Sunday, April 18, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Princeton Art Museum
The Princeton Art Museum has an impressive collection of Modern Art. Some of the most interesting paintings were from artists like Bonnard, Morandi, and more. Not only is the architecture of the building inspiring in itself, but the artworks are all from significant, successful and interesting artists.
I was surprised to see one of the Still Life paintings by Giorgio Morandi. The small-scale still life has quiet personality. The tall slender bottles are lined up near the center of the painting. The muted color palette consists of mixed grays and whites, using minimal brush strokes to describe bottles that hover in the center of the painting.
The painting entitled, Tugboat on the Siene by Pierre Bonnard is a landscape painting that is in the same room as the Morandi still life. It is painted in a somewhat impressionistic style, using the least possible brush strokes to describe the scene. In comparison to his other works, the color palette is more realistic, consisting of mostly greens and grays.
In the center of the room is Auguste Rodin’s sculpture in marble, Danaid. The glossy mound of marble stood out in the center of the mostly grey room. It portrays an idealized nude male figure curled up and placed on top of a base. It is a small-scale sculpture, and fit in perfectly with the smaller sized paintings surrounding it.
The Princeton Art Museum houses many prestigious paintings. I'm not complaining about being surrounded by the likes of Monet and being overwhelmed by PAM's extensive collection of Greek Art (borderline crowded); however, it is quite obvious that you are in Princeton when you're standing in the museum. On that note, here are some other striking paintings from the collection:
Black Friday by Willem de Kooning, Oil and enamel on pressed wood panel, 1948
Untitled by Ad Reinhardt, Oil on canvas, 1960
Untitled by Philip Guston, Oil on particle board, 1973
To see the complete collection at the Princeton Art Museum, visit:
http://artmuseum.princeton.edu
I was surprised to see one of the Still Life paintings by Giorgio Morandi. The small-scale still life has quiet personality. The tall slender bottles are lined up near the center of the painting. The muted color palette consists of mixed grays and whites, using minimal brush strokes to describe bottles that hover in the center of the painting.
The painting entitled, Tugboat on the Siene by Pierre Bonnard is a landscape painting that is in the same room as the Morandi still life. It is painted in a somewhat impressionistic style, using the least possible brush strokes to describe the scene. In comparison to his other works, the color palette is more realistic, consisting of mostly greens and grays.
In the center of the room is Auguste Rodin’s sculpture in marble, Danaid. The glossy mound of marble stood out in the center of the mostly grey room. It portrays an idealized nude male figure curled up and placed on top of a base. It is a small-scale sculpture, and fit in perfectly with the smaller sized paintings surrounding it.
The Princeton Art Museum houses many prestigious paintings. I'm not complaining about being surrounded by the likes of Monet and being overwhelmed by PAM's extensive collection of Greek Art (borderline crowded); however, it is quite obvious that you are in Princeton when you're standing in the museum. On that note, here are some other striking paintings from the collection:
Black Friday by Willem de Kooning, Oil and enamel on pressed wood panel, 1948 
Untitled by Ad Reinhardt, Oil on canvas, 1960 
Untitled by Philip Guston, Oil on particle board, 1973
To see the complete collection at the Princeton Art Museum, visit:
http://artmuseum.princeton.edu
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
MFAII
MFA part two, MGSA, March 2010
sidenote: Sorry for posting this so late, for those of you who missed the show, you can view some images from the show on the MFA blog at http://rutgersmfa.blogspot.com
This show revealed some powerful egos as shown in the very different large paintings, sculptures, and a mix of somewhere in between the two. It is an extremely cohesive show, partially because of the color palette. It also seems completely indulgent in materiality.
Some of the most interesting artists that exhibited in this show included Brian Bulfer and Paul Demuro. Some of the works in this show frustrated and confused me, yet they seemed to work within the context of the other paintings and sculptures.
