Film 21: Exit through the Gift Shop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSYMvObQgs&feature=plcp

Question for open discussion: Why was Tierry's obsession video recording everything he saw? What was your input on the video itself?

Film 20: The Universe of Keith Haring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5mBcPzg6zs&feature=plcp

Question for open discussion: Do you think the people in the two videos have the same common interests with the two different artists? And what makes the two artists almost the same or different?

Film 19: "The Radiant Child" (Bisquiat)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUGG6RQzTAc&feature=plcp
Question for open discussion: What did you like about "The Radiant Child"?

Film 18: Painters Painting

Q1.  What were the one thing the painter’s paintings did well? They created a national art; American painters took hold of abstract and made high art out of it.

Q2.  What was Jackson Pollock’s point of view on paintings?
He felt that it was time to leave the era of the small paintings on an easel, to painting large paintings on a wall size picture.

Q3.  What was the purpose of the painter’s paintings?Not only did they create a national art, but they took America’s art and turned them into paintings. They made painters see that abstract painting is all around them.  It was done because they wanted us to see the art around us. The simplest things in life can be art, from a simple butterfly floating around flowers, to a tall skyscraper building with different colors on it. The city of Chicago itself is like art, all the different styles and heights of the building and how they light up at night is what gives Chicago its uniqueness.

Question for open discussion: What are your thoughts and views on today’s art? Do you feel people are more open to contemporary art or abstract paintings?

Film 15: Picasso & Braque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_cRXVw9680&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Question for open discussion: Why did these artists/filmakers chose to do these kinds of films? What is the meaning behind them?

Film 11: Manet/Monet/Timothy Marlow

Q1. I chose Edourd Manet and Claude Monet. I chose these artist because they have some similarities. They both like to paint their families in their paintings, and seem like they have a strong family background. Edourd Manet was the forefather of impressionism and Claude Monet was one of  the greatest impressionists. They both also like to paint the same way according to Timothy Marlow "seductive and their paintings would catch the eye of the public passing by".  Timothy didn't really treat any one of them different, it seemed like to me he had a great interest in both of them and of their work.

Q2. This painting was painted by Claude Monet, whom loved to paint pictures of his family. It has been told that his mother, father, and uncle are in the picture. They are enjoying a nice beautiful day outisde and have a nice conversation by the water. His uncle looks like he is enjoying his day as well as sitting in the chair thinking.

This painting by Edourd Manet is called the "Absinthe Drinker". It seems like this man is dealing with some sort of issues with the shadow of himself that is behind him. The painting is dark, but the man in the painting is dressed very sophisticated with a top hat on. Could it be this man is dealing with some heavy issues that are weighing on his mind?

Q3. Hughes and the others sort of interwine with one another because every painting and story is supposed to represent some sort of toughness within themselves. I think all of them are great story tellers, its hard to distinguish between them all because in some way they are all connected in some way.

Question for open discussion: Do you think that Manet & Monet have some kind of hidden dark secret as to why their paintings are almost similar? What kind of roots did they come from?

Film 10: VanGogh/Schama

Q1. Schama talks about Van Gogh with carefulness and seems like he feels sorry for him because of what he has been through throughtout his life. I did some research and it seems that Van Gogh was suffering from anxiety and other mental illnesses. He killed himself at an early age, I believe the article said he was 37 years old. You can see in the video that he has a great deal of anxiety and doesn't know how to handle it. He is constantly jittery or walking around in the video. He doesn't sit still long enough. Hence, why Schama talks about him a little more differently than the others, with the other painters Schama was a little more aggressive with his voice and his points. I like Van Gogh more than the others because even though he was suffering from anxiety, it seems as that was the best time for him to paint his paintings. Under the pressure is when he worked best, and thought best about everything that surrounded. You can see clearly in his paintings that his mood played a big role in his painting, by the colors, by the dramaticness of his paintings.

