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Zoe Rose

Art 101Content + Form

Mr. Lopes

December 6, 2023

Art 101 Final Paper

          Over this course, we have read many works of artist, critiques, poets, and more with varying views or similar mindsets of art as well as execution to make said art. For example, Jackson Pollock was a painter and was known for his unique application of paint. Not to mention, his break from more traditinal forms of painting as more artist were influenced byt the aftershock of World War 2, creating an abstractionist and experimental boom. He mentions that his work is very direct while also controlling the flow of paint and, despite his method of painting, he claims that the paint strokes he makes are not accidental “…it seems to be possible to control the flow of paint, to great extent, and I don’t use-I don’t use the accident-cause I deny the accident” (Stiles, Selz, Pollock, 24). In other words, he embraces the coincidences to build onto them with in his pieces. His stokes are deliberate however he does not have the image of the painting in his head until he puts the paint on canvas.

          When it comes to his work, he fallows the art for art’s sake as the main purpose of his art was to evoke emotions through color and paint stroke. Not only that, but many of his painting seemed to not have proper titles are given ones after the creation of the piece. Instead of having a particular meaning that might relate to his life or any events that were occurring at the time, he captured the movement of the paint and chooses particular colors to create a mood. This is evident with the fact that his tends to fling the paint on the canvas and “…The Brushes I use are used more as sticks rather than brushes…” (Stiles, Selz, Pollock, 25).

          Another artist that piqued my interest was Catherine Opie. She is a qear photography that has mad art depicting women that look like men, different body types of men and women, and non-straight relationships. However, one of her works that hit particularly hard was her self-portrait photograph of her back where her friend cut a picture of two women in an idealized loving domestic setting. With in her artist statement for this piece, she recounts her time in church where she had a crush on a girl who would go and talk about her love of God and Jesus. However, this was contrasted with the hatred the LGBTQ+ community faces from intolerant Christians “I saw people who loved god and hated us, and I continue to see people love god and hate us twenty years later” (Stiles, Selz, Opie, 319).

          Her self-portrait (Catherine Opie) hit the audience hard as, mentioned before, the piece is literally carved into her back, a very vulnerable part of the body. Giving a sense that the piece is very personal to her and her want for a life without prejudice. Despite her apprehension, she wanted to make a piece that would resonate with people and to talk about things that she thinks are important to talk about or things that she finds interesting, even if it may not be something more conservative groups would agree with. Like her aforementioned pieces depicting women in male attire and the self portrait of a same sex couple.

          Takashi Murakami on the other hand is a Japanese pop artist who uses bright colors with in his work with very cartoonish figures. Something to note due to the fact that more Japanese art like manga and anime were being introduced to the American zeitgeist and heavily influenced pop culture in the early 2000s and now. More specifically, he refers to art as seen with modern cartons and comics, so any piece of art with flat colors that lack realistic rendering and detailed features as well as bold cartoonish line work. His art for example, kaikai kiki (Murakami), shows characters with oval heads and simply drawn mouths and facial features. However, the piece with in the book and looking at his other works tend to also depict psychedelic visuals and monstrous beings, like Tan Tan Bo (Murakami). Along with pop culture references, he also takes aspects of Japanese Edo period and mythology as seen with 727 Silk Screen (Murakami) with the use of the silk screen and the depiction of his recognizable monsters painted in a blotchier fashion.

          While he utilizes bright colors with visuals leaning towards cute, psychedelic, to horrific, his art is meant to say something about the cultural turn after WW2. During the second world war, Hiroshima and Nagasaki was bombed and many citizens died and survivors had to suffer the aftershock that can be felt today. In short, his work was more of a way to critique the then modern landscape of superficial art that he claimed lacked depth, “Japan may be the future of the world. And now. Japan is Super flat. From social mores to art and culture, everything is super two-dimensional.” (Stiles, Selz, Murakami, 321). His art makes us question both our reality and the reality we depict on cartoons, comics, and other pieces of medias we consume. Not only that, but his work all together is both a critique of superficial art work but also a celebration of Japanese art and culture through the ages.

          All these artists have made many works of art in order to evoke emotion from their audience. However, their execution has been different, some motivated by a particular message they wish to send to the audience. Opie for example medium consist of photography of human beings and the subject matter, as mentioned previously, focuses more on sexual and gender identity. Murakami on the other hand uses paint as his main medium and uses bright cartoonish visuals as seen with anime and manga. In contrast, Pollock’s art that doesn’t have an intended meaning behind it. His art being a way to experiment with paint and the application of it on canvas. Not to mention, he uses color and paint strokes to evoke a particular feeling.

