Wednesday 24 August 2011

Creation Of Adam

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Creation of Adam, detail in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy , 1511-1512 , Fresco

Life arose when the Adam extended His hand toward the God of Father in this fresco, which remember the relationship of Gods and heroes in the Renaissance Era.


Today, i am going to describe about the Ceiling of Adam of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome Italy.

The artwork is actually adapted one of the chronology from the book of Genesis, Bible which describe about the birth of first human, ADAM. As we can see, from our first view, there were two main object on the picture, Adam and the God of Father.
Michelangelo is commission by the Pope Julius 2 to draw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Besides that, the empty background of the artwork is important as it provide a space for the joining of the two hands. At the same time, the Creation of Adam also symbolizes the Christian religion.
The posture of the Adam raising his bare arm toward the God is the reflection of the God. (The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo, 1511). Indeed, the position also indicates that Adam is receiving the life from The Father. Indeed, the viewer of this artwork will follow the motion of  the hand from the left to the right, the extended hand of the Adam and the God. 

Indeed, there is a differences in terms of composition in this artwork. Although we can observed that the hand of the Adam and the God is facing to each other from a curve line from Adam shoulder to His fingers.However, the position of the the focal point between the both figure is off- centered. (Gardner's Art throughout the Ages, Page 594-595).  Michelangelo replacing the straight architectural lines axes with  curve and diagonal lines which applied on the figure of the artwork. But, How?

It is obvious when we observed the posture of the Adam  and the God is quite similar. The Adam is displaying front posture from his breast till his stomach while His leg is showing 3/4 posture. It is a similarity in term of leg posture which contain curve lines between Adam and the God.                         

Emotionalism: Besides that, the red colour background behind the God is reflecting a human brain. The position of one of the angel below the right arm of the God of Father actually reflects the emotion of human. (www.mentalhealthandillness.com, 2011). The position of the God also indicates the limbic system of a brain, which control the nerves system of a brain such as anger. It is clear when position of the angel have a sad expression which it impose the brain region control the emotion. ( http://www.wellcorps.com)
The hand of the God move to the prefrontal cortex, which is the brain region organize the creativity of an object. 
This artwork was completed based on a fresco technique which need to be completed in a short period of time.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Edouward Manet- Olympia

Edouard Manet, 1863,Olympia, Oil on canvas.
The artwork shows a female nude with a fair skin and a black person behind the scence.
Firstly, I would like to know why there is a involvement of the Black in an artwork during that era. From the analysis regarding this artwork, there is two figure in  this artwork. The figure on the left is actually a white salve and the figure on the right is a black servant.

Let us see,on now days in our perspective, is there any difference between the social classification of the servant and the slave?  Suppose it is belongs to a same level?
 

Back to our topic, the fair skin naked women is a prostitute while the right figure is a black servant to the prostitute.From the picture, we observed that the prostitute having a ignorant behavior with the servant although there is a bouquet of flower on her hand. In addition, both eye of the prostitute is facing toward the viewer. 

In terms of appearance, the transition of light on the naked girl is slightly unnatural.Why?
The development of camera start from the year approximately about 1817 years. Hence, there is a high possibility that the artwork actually is a picture before changed into a artwork on a canvas.This could be a reasonable when the cat was being shocked by the some of the element and the posture of the head of the prostitute at front posture indicating she is the main subject matter in this artwork. this can be explained through the expression of the black cat in the picture.

In addition, there is also a stratification of the social class of the salve.Why? The prostitute tend to have a higher class than the black servant when she work as a famous, high ended prostitute who only received appointment from the customer after he saw this artwork.


Sunday 21 August 2011

Neoclassicm -Napoleon Crossing the Saint-Bernard


Jacques-Louis David, Napolean Crossing the Saint Bernard. 1800-01, Oil  piant, Musee National du Chateau de la Malmaison, Rueil -Malmaison
 The figure shows that Napolean is rearing a horse on a hill. It shows the glory of the Napolean which he is leading to the top of the Alps in Italy in 1800.


The animal that Napolean rearing on the way to the Alps is a horse. which urgue the viewer to follow him. However, the questions comes when the painter of this artwork is replacing the donkey which Napolean rear into a horse?


From the research, it shows that the Napolean is crossing the Alps mountain with a dockey and a simple grey coat. However, it is different with the artwork which shows Napoleon is crossing the Alps mountain with a horse and a luxury garment.