Q2. I like the starry night over the Rhone, its quiet, calm and nobody is around to hear your thoughts. I like the bright blues, yellows, and the motion of the water in the painting. The sky is lit up by bright yellow stars and there are so many of them, assuming that its the furthest away from a city. The further you are away from the city lights, the more stars you will see in the sky. There are a few fluffy clouds in the sky. I love going to places like this, because it gives me the opportunity to clear my head or to listen to my own thoughts without hearing my children or fiance in the background.

Q3. I like all of Van Gogh's paintings, in each painting has a different meaning or symbol that reprsents him and his thoughts. It's about how he sees the people and subjects he is painting. If I could have a skill like his and paint that many paintings I would feel very accomplished and relaxed because I would be able to put all my thoughts on a black canvas and make something beautiful out of it.

Question for open discussion: What did you convey from Van Gogh's paintings? What do you think his thought process was like?

Film 12: Impressionism/Collings

Q1. I'm a little torn between the paintings from this week and last week because I actually like both. I also feel that civilization and impressionism are some what intertwine with one another. You need civilization to give you impressionism for your paintings. As stated by Collings " People need to socialize in order to get everything we have in our daily lives". I like impressionism a little more than last week's lession only because you can read and predict a little more information from impressionism than in civilization. With an impressionism you can see if the person in the painting is sad, conflicted, or is thinking something really serious at the time of the painting being done. Collings surveyed almost the same enviornment as in last weeks lesson. He went where the inspiration is. Where people are full of life, love, and aspirations. H walked the metropolitan of New York City, where things are busy, fast, fun, and care-free.


Q2. There are two paintings that I chose, one is a bright colored painting, and the other is a painting of a city at night.

I chose this painting because its calm, peaceful, and gives you a sense of serenity when you are looking at the painting, picturing yourself that you are sitting on blanket, on a hot summer day. Possibly having a picnic, reading an interesting book, or sifting through a magazine. Or you could be having your picnic with a loved one and your children. Sitting down watching your children throw rocks into the water, or sitting there waiting for a frog to hop on one of those pads to relax. The lighting for this painting is perfect, bright and clear, full of sun. Shows just the right amount of greens, purples, whites, maybe even a little pink and purple.

The second painting I chose is because it shows this city a little bit different at night. Its beautiful, busy, care free. The colors in this canvas are little more dramatic than the one in the painting above. You have a darker greens, blues, yellow, some red in there. Depending on the mood of the painter this city is a little more devilis at night, a little more spontanious.

Q3. Every impressionism painting is different, as stated above it depends on the painters mood, setting, and the free style of their hand. If their hand has a feeling of tightness they might paint a more dramatic painting. If their hand is loose and care free, they will paint with bright, fun colors, instead of darker colors. In th painting above you can see it is taken at night, it is a different location than the heart of New York City. Both paintings are beautiful and give an touristic view of the city. So as you see, it just depends on the location and the mood of the painter. Because you can visit a thousand places, but you will never paint the same painting in those thousand places. Collings likes this kind of painting because it gives him a variety to choose from, its not just the same style painting or the same painting at all. Collings seems he likes diversity, he likes change and different places.

Question for open discussion: Why is impressionism such a big subject when it comes to painting?

Film 9: Civilization/Collings

Q1. Matthew Collings is a British art critic, writer and broadcaster. Collings is the producer and presenter for BBC The Late Show in 1989-1995. He also wrote documentaries films for Donald Judd, Georgia O'Kieeffe, etc. After leaving BBC Collings wrote and presented channel 4 TV series This is Modern Art which in return won him the Bafta award and many other awards.

Q2. A wide range of art history because these historians that he mentions such as Goya, David, Hockney, and so on are painters who express their true spirit of experiences of civilization in their paintings. It shows their feelings and thoughts of what the people were feeling at the time. It has been said by Collings that " what they are painting could be the way the world is going to be lived in the future". That civilization is the only way people are going to live a full life. I like Collings because he seems more down to earth, real life, the other artists have a sense of reality, but they also give off a "fake life" impression.

