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.

Chicago Architecture Biennial

    Chicago Architecture Biennial exhibits in the Cultural Center, and it lasts from October 3, 2015 to January 3, 2016. This is an exhibition about the possibilities of architecture. Some of the designs are practical, and some of them are quite exotic and full of imagination. 

   In one of the exhibition halls, it stands a house model. It one kind of the houses in Mexico. Since the explosion of the population,environment problems and social housing problems are more and more severe in Mexico, the country's housing shortage amounts to a total of nine million homes. Therefore,the architects developed a project to create a housing prototype with spatial and material qualities at an affordable price to deal with these problems.  

Chicago Cultural Center

   Chicago Architecture Biennial is being held in the Cultural Center. Therefore, last week we went there to take a visit.
 
   The thing that most impressive me was the cobweb, which be put in a dark room and lit by a light. I had never seen a cobweb so closely and carefully. People always consider the greatest architect in the nature is the spider. After seeing this, I completely agree with what they said. It was amazing.

 Another thing that attracted me most was the tiny world. In there, you could easily think you were in Lilliput, and we were the giants that trespassed their lands. It was very funny.

Artist Toolkit

warm heart

The night of Chicago

Chicago Public Art

Last week, my classmates and I took a tour to find out the Chicago public arts. This was one of the sculpture we had found. It located in 100 W. Randolph Street, just in front of the James R.Thompson Center. Actually, I have been there before to apply my ID. In the past, I just felt curious about this sculpture, I didn't know the meaning of it. This time, after the fieldtrip,I've found some information about it. It's called Monument with Standing Beast, which created by Jean Dubuffet in 1984. It comprises four elements that suggest a standing animal, a tree, a portal and an architectural form. Next time, if I have friends come to Chicago, I will take them to go around and appreciate it. 

hand shadow

This is my hand shadow shot at my bedroom. When I was a little child, I like to make this kind of hand shadow with my friends. That gave me lots of fun. Can you guess what animal I want to make? 

Frank Lloyd Wright

 Frank Lloyd Wright 
is the greatest American architect of his time, and the greatest designer of residential architecture.

"Prairie Houses" are his trademark, most of the buildings can be found in the suburbs of Chicago (Oak Park).

His liked to build the buildings with materials native to the immediate surrounds, so that the houses blend with their environments.

Fallingwrater,which built in 1936 (picture2),in Bear Run, Pennsylvania is the culmination of his use of abstract, geometric forms as part of a mature expression of man's place in nature. He made the building in harmony with the natural world.It's hard to tell where nature ends and                         the man-made structure begins.
Please link:    
https://www.wevideo.com/hub#view/465857510 to search more information~

Marina City

Most buildings in downtown are destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871,except the Water Tower. After that, many architects designed and rebuilt the the city with many new building styles.

Last week's Water Taxi tour was impressed me so much. Through the fieldtrip, I had seen many awesome buildings, especially the Marina City. The Marina City is on State Street, which consists of two corncob-shaped buildings.Its building style is Mid-Century Modernism.

the blooming flowers

   
         

This was one of my handiwork during my school time. The tutor guided all of our classmates to make it. Cardboard, glossy paper, razor blade and staples were the essential materials for making this. First,found a picture you like, and enlarged it in a copier.Used the staples to stick it on the cardboard, and picked out the shade with the razor blade, then came out the blooming flowers. This was my first time to make such paper work, although spent a lot of time, I felt very good.