Above analysis give me a indication that Jacques- Louis David wants to present to the whole world regarding his victory over his troop and prove the statue of him who rule over the whole French. It is done during the French revolution.However, David was imprisoned due to the propaganda and the political affilication. (French Revolution and the Visual Language of Power , 2009 )
In terms of appearance, the shape of the cloak suggest that there is a strong windblow over the hill and the extension of his right arm gives me a sense of direction toward the path he will going. In addition, the expression of the Napolean which lead the troop shows a confidence and a solemn expression, this seems to be encouraging his military troop toward the Alps mountain. (wikispaces.com, Napoleon Crossing the Saint-Bernard )

Besides that, the artwork contain some characteristic from the Baroque era, which it gives  a sense of theatre feeling to the viewer. (Art history ,2002) This is obvious when the artwork contain more of diagonal shape rather than organic shape. For example, the triangle lines can be seen from front  leg of the horse to the extend hand of the napolean; followed by the back leg of the horse.

In addition, the posture of the Napolean left leg  as well as the cloak blown by the wind gives the viewer a sense of movement. The attire worn by the Napolean indicating the power and the statues as a General.






Resources:

Mod World, (N.D.), Napolean Crossing the Saint-Bernard painted in 1800 by Jacques -Louis David, retrieved by 22th August2011,from http://modwrld.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/14058747 

Stephen Addiss; Chu-Tsing Li; Marylin M. Rhie, Christopher D. Roy,(2002) Chapter 27 Nineteenth-Century Art in Europe and the United States.,Art History Second Edition, The University of Kansas, Retrieved by 22th August 2011.

New Museum of Comtemporary Art (2009),  Lesson : French Revolution and Visual Language of Power, Retrieved from 22th August 2011 , from http://www.gclass.org/lessons/plans/french-revolution-and-visual-language-of-power




Saturday 20 August 2011

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Saint Maria della Vittoria, Rome

Baroque period is a era which the most of the artist emphasize  more on the drama,theoretical style on their artwork.

For example, Let us have a look on the Cornaro Chapel. Bernini worked the design of the funerary of Chapel Federigo Cornaro in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, which have been design by other artist, Carlo Maderno.  

On the 1652, Bernini covered the wall of the chapel with the marble panel.While the  heavy cornice as a decorative purpose are supported by the marble pilaster. In order to create the in depth effect, Bernini have attach the window and a curve ceiling surrounding the sculpture which create a sense of in depth space.

Alright, when I focus on the center of the sculpture, the sculpture shows a figure is holding a arrow and another person is suffering from some impact. The sculpture is called Teresa and the angel,  who seem floating on a cloud. The figure on the left is angel which holding an arrow, while on the right one is the Teresa.


From this artwork, this give me a lot of question. What is the aim of creating this artwork ? What is the artwork representing during Baroque period?


When i further my research regarding this artwork, 

 The work is represent a vision which an angel pierced her body with  an arrow and transporting her to a sense of religious ecstasy.
Well, what is mean by the religious ecstasy?


Religious ecstasy refer to the a sense of oneness with the God.


I quite impress with the Bernini artwork when he is able to gain the movement and emotion of the figures through the texture he created especially on the drapery cloth, the expression of the angel from  white, mass of marble.


Indeed,   I can feel that although the sculpture were done from a huge marble, the posture of the Teresa with a drapery attire laying on the cloud makes the whole sculpture weightless.


From another perspective, we can observed that the Bernini are excellent on the conveying the texture of the garment which create a smooth, a pleasure body posture although some of the Teresa body               is visible.


On the other hand, Bernini also using some bronze stroke which represent the light ray. At the same time , the window also covered by the light ray.



Friday 19 August 2011

Culture in Egypt/ Greek in Malaysia Part 6

I am replacing the National Monument with Pudu Prison building, I think it is a good example for this.

This time, I saw some of the Greek Element in this Historical Building in Malaysia. It is obvious when Malaysia is a multicultural society, so the element applied on the building also changed along the time.

As we can see from the picture,

It is Pudu Jail in Kuala Lumpur.Although we knew that the Pudu Jail was built by the British colonial government,  the building of the Pudu building still  consist of several culture element. 

We can see that the two tower is similar with the Islamic religious tower in Malaysia.

On the upper middle part of the  the building consist consist like a wall like   structure that look alike a castle from the British.

In the middle bottom side of the building, there consist of 6 column that I believe it is a Greek element.


Besides that, in term of the kitsch matter in Malaysia, I observed that some of our building were applied the Doric or even the pilaster in their building. Some of the house developer in Malaysia uses the Doric for the commercial usage rather than use the Doric in an artistic way. 
The doric was used as a supporting foundation and were used in huge quantity for commercial purpose















The usage of the pillar have degraded which it used for decoration and commercial purpose only. This is a degradation on the usage of the pillar rather than symbolize something in a society.

Another example regarding the kitsch issues in Malaysia is the villager tends to build their house over a number of pillar.What draw me into the interest is the house actually in a temporary placed which the pillar seem used as a supporting foundation of the building.  The questions come to my mind when u see the figure below:




The building is built in this manner due to prevent boar animal from attacking or even entering their houses.This form a protective shelter to the village. Indeed, the availability of the house to move mobility makes an advantage to the owner to move their house from one area to another area. This method is useful for a low-land house which will flood during the raining season in Malaysia.
An event, moving the house by number of villagers
At last, the pillar as a foundation was left out after the moving activity of the houses.