Q3. I think that our generation will be the "Facebook" generation. Because of the internet and technology advancing so rapidly, people will not have the communication or civilization with others unless its through a text message, laptop, email, or networks like Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter. Since all of this began, everyone has been communicating on an impersonal level. Its easier for people to communicate through via text, email, Facebook, rather than call the person or talk to       face-to-face, or even go visit the person and communicate that way. Years ago growing up thats how people would communicate by visiting their friends and family. Civilization is going to be the internet in the future.

The new wave of the future.

Film 8: Goya/Hughes

Q1: Robert Hughes is an Australian born art critic, writer, and television documentary maker who lives in New York since 1970. He was educated at St. Ignatius' College and attended the University of Sydney where he studied art and architecture. He has been published in many articles such as Time Magazine, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, etc.

 

Q2. In this painting Goya is painting himself, some what facing a dark time in his life. He seems a little disturbed or confused on to what is going on around him in his life. He is searching for meaning in his life. It seems like Goya is obssessed with corruptedness and possibly evil. Some of paintings depict certain facial expressions of evilness and danger.

In his portrait of himself he is wearing a bull fighting jacket which shows a "declaration of toughness" according to Hughes. Goya is trying to link that there is common trait that we in the present have in common with our ancestors in the past. Referring to his bull fighter jacket, people in the 60's wore black leather jackets because it gives a symbol and representation that they are "tough" by wearing those jackets.

In this painting to the right it looks like he is painting someone that is evil, looks like he is swallowing a human.











Q3.  So far from what we have covered almost of the stories we have covered represent some kind of symbolicism, the French Revolution, mysteries or real life stories. Others seem to go off of inspiration and things that happen around them. Or they use props from things like pages of an old encyclopedia, for example: our Art professor likes to use blown up pictures of images or words from an encyclopedia. They all are correlated in one way or another, and its to show us that we do have some kind of common connection between us and our ancestors from the past. The best storyteller I would choose would be Simon Schama, he has a very intersting way of telling his stories. He takes a seriousness in telling his knowledge of Art. He likes mystery, and mystery is one of my favorite subjects. I like to be able to solve a good mystery. Even as a kid I loved to play the game clue. I often think life is like a game of clue, you solve a piece of the puzzle and another door to aother puzzle opens, and the pattern repeats.

Question for open discussion: Why is Robert Hughes so intrigued and puzzeld by Goya?

Film 7: David/Schama

Q1. Schama approached David with a little bit more seriousness in his research as well as his music for the youtube video.  It seems as if Schama likes to study and explore Europe for his paintings. It also appeared that he likes a good "mystery". He also focuses on the French Revolution and its attacks in Pais.  David and Caravaggio are similar in two ways, the first is assinations. Both paintings by David and Caravaggio have to do with murders and assinations during the French Revoluton.  And the second is the lighting for the paintings. The lighting of the paintings give off this dramatic and intense look.

Q2. I am somewhat disturbed, but yet curious about this picture. Seal Paul Marat was assinated in his bath tub. I am curious as to why someone would murder someone in his or her bath tub. But I guess everyone has their preference and reason why. Sean Paul looks peaceful in this painting. Schama described it as " beautiful and a guilty secret". Sean's face looks relieved as if he doesn't have to carry on anymore burden about anything he has done. The lighting looks dark, especially behind Sean, but in other aspects it looks very bright by the bath tub. It looks like he was reading some kind of letter or piece of paper. Or maybe he could be writing something to someone. Maybe he was writing a confession of some sort.

Q3. David seems to be a little bit of both "good guy" and a "bad guy". His paintings are representing life in its truest form, but at the same time he shows an infatuation with mystery, murder, and assinations. According Schama, " David's paintings were never meant to be shown off as gallory paintings, they are meant to show the entire of meaning of life".


Question for discussion: What do you think David was trying to convey in his paintings? And why is Schama so fascinated by David's paintings?

