On Friday, April 27, 2018, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley opened Introspection. The exhibition, which displayed student work from the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, was held at the UTRGV Visual Arts Gallery in Edinburg, Texas; its opening reception took place between 6:00 PM and 9:00PM. The exhibition, which opened at the universities Visual Arts Building, showcased the work of artist Kristina L. Garcia titled “South Texas Bobcat Series”. Garcia’s work is a three-dimensional piece that was created in 2018. There are definitive aspects to this work, including materials, textures, colors, and shapes. It is best described as a series of animal craniums or skulls manipulated with specific materials. Moreover, this artwork is best described …show more content…
The work relates to other ideas like life, death, and the organic nature of the earth. Similarly, it relates to events like growth, decay, and preservation in terms of biology. The use of skulls invites all kinds of interpretations to be considered and made about the artwork. For instance, there is a clear reference to the ideas of life and death. Similarly, there is a coherent connection between these ideas and the earth. This work could be trying to suggest that there is both an inherent richness to life and beauty in death; this is most indicated by the lustrous beading of the skulls. The jewelry-work makes the piece all that more attractive, allowing a viewer to admire something as odd as a skull. Evidently, nature plays a major role as an influence to the work. This work could invite viewers to question the morbid and anxiety-inducing nature of death that humanity often projects. It goes without saying that death, life, and skulls are heavily expressive topics throughout countless cultures and the human race as a whole. Similarly, there are deep historic and emotional ties to the ideas of death and returning oneself to the earth after …show more content…
This quality can be noted because the jaws of the craniums are open wide as if the animal is in action. A major similarity throughout the work is the use of animal craniums; additionally, abundant beading is also present in more than one of the sculptural pieces. Moreover, there is a repetition in line work, specifically in the jaws. Continuity is present through the use of patterns and repeating colors. The subject of organic life intertwined with organic earth is suggested
The sugar skull is obviously referring to the Mexican tradition called dia de los muertos. Dia de los muertos takes place during the end of october and the first of November. This celebration is an important holiday as it is considered a vital part of Mexican identity, and identity in which is a combination of mesoamerican rituals, European beliefs, and Spanish culture. Mesoamerican culture shared many of the same traditions when celebrating their ancestors. Dia de los muertos isn’t about the final resting place of the dead, but instead the beginning of a new journey. A journey to the Machlin, a final resting place for the souls. Due to Spanish colonization, death rituals were influenced by new laws and lifestyles. Spain and the catholic church made an lasting influence on the cultures of mesoamerica. Many of these influences were a cause of mass war and the bubonic plague. Life and death balanced together like right and wrong, good versus evil, eventually creating a general understanding that life and death, itself, is a cyclical journey. Europeans brought the idea of cemeteries to the indigenous people. Today there is evidence of this with sugar skulls and celebrations in the cemetery and homes. According to The Day of the Dead, Halloween, and the Quest for Mexican National Identity, Stanley Brandes
The texture of the paint is smooth and flows very nicely the paintings composition is primarily bundled into the bottom right half of the image. The wings and legs of the animals as well as and table help form an invisible sloping line across the painting.
In the ancient Egyptian culture, the belief was that there was a life force and spirit inside of the body, known as the ‘Ka’. Therefore, mummification was performed as a ritual to preserve the physical features of the body as well as to protect its inner spirit, mainly to ensure that the ‘Ka’ could recognize the body where it may dwell in the eternal life. Thus, the funerary psychology of ancient Egyptians was that death did not bring an end to living, but instead was only an escape from the physical human life and a gateway to immortal being. Due to the fact that a being’s life span was short in ancient times, people’s main hopes rested in their afterlives, where they would be with the gods (Stockstad 121).
At first glance, the pottery appears to be somewhat simple but it does have a unique appeal. The calm, innocent, and humble appearance while in a painful moment is unprecedented, and it was enough to let the viewer admire and fall in love with this sculpture and its meaning. The distinctive character of glazed terracotta is the smooth, bright, often polychrome cover that has largely contributed to the success of such artifacts, and which recalls, in its plastic compositions, the works by Verrocchio and Filippo Lippi. However, Giovanni‘s art in this sculpture is elegant, remarkable, and a mix of the sophisticated religious themes with antique mannerisms and with the monumental emphasis.
Sculpturing is all about expression, as the image form has depth as well as width and height; three-dimensional display. Deborah's innovative and intellectual ideas are seen in the horse with its pose and energy; alert and ready to react to whatever comes its way. The form is organized to create the image; each branch represents a part of the horse's physique.
The visual elements in this painting are shape, color and light. The shapes and contours of the mother and child are life like.
The subject does not accurately depict the human anatomy. In fact, while studying this figure, one may notice that geometric shapes make up many of the limbs. For example, the artist uses ovals to represent the palm of the hands, the shoulders and the knees. The man's chest is in the form of squares with rounded edges and with perfect little white circles as nipples. This...
