Gallery Visit #3

The final visit to the gallery this week was a bit disappointing for me. I did not particularly enjoy the artwork that was displayed, and I felt that there was a lack of originality in a lot of it. The pieces I chose to discuss in this blog were two pieces I preferred over the rest, and pieces I felt that the artists truly enjoyed producing. The Untitled piece with the leopard in a green background was one piece I felt held more meaning and enjoyment. It also is aesthetically pleasing to me, being realistic, yet simplistic at the same time. The artist puts power in the lines that she uses in order to produce a lot of shape and movement in the piece. She uses only one color as the background, instead of coloring the details of the lines that she uses, creating a very edgy and trendy feel to the work. The detailed pattern of the leopard stops in the middle of the left side, giving a feeling of depth in the piece, and also creating a "snapshot" feel of the leopard jumping in the air. It is difficult to see in the photo I took of the piece, but the artist also colors in the eyes of the leopard, emphasizing the power and strength of the leopard as it looks straight into the eyes of the audience. There is a lot of liveliness and action in the piece, which causes me to enjoy it. The artist did mention in the gallery talk that she enjoys animals and enjoys creating pieces that capture their movement. This piece does exactly that, and intends to create an up-close and personal snapshot of a powerful and beautiful creature. I do like this piece of art, and feel that the artist should have presented more works like these in her exhibit.

First off, I have to say that the photograph of the second piece is of not the greatest quality. As you can see, while capturing the photo, I managed to also capture a reflection of myself taking that photo. I apologize for the quality. Anywho, this piece, along with the rest of the series of photographs she took, caught my interest and attention due to their vintage look and mysteriousness behind them. The photograph only looks at the subject from the chest down, so the audience is not aware of who the subject is, or what expression the subject may be conveying through their facial expression. I loved these photographs because they challenge the audience to look at the subject differently that one is used to. There is so much one can infer from observing ones face, but when observing ones body, it is a bit more difficult at times. The depth in the photograph is what interested me as well, as the brick wall juts out towards the viewers eye. The subject is seen further away from the camera than the wall, and the lines used in the photograph are amazing. There is a contrast between the subject's body that is vertical, and the lines of the brick, being horizontal. Strangely enough, my eyes are first directed towards the wall as a result, and then to the subject. Even though the lines are in different directions, similar shapes are observed. The wall is rectangular, taking up half of the picture, while the subject is rectangular as well and takes up half of the photograph. Texture is observed in the subject's clothing, as there are shadows from the shirt she is wearing. This emphasizes the mysteriousness of the character, and the context in which she is posed. The colors used are also kind of dull, which also emphasize a timeless, mysterious quality, and provide harmony of color to the photograph. The title mentions hiding (excuse me for not writing down the name of the work), which also justifies the artist's intent to convey mystery within the piece. The piece comments on the viewer's reliance on the human face, and challenges the viewer to look more into other aspects of an individual. I enjoy this piece, but I also feel that this particular type of photograph has been done so many times by numerous artists.