Kwame Akoto aka Almightly God, has depicted a landscape portrait of himself along with several other biblical and mythological figures. This mid sized painting on wood is currently displayed in Fowler Museum at UCLA (Mittman 98). My first response to the work was that of a warm yet somewhat uninviting feeling. The bright warm colors mixed with the summer beach setting present a warm feeling, while the expressions and body language of each of the random figures are just the opposite. At fist glance one would notice the four watchful figures in the composition. These figures all appear to have human characteristics but possess distinctively different physical attributes. I believe Akoto rendered the painting in this manner so the viewer could differentiate the role each figure plays in the work, and how they all come together as one to form meaning.
The painting takes place on what appears to be a beach with some sort of forrest or trail in the accompanying background. Forms are arranged asymmetrically throughout the work in a complex manner. There are four humanlike figures, three men and one female, which all appear to differ in size and race. The artist strategically places two figures in the foreground as the other two appear significantly smaller in the middle ground. The figures were composed in this manner to create a sense of depth in his painting. The size of figures mixed with the change in color, size and clarity of the grassy mountains in the background introduce the idea of atmospheric perspective. In addition, the figures placed toward the middle ground seem to compliment and interact more with their surroundings, while the two in the foreground interact more with the object(s) that are in their possession.
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...nting, the artist. Akoto has distinctively individualized himself by making the pigment of his skin noticeably darker than the other three figures. He also makes the poses of the other three figures mimic or echo each other with crossed arms, as he is the only figure in the work with an prominently different pose. This shows how the artist has further individualized himself from his 'tormentors' as the works title suggests.
Kwame Akotos painting would make one very curious as to what is actually going on and what each part of his painting represents. Akoto adopted the alias Almighty God, and uses this name with all his art works. "Almighty God, the artist, does not claim to be God. Rather he gives thanks to Almighty God for his personal Salvation." (SOURCE) Akoto is very religious and signs all of his works including the work analyzed above with his adopted name.
which cover his waist and some of his torso. He is holding a very tall, slender cross in his left hand, while looking with a diffused look to the right. Also, to the left of him (to the right from the viewer’s perspective) there is a sheep lying upon a rock.
Wayne, transforms this painting into a three dimensional abstract piece of art. The focal point of the painting are the figures that look like letters and numbers that are in the front of the piece of art. This is where your eyes expend more time, also sometimes forgiving the background. The way the artist is trying to present this piece is showing happiness, excitement, and dreams. Happiness because he transmits with the bright colours. After probably 15 minutes on front of the painting I can feel that the artist tries to show his happiness, but in serene calm. The excitement that he presents with the letters, numbers and figures is a signal that he feels anxious about what the future is going to bring. Also in the way that the colors in the background are present he is showing that no matter how dark our day can be always will be light to
There is a stark parallel between the Vietnam War and the circumstances under which life is maintained on Potrero Hill. The soldiers in Gods Go Begging are poor, uneducated, and trapped fighting in a war they do not support; the boys on Potrero Hill are also poor, uneducated, and unable to escape the war into which they were born. They are victims of their circumstances and their government. Some of the boys that Jesse meets in Vietnam are there because they were drafted. Unable to get a deferment, either due to a lack of funds or because no higher education establishment would accept them, boys are forced to go off to war. Others, like Mendez, fled to the United States in order to escape the violence at home that resulted from the United States’
Art has always been considered the effervescent universal tool of communication. Art does not require a concrete directive . One sculpture,drawing or written creative piece, can evoke a myriad of emotions and meaning . Artistic pieces can sometimes be considered the regurgitation of the artist's internal sanctum. In Richard Hooks graphic painting,Adoption of the Human Race, the effect of the imagery,symbols ,color and emotional content projects a profound unification of a spiritual edict.
Starting with visual elements I saw lines, implied depth, and texture. I see lines by him using lines created by an edge. Each line is curved not straight but it works with the piece. By using this he creates the piece to make it whole. He uses many curved lines within the painting I don’t know if there is a straight line in the whole thing. The next element I saw was implied depth. Using linear perspective you can see the mountains but they look smaller than the rest of the piece. They are the vanishing point in the back making it look as if you can walk down and they will get closer and closer to you. The last element that I saw was texture. They talk about Van Gogh’s painting, The Starry Night having texture through a two- dimensional surface, in which this painting has that similar feel. Van Gogh uses thick brush stokes on his paintings to show his feelings. There is actually a name for this called, Impasto,
Eric Fishl’s Scarsdale is a painting that is done on three canvases. When placed together, they appear to make one whole picture. The focal point of the painting is the woman, dressed in a white gown and veil. It appears that she is wearing a wedding dress, since the dress is white and includes a veil. To the left is a cat and to the right is a dog. The woman represents the focal point, not only because she is the largest figure in the painting, but also because everything else is slightly in darkness. Fischl’s cat and dog can only be made out if one looks at the painting carefully. Fischl also paints the woman so that she almost appears to be floating in air. One can see that she is sitting on a chair, but the dog is directly under her, and he does not really use perspective to make it clear that the woman is not floating in midair.
