Visual Storytelling

By Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1560                                                                                     1562

Nijdeka Akunyili Crosby, James Kerry Marshall, and Aliza Nisenbaum all use slightly different techniques. Crosby uses collages to make clothes and backgrounds and acrylic (I think) to paint the skin and parts of the background and clothes. Marshall uses acrylic paint also (I think), and Nisenbaum used acrylic paint to make her mural of airport workers. Marshall’s message is that black people are usually in the backgrounds of painting and never the subject and he is trying to change that by only painting black people. Nisenbaum’s message is that there is more than meets the eye in places like airports and she represents it by showing all workers involved in getting you on your flight. Crosby is trying to represent union between Nigeria and the U.S. by painting Nigerian culture interacting with American culture.

I think Peter Bruegel uses oil painting because of the seamlessness in his paintings. There are no gaps between colors that sometimes appear with acrylic and the colors shift smoothly. He conveys many different messages, like in his painting called the triumph of death. It shows an army of dead killing people regardless of race or class. That painting represents the inevitability of death.

Pieter Bruegel likes to approach storytelling similar to a philosopher in the way that he is trying to show universal morals or lessons through scenes in his paintings. The contemporary artists are trying to fix specific problems like racism or separation of cultures by painting a more ideal circumstance, like how Crosby likes to show Nigerian culture mixing with American culture even though it might not be as combined as she would like. Pieter Bruegel likes to show his messages in more complex ways, like his Child’s Play painting.