 However, if we flash back to the past, the heritage building that exist in Malaysia today actually contains lot of doric and pilaster which is built during the colonization of Portugal, Holland and the British.


Commentary

I have received a few comments from my lecturer regarding my blog...


Your texts are ok on similarity of use, but not similarity of style with Greek and Egypt--National Monument in particular. Take another look. I dont think it is a good example. 
Kitsch is not just in relation to 'pillars' or columns. It refers to a wide variety of uses of forms from other cultures and degradation of home culture. 

Look it up and re-apply it to the images.

Hence, I will post my another post regarding this issues stated above.

Thursday 14 July 2011

Culture in Egypt/ Greek in Malaysia Part 5

The Malaysian National Monument




















The Malaysia National Monument shows a high relief in term of the sculpture (Greek Culture). It have some characteristic of the Greek sculpture which it is more realistic element and less rigid on the sculpture.

There is a difference in term of the usage of this sculpture, the Malaysia national monument is used as a place to honour the person who pass away during the Malayan Emergency while the sculpture of the Greek was used as a symbolism of a god. For example, the Venus De Milo, is a symbolic of beauty,woman.


Culture in Egypt/ Greek in Malaysia Part 4

The Cenotaph














The Cenotaph which was situated nearby the Malaysia National Monument were used as a
memorial park who died during the  Malayan Emergency (1948-1960).It has the similarity for the Greek Sculpture which it is a high relief on the carving, it have the same purpose with the Egypt culture which it was used to give honor to the individual, such as warrior or well- known person.

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Culture in Egypt/ Greek in Malaysia Part 3

Alright, there is a picture which shows a heritage buliding in Malaysia.

it is Museum Telekom.

Actually, from the first view on the buliding, it consist of 8 Pillar (doric) which is a culture from the Greek culture.

So, let me clarify why there is a building in Malaysia. Back to Malaysia History, this building is solely used as manual telephone exchange previously. It is important to have this building as it represent the evolution of the communication industry from the past till today. The design of this building is adapted from the Greek architecture with 8 column of pillar (Doric). The main purpose of this building is used as a underground space and help the installation of the telecommunication facilities. As the time goes by, the building is used as museum. It is a symbolism where is represent an era of the telecommunication evolution in Malaysia.The pillar was used as a kitsch which is for a decoration purpose only rather than work as one of the supporting pillar.

On the other hand, the Greek culture can be seen when the Greek pilaster is being used in the building.

Culture in Egypt/ Greek in Malaysia Part 2

Today, majority of our surrouding are influenced by other culture. Malaysia, is a place where it consist of multi-culture which it emerged with other culture.

For example,


A simple paper that we currently used in office, actually it derived from the papyrus, is a kind of plant that exist since the Egypt era and Mediterranean Sea. It work as a tool to document an amount of information and it also work as a media in drawing. Actually, it also show some similarity when we relate to our Malaysia Chinese Culture. For example,  in our Chinese Culture, there is a festival called Qingming Festival  or known as Tomb Swapping Festival which it a Chinese ritual which they burn the folded paper or known as 金纸 (Jing Zi) to their ancestor. There is several type of paper that is commonly used in the ritual. It is used as “money" for the ancestor. One of the particular characteristic of the paper is the colour. For example, the paper coated with gold colour is representing”Gold" and Silver coated Paper is represent a silver.
The figure show a Gold coated Paper and Silver coated Paper.

Monday 11 July 2011

Greek Archtecture

1.     What is Kitsch?
2.     Are these Columns in Malaysia Kitsch?


From the dictionary, kitsch refer to  a works of art or object that are popular but that are considered to have no real artistic value and to be lacking in good taste.
There are a lot of thing that considered as kitsch item in our countries. For example, in todays lecture, one of our lecture shows us some of the picture of the Greek architecture from the past and show how increadible a civilation can be in term of engineering.

Indeed, there are several type of the Greek architecture that are used frequently in the past. For example, one of significant change in term of usage of the pillar (also known as Doric ) in Malaysia is majority of the Design of the Pillar is used as a "Kitsch" where the Doric used as a decoration and have no sense of artistic applied to it.

Well, Let us compare the  differences of the architectural.
This is one of our College in Malaysia which apply the concept of the Greek Architecture.



Sunday 10 July 2011

Culture in Egypt/ Greek in Malaysia Part 1


Today, i going to share about the Similarity Between the Egypt and Malaysia.

Actually, there is a lot of similarity between both country.Hence, let me compare the Culture Between the Egypt / Greek in Malaysia.





