Month: August 2020

Immediate Response 

After finding Mark Bradfords, A Truly Rich Man Is One Whose Children Run Into His Arms Even When His Hands are Empty Piece, I was reminded of a birds eye view of a major city. It drove me back to the days of me standing on a subway in the populous city of New York, only to be looking at the subway map on the wall of the train. While I know this is not a subway map, what I do see is clutter; grids of colors, lines and sections. I can’t decipher exactly what this portrays, but to me, it almost looks like a map of neighborhoods creating one mass city. 

Objective Description

The piece itself is a rectangle, however within the rectangle is an irregular shaped region; similar to a splotch. Within the region, comprising 80% of the piece, are multiple lines of color, intersecting each other in all directions. Beyond the boundaries is darkness and limited detail. From afar, it looks as if it is a clutter of blended shapes, lines and colors. Looking closely, you can decipher the shapes as rectangles, resembling buildings and the lines, resembling streets and avenues. Imagine a coastal city at night; street and office lights  still lit, and the hustle of commuters very evident amidst the dark sky.

Technical Decisions 

Bradford uses a variety of urban threads, like scraps from magazines, advertisements and even billboards. He layers and intertwines the materials, creating a very abstract collage. Bradfords artwork resembles himself in how he is 6’8. Almost all of his pieces take up an entire wall. The contrast between the mass in the middle and the dark of the surrounding area on the left side and bottom is what makes me think about lights at night. I think this piece is both harmonic and dissonant. Initially looking at it, you can’t exactly pinpoint what it is, which makes it overwhelming. However, after closely looking at the piece, you slowly pick up on the shapes and colors, which allows you to appreciate it more. 

The Work In the World

By now, I have an instilled image of the artwork reflecting a city. For all of my life, I have lived roughly an hour from New York City, which allowed me to interpret the image in a more familiar way. Additionally, this piece to me resembles the city post 911 as the city remained lost and confused which is represented in the artwork as you don’t know exactly what’s going on. Looking at this piece reflects my first perspective of being in the city. The piece is almost intimidating as I could easily get lost within it.

The Story It Tells

Narrowing down my ideas and research, I think this piece portrays a map of where he grew up and where he lives today. In 1981, Bradford came out as gay, an identity he slowly discovered through his going to nightclubs and dancing. This collage paid homage to his upbringing; and where his mother worked tirelessly for him with her studio to provide for him. This piece takes pieces from his hometown and formulates a blurry image to represent the complexity of his upbringing struggling with race, poverty and his sexuality. From walking the streets of his hometown, Bradford collected materials and scraps around the area to turn it into something beautiful to reflect the positives and light of the place he has spent his whole life in.

Tyler Fuhs, The Intimate Universe

Immediate

Originally seeing this piece of artwork made me think of a tornado. The way that the design is structured it made this piece look like everything is spinning. The piece to me looks hectic but it also is simplistic at the same time. The empty space around the artwork makes me focus onto the center of the artwork. The three guys in the middle draw most of the attention from the artwork. What I noticed last out of all of this piece is that it’s a depicted being on top of a tree. The name of this piece is what I noticed first and that intrigued me into looking into this artwork more.

Objective

The background is a blank grey and start at the bottom of the page is a small tree or plant growing but growing within the plant are a lot of different things. Starting from the bottom of the objects in the tree is a not completely colored in man with a not normal face that I can not describe. Above him are three men who look to be in pajamas hold a bamboo pole some string and cloth. To the left of these men are some women mannequins without heads, arms, and legs, on bamboo poles. To the right of the men is lots of string, a bike tire, plunger like things, a chair and some shoes. That is the extent of the artwork and its all within this small plant growing.

Technical

Composition

This drawing is a very slow-moving drawing. I looked at this drawing saw the general picture then slowly moved through each part admiring the details. There is not a flow to it because its just a pile. The central design in this drawing, where I put most of my attention to is the three men in the middle of the page. This piece is harmonic even though it is a little cluttered. This piece brings peace to me. The color scheme the artist used in this artwork is very calming.

Work in the World

This piece has a lot of basic man needs. The bike to the clothing to the men working are all needs of a basic person. The men plus the shoes illustrate how these people are the average person trying to work. There are piles of yarn or fabric that a man is pulling away with. These seem to relate to how the average person works and lives.

The Story it Tells

The meaning of this artwork is to show how the men provide for their families. This artwork illustrates how and what they do to provide from the fabric to the poles to the shoes and dresses and finally to the not finished person at the bottom. They are trying to build the person that has not been drawn at the bottom of the page. This illustrates also what they can and cannot provide. The person at the bottom is holding the dresses and together the three of them are trying to provide what they can for the person. The bike tire as I can see now is makeshift spinning machine and the three of them are trying to provide the person at the bottom of the page the dress that they have been holding onto.

Drawn By Yun-Fei Ji

Immediate Response

At first glance, Dreamscape 2 by Eddie Martinez seemed like graffiti you would look at quickly while driving through the city.  It’s color and shapes have elements of street style, but with details and objects that catch the viewer’s attention and make them take a second look.  The contrast of the dark background makes the vibrant colors even more distinguishable and interesting.  The objects included in the piece seemed “familiarly unfamiliar” to me.  I had to look deeper into the painting to recognize  all of the objects painted.  The seemingly random objects included were very dreamlike in that they appear vague and having no relation, but distinguishable.

Objective Description

Eddie Martinez’s, Dreamscape 2, is an assortment of various objects surrounding a person’s head, as if they are overwhelming the subject of the painting.  The objects – an emoji, lips, flower, and olive, to name a few – are dominantly in primary colors, with black and white outlines that help distinguish one from another.  The objects are crammed together overlapping and covering part of each other.  The head, which is devoid of any bright color apart from dark blue eyes, is placed in front of all these objects.  The head is very abstract with lines and and unique shapes causing the viewer to question what they are looking at.  The background on the top half of the piece is a dark navy and the bottom half is a white/grey color.  

Technical Decisions

Dreamscape 2 has a false harmonic composition.  The viewer is immediately drawn to the vivid colors and the creative and unique images included in the piece.  These components give off positive and comforting feelings and make the painting seem innocent and as if it could have been drawn by a child.  The longer you study the details, however, you begin to notice the subject and the objects around them.  You begin to realize the objects are coming closer and closer to the subject, cramming into and overwhelming them.  This conveys negative emotions like stress and the lack of certainty that gives this piece a dissonant composition.  

The Work in the World

Martinez got his start in art through graffiti when he was younger.  His current pieces have moved away from pure graffiti, but still have similar elements and techniques.  Graffiti is often seen as ugly and referred to as an “eyesore”.  This type of art is often illegal and seen as destructive, prompting people to want to remove it when it appears.  The similarity to graffiti and street art Martinez includes in his work relates back to the artistic roots of graffiti.  He makes people see a different side to this street art style and urges viewers to look at the beauty in an artform that is commonly known as ugly and destructive.  

The Story it Tells 

Martinez says, in his interview, that he likes to leave the interpretation of his art in the eyes of the viewer.  My interpretation of the work is that you must live in the present.  The colorless head with no clear lines represents negative emotions and being distracted.  The subtly colored eyes suggest the subject is looking into something not in his world, like a dream.  Dreams have elements of your real life present within them because they are your mind’s way of processing what you are living through.  While dreams can be colorful and tempting, you can never stay forever.  No matter how enticing it is to stay permanently in your own dream world, the longer you stay the more dangerous and overwhelming it gets.   You must alway come back to reality no matter how bleak and grey it may seem.