FILM 6: Rembrandt / Greenaway

 Who is Peter Greenaway? Why should we believe his story?
Peter Greenaway is a British film director. He is famous for his films on the Renaissance, Baroque paintings, and particularly Flemish paintings. At an early age he decided to become a painter, he was interested in European cinema and mostly focused on films of Ingmar Bergman, and of the French Nouvelle Vague. I think we should believe his story because he is a credible film maker and has a tremendous amount of experience in the film making business. His credentials can and will back him up.

Greenaway chose to discuss only 1 painting in a full length film? Why? Was this effective?
They discuss this painting because they believe it is a painting that could or can solve a murder. They considered it as an indictment because they are so many clues inside this painting, that if and when they put them together they will have solved the murder mystery.

Why did this storyteller chose to use significant locations to tell parts of his
story? Which locations were the most effective and why?
He choose the locations because of Rembrandt's painting them in its original way. They choose Amsterdam's " Night Watch" because it shows the originality of its street life.

Why did this storyteller chose to use such dramatic lighting and theatrical reenactments to tell his stories? What else did he do? What was his most effective strategy?

Because the paining of the night event that occurred. The dramatic lighting and theatrical reenactments correlates with the paining. It is a painting that shows a frozen moment of theater play.

Question for open discussion: Why did the murder happen?

FILM 5: Caravaggio /Schama

Who is Simon Schama? Should we believe his stories? Why?
Simon Schama is a Bristish historian and an Art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia College. He is best known for writing and hosting his serious of 15 parts BBC documentary serious. He has a particular interest in solving mysteries, studying very interesting artists suchs a Caravaggio and David. He's won multiple scholarships and likes to study the French Revolution

What do you consider to be the most interesting painting by Caravaggio? Why? How was it made?
How does it control your eye? When you look, what do you see first? second? What does it mean?
The most interesting about Caravaggio in his paintings is that  his paintings were painted to help paint his way out of trouble.. His paintings give off a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque school of painting.

Why did this storyteller chose to use such dramatic lighting and theatrical reenactments to tell his
stories? Did they make the story more believable? Why / How?
He stated that Caravaggio was challenging the very way the painting was supposed to be. That he took a painting and turned it into death, and something rather disgusting.

Question for open discussion: Do you think Carvaggio was in the wrong for showing the paintings in the way that he did? And if so, why?

Film 4: Hockney / Knowledge

Who is David Hockney? Some people don't believe his stories. Do you? Why?
David Hockney was a brilliant British painter, draughtsman, printmaker, photographer, and designer. After a prize-winning career as a student at the Royal College of Art, Hockney achieved international success by the time he was in his mid-20s, and has since his position as by far the best-known British artist of his generation. His amazing success has been based not only on the flair, wit, and versatility of his work, but also on his colorful personality, which has made him a recognizable figure even to people not particularly interested in art: a film about him entitled A Bigger Splash (1974).
He was also considered  the most celebrated artist who belived that people have been using lens's for around 400 years before the camera was invented.
I have faith in him, he's changed my way of looking at painting and lens, and using a camera. It is very easy to catch the beautiful or uniqueness of a person or place. But he has also showed that it is even easier to make up a studio of very popular photographic places.

What was the Secret Knowledge? Does it change the way you look at painting? Why?
The lense is the secret knowledge, it all depends on your lense. You can change the view, the lighting, and setting of a picture just by changing your lense. And in all of his paintings he uses "tracing the lines" to perfect his paintings. The lighting is bright, very colorful, and unique.

What methods did Hockney use to tell his story? What were the most effective? Why?
He invented a studio with buildings and images of Florence, Hollywood, Rouge, and
Gant. Its a set in Hollywood, four cities involved in picture making.
He liked using mirrors because he stated " it gave the biggest space and the biggest measure" to add in more to your picture. To give your picture a still look, but its an acutal moving picture. I found the most effective of the video is when he stated that he created his own studio that looked like a hollywood set. That its possible to fake a place too look like a real place in real life.

Quesetion for open discussion: What was David Hockney's purpose?