For the Formal Analysis Essay, the following artist and work of art to discuss is: Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian 1593-1653), Judith and Maidservant with the Head of the Holofernes, c. 1625, oil on canvas, approx. height: 72 1/2 x 55 3/4 inches. Detroit Institute of Arts. The following will mention the subject of the artwork, elements of design including: line, shape, and color. In addition, the principles of design will be discussed in termed of movement, emphasis, and balance.
That form of representation or sketching involves the drawing of the skeletal structures in thick black lines, and in the case of Morrisseau’s "Astral Planes" painting, humans and animals. Lines drawn in the "Astral Planes" painting are smooth, unbroken, and with no sharp edges; mainly forming the outline of different objects on the painting. Lines get thickened in some shapes creating a volume to certain parts of the objects, such as the head and the arms of creatures. Lines and shapes integrate to produce an eye-pleasing piece of art to look at. The “x-ray” effect provides a feeling of animation to the painting observer.
Projecting human body parts onto the sculpture makes a direct connection between the human body and “dust to dust”. When a human dies, the physical body is what goes back into the earth and is dealt with differently around the world. In many cultures around the world, the human body is handled differently once a person dies, but in the end it is returned to the earth either physically or spiritually, even in some cases. Even though, the title has distinct ties to a biblical quote, the idea of returning to the earth is a universal concept and allows a cross cultural understanding of the human condition and the physical form. The audio plays the sound of a baby crying that hints towards the beginning of life and later on a raspy voice says the phrase, “annihilation into pure evaporation”, which connects the concept of life and death.
Through the means of commemorating and remembering those of prestige and importance, tombs and sarcophagi are produced of these individuals. This funerary manner and distinctive burial practice was initiated Etruscan culture and it developed through the means of cremation and inhumation in earns. The concept of placing the remains of individuals in elaborate, thought out spaces was a valuable attribute of these people. The Etruscan objective of creating the best possible outcome in the afterlife dictated the way in which individuals ornamented and became portrayed in their tombs. Presen...
The Boli figure (fig. 1) stands on four separate legs that all connect to the ground forming a stable connection to the earth for the Boli to rest without fear of falling over. The set legs of the Boli also show stillness within the piece. As an individuals gaze progresses upwards through the animalistic features found on a Boli it can be seen that the Boli has a hump at the top of the “back”. This hump can vary in size throughout different Bolis and can even slightly vary in placement amongst them as well. The Boli can be extremely vague in appearance lacking definition and precise features. This lack of definition can be explained from the Boli being a form of an alter. Dark brown mud can be seen on the outermost layer of the Boli displaying somewhat of a matte finish as the light reflects off the piece. Cracks of the Boli’s surface capture shadows creating more definitive line sporadically throughout the piece almost as if each crack is a lightning bolt...
In chapter six of the book, the pictorial imagery demonstrates a variety of art forms connoting its realism and diversity of the power of connecting to wealth in contradiction to the deprived in the western culture. The images used in this chapter relate to one another and state in the analogy the connection of realism that is depicted in social statues, landscapes, and portraiture, also present in the state of medium that was used to create this work of art. In fact, some of the works presented depict mythological paintings that resemble the transcending metaphysical matter of nature. Take for instance, the general aspect of the artwork presented in this chapter. They depict different social levels through the use of objects, emotions and various conditions.
The theme of death is present in many works of literature. It is given metaphors and cloaked with different meanings, yet it always represents an end. Every end signifies a new beginning, and every death gives rise to a new birth. Physical death “...is mere transformation, not destruction,” writes Ding Ming-Dao. “What dies is merely the identity, the identification of a collection of parts that we called a person. What dies is only our human meaning” (49). Figuratively speaking, death symbolizes a change, an interruption or cessation of regular routine. In this sense, death can be viewed as a more positive occurrence, because change leads to new experience, which, in turn, leads to knowledge and a better understanding of life. The plays Othello and A Doll House both encompass the theme of death. While the former deals with physical death, the latter depicts a change, a transformation of a period of time and a way of life.
"Vanitas still life with portrait of a young painter " by David Bailly includes such objects as dying flowers, a skull, a painting of musician, musical instruments (recorder, conductor’s baton), statuary of a young, virile man and a young child, a portrait of another young man, and a clean palette hanging on the wall. The meaning behind these articles can be manifold, depending upon one’s point of view, but I think they are all important symbols of the passing nature of vitality and life itself. The flowers, once brilliant and lovely, are now withering in their vase. Music, represented by a man playing a lute in a portrait on the wall and by numerous music related items (a recorder, a conductor’s baton) is itself transient and elusive. Obviously a skull can represent death, but it can just as easily be a reminder of what remains behind. The clean palette hanging on the wall is evocative of a clear start, a new beginning, the option available to us all to begin again, before it’s too late!