I saw this building in highway. From the building, we observed that the building consist of pillar which is related to Greek culture.  In Malaysia, the multicultural environment makes the building emerged with local such as the the white structure on the building actually represent an Islamic mosque and the yellow colour was used as a royal colour. However, the usage of the pillar is used for decorative purpose, which it is called kitsch , where there is no sense of artistic over the building and the reason for putting the pillar was not identified. Indeed, the presence of arch shape made it is relevant to the Greek Architecture. 




   


Thursday 7 July 2011

Principle of Organization Part 2

Okie, the second principle which i want to mention over here is economy.

Summary:

What is mean by the word "Economy"? According to the web, If you can remove an element \within a design and that design still works, then you’ve practiced economy in design. Don’t offer more than is needed, but be sure to include all that is needed to create an intelligent and economical design.




From the sentences, it is referring to something that is simple, easy design without losing its concept.

Hmm...something that are simple? When i think about something that are simple, i basically refer to a famous furniture designer who apply the concept of economy in his artwork.
Ron Arad (Furniture Designer)


Let me show you what is the difference of his artwork.

Let say , a rocking chair which made up from wood.















He managed to change the overall design of the rocking chair without change the concept of  the particular object.



Voido Rocking Chair
MindMap  on the Economy





Principle of Organization Part 1

Today, i going to discuss about the mindmap regarding to the principle of organization which is refer to the repetition and economy.

Summary:

Repetiton is a pattern of repeating the same element and make the artwork seem active at the same time . On the other hand,  from the secondary resources, the repetition also defined as the  repetition creates unity within the artwork.

In my opinion, the repetition can be anything, it can be something that creates the movement of an object. For example, in this current semester, i am taking a compulsory subject for Digital Photography. It is essential for me to know the application of the repetition  in my picture.
Indeed, i am taking a picture which is titled a "shuttle speed".  Hence, i purposely go to the highway and shoot a picture which related to the shuttle speed.

First Shoot
The picture appear to be a little shaking.

Second Shoot
The flow of the vehicle which create the repetition of lines.(light trail)

in the tutorial , i also create  the mind map which related to this principle.



Mind map on the Repetition


Sunday 26 June 2011

Lecture 4- History of Art and Design

Last week, lecturer mention on the Art appreciation and Critism. 

(Mittler's Method of Apprieciation and Critism)

From his previous lecture, he also mention lot on the Visual Analysis..For me, it is a quite interesting thing to know about. Why? In my opinion, i think it is important for me to work as a designer to understand other people artwork and issues which related to.

The visual analysis is split to five stages.

1.Description
2.Analysis
3.Interpretation 1
4.Cultural Context
5.Judgement (also known as second interpretation)


Description.
The Description is referring to identify the source of the material and how to describe the subject via the material.

Analysis.
In order for a artist to represent a artwork, how is the artist represented their artwork?There are four mainpoint which I would like to know about in this section:
a.Material 
b.Technique
c. Elements
d.Composition

This four thing play an important role for me to know the environment of something, an artwork, a perspection of something. For example, what defines a beauty?

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Introduction for the History Of Art And Design

Hello, my name is Lim Jinyoung and today i am going to write about something related to history...

But first of all, there are a few question that are mentioned by lecturer and i am intended to clarify this time for the answer.

First question :
What do you want from the course?
Second Question :
What do you want to do in coming 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
Third Question : 
What do you hope to get from this particular classes?
and followed by Forth Question:
Is history Art and Design necessary do you think for longer goal?

For me , this few question play an important role for a student to understand the Art history. Why?
this is an obvious question that I should know the main objective of this subject, THE HISTORY OF ART AND DESIGN.

In this subject, I realized that the history told us their essence of an art or even a masterpiece from the past. (Example, the thought of art during the Renaissance period). In my opinion, this subject is structured for a student to understand and analyses a information from a image that require us to understand it visually. Besides it enhance our analytic skill toward an art piece, it also increase our understanding of the History from every part of the world.

Secondly, I currently play an role as a student in Tunku Abdul Rahman University and for the planning of my carrier, I am planning to graduate as Bachelor of Art in Graphic Design and I am trying to seek for a opportunity from a job which the arts that I have learned meet the application on my carrier. On the other hand, to demystify my thought of the the art from the past, I am encouraged to visit the museum to clarify and learn new information about the past. For example, the fashion trend on the past.

From this class, i am expected to learn on how to improved the strength and the weakness on my practical skill, to explore the fundamental of design in depth. For the last question, I agree with the statement that the history of art and design is a complementary subject which gives people an opportunity to think for a longer goal. It is important for an amateur to discover and understand the beauty of the art over the masterpiece. this is important for me because the knowledge that i have gain is essential on how am i going to implement the usage of art from the past to today.