Institute of Chicago. Therefore, I was full of excitement and expectation during the trip.
    Before the field trip, we did a web hunting and collected some interested artworks. Actually, some of my chosen works had been seen so closely that impressed me a lot. From George Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte to Van Gogh's Self-Portrait, from Claude Monet's Water Lilies to Paul Gauguin 's Tahitian landscapes'artworks,from Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist to Georgia O'Keefe's Sky Above Clouds IV, I had no time to take in the scene as a whole, just glanced over things hurriedly. And that was one of the pity things during that trip.
   Beside that, I'd found many interesting points about this trip. Luckily, I'd seen a lady painting on one of the galleries. She was painting so carefully that I didn't dare to come close to her. Another interesting thing happened at a time when I discussed an artwork with my partner, an elder man came close to us and we exchanged some ideas about that artwork. That was a good experience. Last but not least, I had to say the real artworks we captured in the museum was totally different from the ones that we observed on the books. I surely will come back again!
 

Girl with a Pearl Earring

         


          <Girl with a Pearl Earring> tells a story about a poor young girl called Griet goes to painter Johannes Vermeer’s house to as a servant. A short conversation between Griet and her father kicks off the movie. Through this scenario we can see that Griet’s father is an artisan who accidentally blinded.  Since grown up in an artisan family, Griet has an unique perception of art even though she hadn’t educated.
           
         Despite having endless domestic work and rudely treating by the hostess and her elderly daughter, Griet still tries her best to help Johannes Vermeer to prepare the painting substances. She prefers to do that, and the painter also trusts her for this task, since he knows her understand what is art. 
         
         Eventually Vermeer wishes to paint Griet, but she was taught not allow men to closely look at her, she feels so guilty. From the portrait, we still can see how reluctant she is at that moment. Because it is painting secretly, and finally be found by the hostess, Griet suffers relentless scold and finally be fired. 
         
         Since this movie is based on a famous artwork, so there are many scenarios relative to painting. One impressive scenario is Griet goes to ask the hostess whether she can clean the windows, since the windows are dirty, and if she cleans that, it will change the studio’s light for painting. Also, from this movie, we can see how the pigments be made in the past and the painter will use an artificial model and projection to make paintings. 
          
         Finally, about the artist Johannes Vermeer, I’ve googled some information about him. He is a Dutch artist (1632-1675). “With Rembrandt and Frans Hals, Vermeer ranks among the most admired of all Dutch artists, but he was much less well known in his own day and remained relatively obscure until the end of the nineteenth century. The main reason for this is that he produced a small number of pictures, perhaps about forty-five (of which thirty-six are known today), primarily for a small circle of patrons in Delft.” (quote by The Metropolitan Museum of Art). 

Dada Poem

AIC website exploring experience

        After exploring the AIC website, I've learned a lot. 
        One of the most impressive artworks is American Gothic. Actually, I see this artwork everyday, but not on the museum, on the CTA platform. Everyday when I take the train to school, I will see it. I've noticed it, but I just thought it was a simple advertisement about the museum. I thought it just a poster. 
         However, after exploring the AIC website, I was stunned by it! It's not a simple poster, it's a famous artwork! I've read the description, and learned some interesting stories about this work. The artist, Grant Wood, after traveled to Europe, returned and settled in Lowa, and became increasingly appreciative of Midwestern traditions and cultures. 
         One day, when he visited a small town of Eldon, he saw a little wood farmhouse with a single oversized window, made in a style called Carpenter Gothic. He imagined American Gothic people with their faces stretched out long to go with this American Gothic house. He used his sister and his dentist as models for a farmer and his daughter, dressing them as if they were. 
        It's fun to know the background of this artwork. I will see it everyday as usual, but I think I will look it in another way.   

10 artworks of the AIC

Tall Figure
I think this sculpture is abstract, similar to Louise Bourgeois's Woman with Packages

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most famous America architects. I've done a video assignment about him, so I want to learn more about his work. And this window reminds me about Piet Mondrian's work Trafalgar Square. I think there are some similarities about them.

Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
 When seeing this work, another similar work comes to my mind. When we learned the visual elements, we've learned a term called implied shapes. And it explains this term with Raphael's work The Madonna of the Meadows. I think these two works are very similar, so I want to see it.

                    Portrait of Marevna
        It's also an Cubism artwork, I want to learn more about this style.

Water Lily Pond
The Japanese bridge and water lily pond were two of the most common subject matters in Monet's artworks. And I've heard a story about him and his wife, so I want to see his work.

Mosaic Fragment with Man Leading a Giraffe
 We've learned something about the cave paintings from the book, I think it's also interesting to see this mosaic fragment.

Little Harbor in Normandy
Picasso and Georges Braque were the pioneers of Cubism. I've just done a slide presentation about Cubism last week, so I want to see some works about Cubism to learn more.

American Gothic
Everyday when I go to school, I will see this artwork in the CTA platform. Now searching the web, I finally know the background story about this work, so I want to see it.

Self-Portrait
We've learned Vincent van Gogh in class. His works are expensive now, but ignored at the time when he lived. He didn't lead a happy life, but he has become a cultural hero for us. So I want to see his work.

                   

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
It is one of the most famous artworks in the world. I just read an article about this artwork a week ago. The artist used two years to finish this work. He painted many people in it, but it didn't look crowded. Light and colors made the whole work harmonious.