Category: IS ePortolio
Assignment 2 (Part 2)
Figure1. Schmerz. (Monet,2014).
I View the process of painting as an extraordinarily form of discovering the world”( Alison M and Gingeras 98). Neo Rauch is a painter from German, who paints surrealism and figurative imagery, his work has an interesting content however I found his piece “Schmerz” some how not that gripping as his other works because of the colours, subjects, and the texture.
Rauchs canvas painting “Schmerz” was produced in 2004 and where the painting was produced is unknown, the materials used is oil paint, is 106.33 x 82.66 itches, 270cm x 210 cm (Picitify), the themes going through out this piece is surrealism (Zwirner). This painting has a theme of surrealism, the reason for Rauchs painting to have a surrealism theme is because his paintings are based of dreams he has about his childhood memories (Volk). Surrealism was a very big movement in art, this started out from the Dada movement in 1924 and this was during ” rebellion against middle class complacency”(The art story), this is a theme used in art linked to artist and their dreams and emotions.The colours on the piece look very dull, the colours in this painting is one of the reasons why I dislike this piece, as we can see Rauch uses neutral colours in his paintings, however it makes his painting look very emotionless and dull other piece of his work that gives off the same look is ” Haus Des Lehres” and the mood on this piece is known to be gloomy as the colours used are quite dark and it has a lot of shadows and a hint of light (Neue Rollen 31).
The subjects in Rauchs painting ” Schmerz” are painted in a way that makes the subjects look flat, this is not very appealing to me because it almost makes the painting look like a paper collage but however he says he does this for the viewers to notice the space in the painting ” Flat graphic style to a vivid realisation of space” (Neue Rollin 9). Again the subjects used in his paintings are also linked to his dreams and past experiences as well as the themes in his paintings “Surroundings, exposing the inner layers of an experience that had always been there” (Hate Cantz Shattered Units), the subjects in his piece “Schmerz” have subjects that are related to the military, this is because Rauch has a history with the military service (Zwirner),all his subjects or objects in his paintings are from personal experiences. Rauchs subjects in this painting are all placed in different scales to look abstract, Rauch does this in all of his paintings to challenge his viewers “Pantings the way I would have theme are in positions to lead viewers off at the path of a right angle” (Alison M and Gingeras 99).
Another reason why Rauchs painting “Schmerz” is not pleasing to me is because of the texture of this piece. Rauch uses oil paint in his paintings however in this piece he makes the texture of the paint look like acrylic paint. The piece “Schmerz has different images laid on top of each other along with smudges of paint in his work bringing different textures, this makes it difficult to focus on the painting as a whole another example of this is his piece ” Hinter dem Schilfgurtel, 2004″. Rauch isn’t really self aware of what he’s painting when he is working on his pieces as he says ” when I stand in front of a blank canvas, its if I’m standing in front of a wall of fog”( Alison M and Gingeras 99), this creates quite a messy texture in his paintings, his piece “Schmerz” also has a messy texture and because of this I think this makes the painting look hurried.
Figure2. Hinter dem Schilgurtel (Cantz, 2004, p.11).
“I View the process of painting as an extraordinarily form of discovering the world” ( Alison M and Gingeras 98). Rauch not only discovers the world in his paintings but also more about himself as most of his paintings are based of personal experiences, his piece “Schmerz” may not be the most pleasing piece of painting to me but all his paintings have a greater meaning behind it.
References
Figure 1
Monet, C. (2014). Schmerz. Retrieved from https://thngs.co/things/860
Alison m, Gingeras and Centre Georgers Pompidou. Dear Painter Painter Me. Paris: Centre Pompidou, 2002. Print.
Author Unknown. “Schemer by Neo Rauch, 2004”. Pictify. n.d.
Zwirner, David. “Biography”. David Zwimer. n.d. web.
Volk, Gregory. “Neu Rauch”. Art in America. 01. Jun. 2010. web.
Author Unknown. “Surrealism”. The Art Story”. n.d. web.
Neue Rollen. Neo Rauch. Germany: Dumont Literature and Kunst Verlag, 2006. Print.
Hatje Lantz. Neo Rauch Arbeiten auf Papier Works on Paper 2003 – 2004. Deutschland: Albertina, 2004. Print.