There is a lot of repetition of the vertical lines of the forest in the background of the painting, these vertical lines draw the eye up into the clouds and the sky. These repeated vertical lines contrast harshly with a horizontal line that divides the canvas almost exactly in half. The background, upper portion of the canvas, is quite static and flat, whereas the foreground and middle ground of the painting have quite a lot of depth. This static effect is made up for in the immaculate amount of d...
I chose to elaborate on two of Karen Armstrong’s themes from the first chapter of A History of God as I felt they were both very strong ideas. The first explains how cultural differences between North Africa and Europe during the Romantic Period affected white society’s failure to realize that Islam indeed worshipped the same deity. The second explains how Delacroix’s audience desired the imagery in the painting because people were, during this time, losing their concept of God.
Along the far left bank you see a single brick red chimney with a low roof as light wafts of smoke drift toward the left. In the bottom right corner, we see a bit of the bank the perspective is from and bits of grass are also leaning to the left, so one is given the picture of a nice day with at least slight breeze. Towards the center of the painting, you can see large boulders, smoothed, rising out of the river. Far into the distance, past the bank of the river, onto a higher level of the valley area, you see small gathers specks and shapes that represents a small mountain village.
The forms of the bodies depicted follow the standard human forms without much deviation. This is true until one reaches the faces. The faces feature exaggerated eyes. The eyes of the figure are enlarged to the point of uncanny, in the sense that they convey this eerie underline mood to the overall feel of the painting. This is enhanced by the paintings large size, which allows for the view to more easily become engulfed in the eyes of each of the figure in the painting. Since the face conveys so much of the emotions of the human figure, the swaying of the face to the eerie is what makes many attribute this painting to surrealism.
The representation of the new age of exploration, which serves as an allusion to man’s potential, is starkly contrasted with the depiction of Icarus that serves as an allegory for man’s limits, indicating the shift from a euro-centric universe. This painting is an oil canvas landscape of the sun setting on the horizon of the ocean sea, while the ships were sailing through the body of water. The focus on humanism during this period is clearly portrayed by the presence of the plowman, shepherd, and fisherman performing their daily task. Lighter colors are used, which differ from the darker colors that were emphasized during the Dark Age or Medieval period. Shadows can be seen on the ground next to the plowman, showing the increasing artistic methods that begin to be utilized.
The painting is organized simply. The background of the painting is painted in an Impressionist style. The blurring of edges, however, starkly contrasts with the sharp and hard contours of the figure in the foreground. The female figure is very sharp and clear compared to the background. The background paint is thick compared to the thin lines used to paint the figures in the foreground. The thick paint adds to the reduction of detail for the background. The colors used to paint the foreground figures are vibrant, as opposed to the whitened colors of the Impressionist background. The painting is mostly comprised of cool colors but there is a range of dark and light colors. The light colors are predominantly in the background and the darker colors are in the foreground. The vivid color of the robe contrasts with the muted colors of the background, resulting in an emphasis of the robe color. This emphasis leads the viewer's gaze to the focal part of the painting: the figures in the foreground. The female and baby in the foreground take up most of the canvas. The background was not painted as the artist saw it, but rather the impression t...
The painting is of a young St. John the Baptist preaching to his congregation. St. John is an important figure in Catholicism not only for his preaching and baptisms in the River Jordan, but for his role as the last prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ. His preaching foretells the coming of Christ as the Messiah, and thereupon Christ’s baptism, the voice from Heaven told St. John that Jesus was God’s son. This piece by Calabrese captures John at the height of his oration. Fixed atop a decrepit tree trunk yet grappling for stability, John is shown here in his ascetic attire composed of camel hair, holding his staff and scroll bearing the words “Ecce Agnus Dei,” which translates into Beho...
The painting has an order and there are different shapes and angles. Rectangular shape is main trend around this piece, including the wooden chest, the leg rest and the canvass. Also things overlap, creating the illusion of the shape look closer to viewer than the shape behind it. The example in this piece would be the chair on which Adelaide Labille Guiard sits be close to viewer than the girls behind it. This adds depth to the space. Also due to linear perspective girls behind the chair are smaller due to being farther away.
...hese repeated vertical lines contrast firmly with a horizontal line that divides the canvas almost exactly in half. The background, upper portion of the canvas, seems unchanging and flat, whereas the foreground and middle ground of the painting have a lot of depth to them.