          When it comes to my own work, what really caught my eye is the juxtaposition and exploration of heavy topics from Opie and Murakami. While my art is more of art for art sake similar to Pollock and made more for fun or to depict a narrative. I have a few pieces that do something similar with the use of happy visuals but references to negative moments and emotions in my life. I feel this connection further with his more psychedelic pieces of monsters of Murakami and my other pieces having LGBTQ+ themes to them.

          Lastly, when it comes of Pollock, while are styles are very different from one another, I like how his art does not have a particular meaning behind them and uses colors and experimental painting methods to make art that evokes some sort of emotion from people. Sometimes, it is fun to just draw and put paint on canvas or in my case, styles to tablet to draw a digital piece. For example, a good chunk of my art has a narrative and characters behind them and others are more for fun. However, if I want to make a piece that is meant to evoke a particular emotion, I will experiment with color scheme, line art, and rendering to evoke said emotion. My art is still greatly different in comparison to these three, I feel like I resonate with both their art and their inspirations.

Work Cited

Stiles, Kristine and Selz, Peter. “Theories and Document of Contemporary Art” Second Edition, Revised and Expanded. 2012. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023

Toynton, Evelyn. “Jackson Pollock”. Yale University Press, 2012. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1np6t1. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Cornyetz, Nina. "Murakami Takashi and the hell of others: sexual (in)difference, the eye, and the gaze in [c]Murakami." Criticism, vol. 54, no. 2, spring 2012, pp. 181+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A288689266/AONE?u=csufresno&sid=bookmark  AONE&xid=6b311015. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Zoe Rose

November 22, 2023

ARTH 132 (02)-20th Cnt Mod Art

Ms. Sosa

Response 2: Harlem Renaissance

Question 1

          During the 1920s, there was a surge of art, music, performance art, and an overall cultural boom of in New York that originated to embrace their culture and identity and to depict African American citizens struggle throughout history and depiction of their current life in New York City, hence the title of renaissance or rebirth. Works of art that was a result of this rebirth often use visual element from African tribes. Fore example, Sargent Claude Johnson’s 1935 copper mask sculpture.

          This particular piece is a sculpture that is, as the title entails, made of copper. It also uses similar elements to traditinal African tribal masks, especially ones that are created to look like dramatized human faces with this piece in particularly having visual elements seen with caricature of black people in 1920’s media as evident by the cartoonishly large minstrel lips. Sot with that said, it is safe to assume that not only is this piece a celebration of African Americans original roots, but also a way to reclaim features that have been exaggerated in media to mock them. On top of that, the tribal mask is an interesting piece of imagery in American 1920’s city modernity, showing that African Americans still holding on to their roots, even on the other side of the world where they are persecuted for their culture and skin. Overall, this piece shows the connection of African American identity to their culture in a modern world and how they reclaim their history and continue to persevere.

Question 2

          While many pieces resulting from the Harlem Renaissance depicted the many tragedies and hardships African American citizens had to face, many of who were decedents of slaves in the early history of the United States and even now, they still face massive persecution. During the 1920’s to 40’s, many writers, singers, musicians, and artists often depicted more modern and current depictions of their life, whether it was depiction of their everyday life, or in this example, the life of black man and women who have some form of statues. A particular example being Archibald Motely’s 1926 “Cocktails”, a 32 x 40 inch painting depicting a group of high society black women in extravagant dresses and being served by a waiter who is also black in a well decorated room. It is implied that this is a high society women group, something quite common for the time, especially with in the Harlem Renaissance. Depiction of high society black men and women were common due to the racial segregation they faced, so not a lot of black people were allowed in some establishments. So, the depiction of black high society and political groups was a way to show their statues and to show more of life of as a African American citizen. This was different in comparison to European modernism in art as their art during this time often depicted exploration of scientific methods like Einstein's relative theory of time and space as well as exploration of the mind with Freudian psychology. An example of this can be seen with Pablo Picasso’s “Les Desmoiselles D’Avigon”, a surrealist cubist painting depicting naked women who are likely to be prostitutes. Not only was it a way to experiment with the human form, but the often-taboo depiction of the naked human form becoming more and more common. However, with the Harlem Renaissance, many of the art that came out of this movement depicted the black American like from the middle class to high society groups with in their community and exploration of their roots from African and depiction of their past and current struggles as well as their accomplishments through history.