Figure2
Cantz, H.V (2004). Neo Rauch Arbeiten auf Papier works on Paper 2005. Alberten.
Part 1 ( Assignment 2)
figure 1. Harper’s Bazaar, April 1965 ( The Richards Avedon Foundation, n.d)
“His style reverberates through the work of contemporary photographers such as Steven Meisel and David Sims” ( Design and Reed 54). Jean Shrimpton In Harper’s Bazaar Space Age, April 1965 by Richard Avedon intrigued me because it gave off a vintage look, associated with fashion and also it had a surrealism theme.
The texture of this image looks vintage, this was one of the reasons why I found the image interesting , Avedon uses the materials such as umbrellas, beauty dishes and elinchrom strobes in this photography and he also used a Rolleiflex camera for this shot as it is the camera he uses to shoot portrait images (Buffalo), as seen from the picture artificial light is used and focused on the subjects face and I say this because the lighting looks unnatural, the space where this picture was taken was indoors and for the background a backdropped was used and this method is suitable for this shot because another background had to be edited behind the subject and this image was shot in the 60’s , there for it looks vintage. Avedon got asked to shoot for the April issues magazine for Harper’s Bazaar, they requested him to set a trend by using his photography and fashion for the 60’s ( Shadbolt) and the other themes that were in this magazine was Pop, Rock and Youth because it was suppose to aim towards the youth (PaperPursuits).
Avedon associates most of his work with fashion as he is a fashion photographer, Avedon started photographing fashion at young age because he found interest in his parents clothing store, he showed his interest by taking pictures of the clothes (Biography). Avedon shot Jean Shrimpton in a space suit because in the 1960s space fashion was the trend, the idea behind the image was for a influential female to represent in the space suit to show a trend for space fashion, and also the idea of a female astronaut as this was never seen before ” Jean Shrimpton space girl represented of the face of youth culture” (Shadbolt). The ideas behind the image was achieved by using a real space suit in the shoot, this was borrowed from NASA (Shadbolt), the reaction of this image and the magazine as a whole was that it became the most influential fashion magazines in the 60’s ” one of the most memorable fashion issues of the 1960’s ” (Shadbolt), I think the reason why this issue was so successful was because it achieved what trends the viewer’s in the 60’s were looking for and also having the right photographer to shot the trends, with the right subject to influence the audience.
The shoot for Jean Shrimpton In Harper’s Bazaar Space Age had a surrealism look as I viewed it, I think it was because of the artificial lighting which gave Jean Shrimpton’s face a flat look, this also made her look doll like this had caught my eyes and for that reason I find the image interesting. Avedon pass history of taking portraits started in 1942 and went on for two years until 1944, during these two years he was working as a photographer for Marchant Marine ,taking pictures of sailors (Biography) and I think that Avedon was chosen to shot for the April issue because of his talent with portraits and fashion photography.
In conclusion Jean Shrimpton In Harper’s Bazaar Space Age, April 1965 by Richard Avedon was a piece that had great 60’s fashion influence and also influences of the youth. I choose this piece because of the vintage theme , I think this gives off an asesthetic, association with fashion and this caught my interest because of the space suit used to represent space age fashion and the surrealism look in the image caught my eyes because it made the subject looked lifeless in a way.
References
Design, Museum and Paula Reed. Fifty Fashion Looks That Changed The 1960s. London : Octopus Publishing Group, 2012. Print.
Buffalo, Bob “what Camera did Richard use”? . Who use what camera. Web. 7 Sept . 2014.
http://whouseswhatcamera.com/2014/09/07/what-camera-did-richard-avedon-use/
Shadbolt, Paul. “What can be more sixties than Jean Shrimpton In a pink space helmet on the cover of Harpers Bazaar”. Foundation Design. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
http://foundationdesign.co.nz/jean-shrimpton-1965-harpers-bazaar-photo-by-r-avedon/
Paper pursuits. ” Harper’s Bazaar April 1965 “. Blogspot . Web. 12 Nov. 2009.
http://paperpursuits.blogspot.co.nz/2009/11/harpers-bazaar-april-1965.html
“Author Unknown”. “Richard Avedon”. Biography. Web. 5 May. 2017.
http://www.biography.com/people/richard-avedon-9193034
Hayn, Cathy. ” How Avedon Blurred his own image “. The New York Times. Web. 13 May. 2009.