Film 3 Michelangelo/Marlow

Who is Timothy Marlow? Why should we believe his story?

Timothy Marlow is curious and very intrigued by Michelangelo's art and work. He is fascinated by the sculptures and what Michelangelo used to put his art together. He started out in apprenticeship and worked his way into doing his own sculptures.He is best known for his channel 5 attributes. Timothy has collaborated many books written about art and culture in Brittain.

Which painting do you like most by Michelangelo's why? How was it made?What do you see first, second, third? Why? What is this painting about?

The painting I chose is the Battle Between Reason and Passion. This painting is flat, figures are slightly awkward almost as if they are standing out towards you. This painting gives a lot of passion and uniqueness. "The bodies are automically correct, grid like structure but also showing like everyone is trying to break out of it." Michelangelo is trying to portray power, violence, sensuality, and movement in this painting. Michelangelo also used a hammer and a chisel to do his paintings.

Why did this storyteller chose to use significant locations to tell parts of hisstory? Which locations were the most effective and why?

Timothy chose Florence, Italy because is the place of "Love" and that's where Michelangelo got a lot of his aspiration and inspiration There is also open land, vineyards, and antique treasures.

Question for open discussion: What is the name of the place Michelangelo did his apprenticeship?

Film 2 Divinci/Bruce

Who is Fiona Bruce? Why should we believe her stories?
Fiona Bruce is a British jounalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She is known for workin with the BBC and joining their segment news at six, the BBC news at ten. She has also joined TV shows Crimewatch, Call my Bluff, and the most recent Antique Roadshow. She also anchored her own documentary series from 2003 to 2007.

Which painting do you like most by Leonardo's why? How was it made? What doyou see first, second, third? Why? What is this painting about?

 I chose Lady with Ermine because this painting represented Sex. And the Ermine was a representation of love. Her faces gives off a look of a chilly gaze, almost as if she is protectng her love, the Ermaine. She looks peaceful, and live like. She looks as if she is full of life and love. Lady with the Ermaine has a young, clean and intelligent look. The painting colos are little dark but sophisticated. She appears to be pure and innocent.

Why did this storyteller chose to use expert interviews to tell parts of herstory? Which Interviews were the most effective and why?
The interview I chose was the segment where Fiona interviews a lady showing the x-rays with some embellishments that Leonardo tried to work through and fix in his canvas's.


Question for open discussion: How many paintings did Leonardo Davinci paint?

FILM 1: Paint / History

What is Paint? What are it's component parts? What are it's functions?

According to researchers "paint is a pigmented liquid that dries to form a protected solid film. It's 3 basic compenents are: Resin: That works like a glue, to bind it all together.
Pigment: Which  gives the paint its color.
Solvent: To smooth out paint as it drys.
Pigments are always solid ground up minerals that are also mixed with complex chemical based organic pigments. The binder which is also known as Ressin, is made up from linseed oil and acrylic polymers. The solvent is made up of water or volital spirits."

What do you think lead to the most significant evolution in paint?
30,000 years ago in Southern France people would paint the walls inside their homes. Egyptians would paint and put symbolic images up on those walls. Today paint stores offer an unlimited amount of paint colors.

What is a painting? Is it important that a painting lasts for 500 years? 30,000Years? Why?
In the 15th Century Jan Van Eyek was the first to introduce oil painting.  The Birth of Modern Chemistry, Fire of Revolution, and in the 19th cntury and the formation of electricity changed the view on painting and its competents.  The electricity began fueling elements together which gave a wide variety of paint colors and options. The 19th century Impressonitists began to start painting pictures with people, buildings,etc. The paint had to be made to be able to sustain sun light, rain, ice, snow, gravel, etc. Without paint the world would be just a blank canvas.

Question for open discussion:
What event lead painters to paint everything they wanted to paint such as cars, homes, buildings, etc?

Jennifer Rocco
Major: Clinical Psychology
Minor: Business

I chose this class because I am a fan of Art, it is very interesting to me. And I hope to visit the famous Art buildings some day.