Brian Bulfer’s paintings were extremely tedious and process related; they included text that was steadily written/drawn onto the buttery canvas with graphite. The text involved stocks figures, which added a political or current events feel to the seemingly effortless organic paintings. They had quirky titles (along with many of the other pieces in the show). The incorporation of text into the painting was seamless, especially from far away; when the viewer approaches the canvas, it becomes obvious the subtle written words onto the painting, thus adding another aspect to the artwork. The paintings are geometric, but because most of the lines are hand-drawn, it gives a more organic feel to the otherwise flattened work. I learned at a later time that the paintings were made from a system of mathematical equations. This completely changes the meaning of the work; the artist did not chose the colors at all, they were pre-determined by information that was not under the artist's control. To what extent does the artist have to make choices within the work before it is considered just a visual and not a painting created by the artist? In other words, does the more robotic method of color choice take away from the artist's right to say, 'I created this and it is a result of my choices'? That might be a question that is open-ended.
The stippled application of the paint mirrors the thick paint that appears in Paul Demuro’s paintings as well. Demuro’s work consists of extremely layered and sculptural paintings. The most intriguing piece to me is the purple painting that has the soft edges. To be frank, I could look at those paintings for a much longer, sustainable time then the paintings by Leticia Luevanos. I enjoy the indulgent aspect of the work; thinking about how much money and time it must have taken to layer that much paint is mind-boggling. Contrasting with that idea is the use of metallic paint. I enjoy the metallic paint because it reverses the ideal of the elite, indulgent aspect of the paint. It adds an aspect to the work that relates to some of the other works, like Marketa Klicova’s sculpture/installation. The paintings mostly deal with geometric patterns applied in a rough way through the extreme layering of paint. There is not much mixing of color, however, the paint is applied over and over until it can still alone as a painting and sculpture simultaneously. Demuro’s work made me debate the difference between sculpture and painting, and it blurs the line between the two very different processes.
sidenote: Sorry for posting this so late, for those of you who missed the show, you can view some images from the show on the MFA blog at http://rutgersmfa.blogspot.com
This show revealed some powerful egos as shown in the very different large paintings, sculptures, and a mix of somewhere in between the two. It is an extremely cohesive show, partially because of the color palette. It also seems completely indulgent in materiality.
Brian Bulfer’s paintings were extremely tedious and process related; they included text that was steadily written/drawn onto the buttery canvas with graphite. The text involved stocks figures, which added a political or current events feel to the seemingly effortless organic paintings. They had quirky titles (along with many of the other pieces in the show). The incorporation of text into the painting was seamless, especially from far away; when the viewer approaches the canvas, it becomes obvious the subtle written words onto the painting, thus adding another aspect to the artwork. The paintings are geometric, but because most of the lines are hand-drawn, it gives a more organic feel to the otherwise flattened work. I learned at a later time that the paintings were made from a system of mathematical equations. This completely changes the meaning of the work; the artist did not chose the colors at all, they were pre-determined by information that was not under the artist's control. To what extent does the artist have to make choices within the work before it is considered just a visual and not a painting created by the artist? In other words, does the more robotic method of color choice take away from the artist's right to say, 'I created this and it is a result of my choices'? That might be a question that is open-ended.
The stippled application of the paint mirrors the thick paint that appears in Paul Demuro’s paintings as well. Demuro’s work consists of extremely layered and sculptural paintings. The most intriguing piece to me is the purple painting that has the soft edges. To be frank, I could look at those paintings for a much longer, sustainable time then the paintings by Leticia Luevanos. I enjoy the indulgent aspect of the work; thinking about how much money and time it must have taken to layer that much paint is mind-boggling. Contrasting with that idea is the use of metallic paint. I enjoy the metallic paint because it reverses the ideal of the elite, indulgent aspect of the paint. It adds an aspect to the work that relates to some of the other works, like Marketa Klicova’s sculpture/installation. The paintings mostly deal with geometric patterns applied in a rough way through the extreme layering of paint. There is not much mixing of color, however, the paint is applied over and over until it can still alone as a painting and sculpture simultaneously. Demuro’s work made me debate the difference between sculpture and painting, and it blurs the line between the two very different processes.
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